While Apple is expected to unveil a new Apple TV set-top box at an event next month, its rumored internet TV service will not make an appearance at that event according to a new report out of Bloomberg. The report says that Apple, while it originally wanted to launch its streaming TV service this year, has decided to push the service back until some point in 2016. We also reported earlier this year that Apple’s streaming TV service would likely launch after the refreshed hardware.
The report claims that talks with major TV networks such as CBS and 21st Century Fox are progressing, but at a very slow place. Apple is also worried that it does not yet have the computer network capacity in place to ensure a quality viewing experience for the user, the report claims. The company still plans, however, to launch a new, more powerful set-top box.
Apple has encountered problems creating a computer network that will ensure a fast, glitch-free viewing experience throughout the U.S. Such a network requires storing popular shows close to viewers, so each time a customer in New York for example wants to see local baseball game or the evening news, the shows don’t have to be streamed all the way from one of Apple’s four data centers in California, Nevada, North Carolina and Oregon.
Apple wants to offer its TV service, which will include a package of popular channels, for $40 a month, a price that it’s having a hard time convincing networks to come on board for. With that said, however, TV programmers are expecting to receive more money from Apple’s new web TV service than they do from existing cable and satellite TV partners because the service is new to the market and is attempting to gain share.
Another problem Apple is facing is deciding the appropriate mix of channels to offer for $40 per month to please the most viewers. An earlier report claimed that Apple was aiming to offer 25+ channels as part of the package.
Apple is expected to hold an event on September 9th to introduce a new Apple TV and refreshed iPhone models.
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Don’t you mean Internet TV service, as opposed to a web TV service? I don’t think users will be opening their web browsers on Apple TV.
That phrasing is so annoying because WebTV is a dead service from the 90s.
Apple should buy Netflix, period.
@Saolo That’d be just fine with me, but I think the appeal of the rumored Apple service is mostly live broadcasting of sports, news programs, and even some TV shows…something which can only be done piecemeal and by people who already are paying for broadcast TV (or know someone who is and has given them their password). I listened to an interview about a month ago from the Aspen Ideas Festival with the CEO of Netflix, and he talked about how their current model doesn’t really support live streaming, because things take a while to encode for the huge variety of devices. And while they are exploring other ways of releasing content in addition to the mass dump of episodes model, live broadcasting doesn’t seem to be in the mix. I think Netflix (in its current state) is a very different product from what Apple will hopefully launch.
Why on earth would you want that? Netflix is platform agnostic and has nothing to gain from any one platform winning. If Apple (or Google, or Amazon, or anyone else with a platform to push) may keep Netflix going on other platforms, but there’d be no guarantee.
Streaming is exploding and next year is going to be the breaking of the dam. I know of no one under 35 who does not have at the very least a chomecast stick. I know of anyone under 35 who does not consume the majority of their television content from on-demand services like Hulu, Amazon or Netflix for anyting other than live sports or live events.
I definitely think its a good idea for Apple to go slow, but they do need to step up to the plate. And in slow, I mean don’t beg existing media companies, it’s a blank sheet of paper, go forward without them. New content is always king. Get as much of it from whomever wants to get it out there.
I agree. Hardest person to convince to cut the cord in my house is my wife. The 2 kids are already there. Just need AMC and Disney to offer streaming and I am done.
How is it delayed when it wasn’t even announced? How do we know that this wasn’t Apples plan all along? I feel this way this a lot of this Apple TV rumor stuff.
If Apple is serious re TV then should buy Akamai (AKAM – http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=akam). Market cap is only $13.2 B. Do it as all stock deal for $16B. Minimal dilution to current shares and massive support for music streaming as well.
Why? Akamai is available to Apple as it is to anyone else, which is surely in the best interests of consumers.
The past three years, Apple’s weakest point has been their software. Photos, iTunes, iTunes Match, iMovie, Home Sharing on iOS, the list goes on….
I don’t really care about their streaming service. I don’t subscribe to cable anymore because I don’t want my household doing what every other house does, with a TV playing mindless white noise in the background, and commercials/advertising invading our lives. When we want to watch something, we watch that. And if we can’t find it on AppleTV, its probably not worth watching.
All I’m hoping for is that Apple can improve the current experience. They’ve forcibly added dozens of completely useless channels. I have no idea what any of those channels offer, and I’m not going to subscribe to find out.
APPLE – YOU NEED TO PROVIDE GLOBAL SEARCH THAT FINDS CONTENT DEEP WITHIN ALL APPS.
Curious comment to say that if something isn’t on the Apple TV, it isn’t worth watching. There are many things that aren’t on the Apple TV, such as the excellent art house streaming service MUBI, or Amazon Prime (host to a rapidly growing library of exclusive, original content), and for those of us in the UK, the elephant in the room – BBC iPlayer. The latter is my most used streaming service by far, although of course, not on an Apple TV, as it’s one of many services which Apple don’t support.
I think Apple should do what they did with Apple Music and make the movies on iTunes available for a monthly charge for one person and a family of people.
and TV