Apple spotlights ABC app, Muppets in new Apple TV ad

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited November 2015
Adding to a series of Apple TV ads released earlier this week, Apple on Wednesday posted a new commercial featuring ABC's app, with a little help from the Muppets.




The spot, titled "ABC on Apple TV," features a 15-second slice of Up Late with Miss Piggy, a fictional late night show from ABC's new series The Muppets.

Kermit the Frog, donning a pair of headphones in his role as the show's executive producer, is seen bantering backstage with Fozzie Bear, who is about to take the stage as Miss Piggy's hype man/cohost. Fozzie tells Kermit, "you're the man," to which Kermit replies, "no, you're the man." The morale boosting back-and-forth quickly turns into an argument, hilarity ensues.





ABC is a marquee streaming and on-demand viewing app for Apple TV's new App Store. At launch, the fourth-generation Apple TV featured apps from the "big four" U.S. broadcast networks including NBC, Fox and CBS.

On Tuesday, Apple aired five similar Apple TV ads promoting subscription-based content consumption titles like Netflix and HBO Now, as well as games Crossy Road, Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition and Asphalt 8. The company is positioning the Apple TV App Store, loaded with software running on the new tvOS platform, as a key differentiator in its bid for the living room.

Apple's fourth-generation set-top box launched in October priced at $149 with 32GB of onboard storage and $199 for 64GB.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    Nice idea. More commercials please.
  • Reply 2 of 14
    Commercials are great, but more apps please
  • Reply 3 of 14
    Can you purchase the abc app without a cable subscription?
  • Reply 4 of 14

    Unless the app updated in the last 48 hours, no. I've been using the ATV V4 since release day. Gotta say overall I love it Hoping some things change though. I just signed up for Time Warners "internet Only" Basic Cable package to test it out. It also came with a free Roku 3 so  for $10/ month why the hell not? I was able to plug my info into the individual apps with various results. CBS and NBC unlocked, Fox unlocked but the most recent episodes remain locked on some shows. ABC would not unlock at all on TWC. So unless they go web only subscription I'll find it hard to get access to their content. CBS can be had for a fee without subscription or with a subscription . ABC's news app is top notch.

     

     Here's the rub. The most recent episodes are available on the TWC app streaming and on demand and there is a TWC app for iPhones pads etc, but no app for ATV. Hope that changes soon because Roku's interface is a big kludge and all I really need is the TWC App and maybe better unlock access to content. (Maybe a call to customer service will help me clear that up?) Hoping to get rid of HULU and trade it info the big four at $10 and gain a few bonuses like streaming local news and  pay for premium content via app (HBO) or downloading from iTunes for the 3 or 4 shows I really enjoy and want to have "on file" anyway. 

  • Reply 5 of 14
    Hey Apple, any progress on being able to use the Watch/iPhone/iPad remote, or has that been abandoned?
  • Reply 6 of 14
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,198member

    Yawn. ABC doesn't unlock for cable cutters, never mind that the content is (for example) free over-the-air to TiVo users for on-demand viewing.

  • Reply 7 of 14
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,727member
    Loving our Apple TV v4. I's already brilliant and will only get better. I particularly love the blue tooth controls and also the fact it seamlessly turns off and on itself and the TV and sound bar, even the sound bar's volume controlled by the ATV controller too. Only needing one remote is quite amazing after years of juggling three or four. The only trouble is my wife, who could not be bothered with all the controls and let me do everything might realize how easy it all is now and I may lose control. :D
  • Reply 8 of 14
    There should be a Star Wars channel for AppleTV.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,727member
    Hey Apple, any progress on being able to use the Watch/iPhone/iPad remote, or has that been abandoned?

    I was just thinking about that, I was vocal about the lack of support for the Remote app too, but if Apple could somehow link in KeyChain to Apple TV it could open the door to possible doing everything on the iPad or Mac in a different way, maybe even better than using using Remote as a keyboard entry device. If the set up and subscriptions were all gone in iTunes and Keychain simply synced this to the Apple TV it would be sweet.
  • Reply 10 of 14
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,673member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post



    Hey Apple, any progress on being able to use the Watch/iPhone/iPad remote, or has that been abandoned?



    I'm sure they're working on it. This is Apple's typical m.o. when they release something they want "users" to get used.. the new remote. Never mind the fact that the Remote App will have to be redesigned from the ground up to support and duplicate the many features of the new remote and Apple TV.

  • Reply 11 of 14
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by justp1ayin View Post



    Can you purchase the abc app without a cable subscription?

    Yes.  But you can't see any full episodes without some kind of subscription, whether to a cable company or satellite provider.  Almost all of these channels do this - Fox, FX, NBC, CBS, A&E, History, etc.  The only one that doesn't is PBS, and even then you have to sign up/sign in.

  • Reply 12 of 14

    Ooh, I have not looked into how to get it to turn on the sound bar too, or to control sound bar volume.  Did not know it would do that!  Thanks for the heads up!

  • Reply 13 of 14
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Cpsro View Post

     

    Yawn. ABC doesn't unlock for cable cutters, never mind that the content is (for example) free over-the-air to TiVo users for on-demand viewing.




    It's a complicated mess.

  • Reply 14 of 14
    jabohnjabohn Posts: 582member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ferdchet View Post

     

    Ooh, I have not looked into how to get it to turn on the sound bar too, or to control sound bar volume.  Did not know it would do that!  Thanks for the heads up!




    I would also like to know how. Currently it just controls the TV and the sound bar is separate. My understanding is that the volume control is one device only.

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