Watch ABC, Bloomberg, others added to Apple TV channel lineup
An over-the-air change to the Apple TV on Wednesday brought Bloomberg, Crackle and KORTV to the set-top streamer alongside access for cable subscribers to their local ABC affiliate.
Like the Apple TV's existing Watch ESPN app, Watch ABC requires an existing subscription to a cable service provider and is available only in selected cities. Subscribers will find popular ABC shows like Modern Family and Good Morning America alongside content from local affiliates.
Bloomberg joins WSJ Live as a provider of financial news content on the device, bringing live video as well as a searchable archive of past shows at no cost.
Crackle, from Sony, makes "hundreds of movies, thousands of TV episodes, and an extensive collection of anime" available on the Apple TV at no cost. Crackle's rotating selection currently features movies like Step Brothers, Pineapple Express, and Men in Black alongside television shows such as Seinfeld and The Shield.
The new Watch ABC channel
KORTV provides live Korean-language content, including movies, news, and pop shows, in a mixture of free-to-watch and premium channels that require a monthly subscription.
Apple has been aggressively expanding the Apple TV's content selection in recent months, adding channels for PBS, Yahoo Screen and Major League Soccer, among others. The streamer has also gained support for Netflix Super HD as well as Apple's iTunes Radio.
Like the Apple TV's existing Watch ESPN app, Watch ABC requires an existing subscription to a cable service provider and is available only in selected cities. Subscribers will find popular ABC shows like Modern Family and Good Morning America alongside content from local affiliates.
Bloomberg joins WSJ Live as a provider of financial news content on the device, bringing live video as well as a searchable archive of past shows at no cost.
Crackle, from Sony, makes "hundreds of movies, thousands of TV episodes, and an extensive collection of anime" available on the Apple TV at no cost. Crackle's rotating selection currently features movies like Step Brothers, Pineapple Express, and Men in Black alongside television shows such as Seinfeld and The Shield.
The new Watch ABC channel
KORTV provides live Korean-language content, including movies, news, and pop shows, in a mixture of free-to-watch and premium channels that require a monthly subscription.
Apple has been aggressively expanding the Apple TV's content selection in recent months, adding channels for PBS, Yahoo Screen and Major League Soccer, among others. The streamer has also gained support for Netflix Super HD as well as Apple's iTunes Radio.
Comments
Love to see added content, really disliking the UI paradigm for it. Whole thing needs some sort of redesign for the home screen. It's getting really clunky....but if anyone can do it, it's Apple.
I've not read Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, but I suspect I agree with his point, as Publishers Weekly put it, "that television represents a hostile attack on literate culture." I've noticed a distinct difference in the kids of friends who don't have a television. Their kids are much more inquisitive and much better at keeping themselves busy and active.
It's also discouraging that Apple's publicly cultivated image is as the distributor of gadgets that amuse rather those than teach disciplined thinking. The budget for iTunes must be at least a hundred time greater than that for iBooks.
Amazon has Kindle ads that show mature adults quietly reading. Apple's corresponding ads show young adults bouncing around so wildly and pointlessly they look like little kids on a sugar high.
In before the misplaced “more stuff cluttering up the screen” complaints. In during the “the day Apple detaches all of this stuff from the idiotic ‘already paying for cable/satellite’ requirement is the day that the Apple TV starts to destroy television as we know it” post. In after nothing.
Guess I was right when I said, “In after nothing.
I've never quite understood the need for an app to watch TV if I already have a cable/satelite subscription. Since Apple TV and similar offerings such as ROKU are used by a large number of chord cutters, this doesn't seem to add much value.
I am thinking this is an interim situation. At some point the ability to buy programming directly through aTV without the need for a subscription will happen. But whether we will be able to purchase or rent programs on a more granular basis is the question. The best model right now is just to buy the seasons of what one is interested in directly from Apple. All the other channels is mostly noise, to me.
Sorry, but I can't recall an Apple ad as you described. Seriously, refresh my memory.
Eh, that’s more of a entendre and a half. Still, upvote.
ABC is free on my iPad and iPhone, and I have no cable provider at all.
Why make us have cable to use AppleTV for the same thing? ABC is free over the air anyway!
Any original psychedelic iPod ad would qualify. Search YouTube for examples.
Yeah, but see, Apple doesn’t do those anymore. What they DO do now are tender, introspective ads about the capabilities of the device. They don’t show you the end anymore, they show you the means to that end. His post is utter nonsense.
I've not read Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, but I suspect I agree with his point, as Publishers Weekly put it, "that television represents a hostile attack on literate culture." I've noticed a distinct difference in the kids of friends who don't have a television. Their kids are much more inquisitive and much better at keeping themselves busy and active.
Superb book. I think it is more important to limit childrens (and our own) TV viewing than to not have it at all. An added benefit of limiting it would probably be that in so doing parents teach their kids self-control. Also, although relatively rare, there are quite literate programs on TV..even television news such as the PBS Newshour.
Quote:
I wonder if that is because certain Kindles tend to be viewed (and marketed) as eBook reading devices that also happen to have other features whereas iPads tend to be marketed as multi-feature devices that also happen to have eBook features on them.
Apple really needs a channel store and to provide a means to pay for quick non-iTunes content via an Apple TV while taking their cut of it.
It isn't hard. They could do it right now. Sure maybe they don't have the major content providers ready yet but that doesn't matter, the smaller players will fill the void.
There is someone out there with an Angry Birds for paid content just waiting to happen. Maybe right now they are not making enough money while letting some terrible ads play over their stuff on YouTube or something similar (which is again owned by Google.)
Two birds one stone. Apple hosts the content. You can make it available for free with Apple inserted ads or let people subscribe for $1 a month or so. That brings no ads and Apple gets their cut of the typical revenue.
Apple TV is obviously a transitional device, allowing Apple to nicely line up content providers as it works towards a large screen of its own in the living room. The requirement for a cable subscription for some "channels" placates cable companies as it allows content providers to transition to Internet based transmission, as cable TV increasingly becomes an anachronism. We are watching evolution in action.
Yeah those are crazy loud and show nothing but kids dancing around!
No iPad for you! Next!
I'd like to know which cities have access to ABC.
Edit: It's almost certain to have the same restrictions as the iOS Watch ABC app.
So, what if you have a perfectly good extra TV but don't want to rent an additional cable box for that TV? You can buy an Apple TV and then have some access to your cable TV stations (as well as allow for Airplay IF you have an iPhone or iPad). Can't that justify the need for Apps for cable stations?