One step forward and two steps back. We have good news and bad news. The good news is HBO Now. The bad news is Apple is going to sell us the same old concept of packaging channels and charging you for something you will never watch. Last Monday was a good day, this Monday was just the world is the same unimaginative place as always. Maybe I will cut the cord and just stop watching television all together.
This is not anything close to what Apple wants. This is what Apple is able to get (if the rumors are even true and come to fruition) due to the complicated nature of the industry and all of the players that stand to lose when we finally reach the promised land (years hence, in my opinion). Apple is bringing their considerable fan-base into the slow paradigm shift, and that can only help turn the tide a little bit faster.
What many here are failing to realize is that it isn't Apple/Comcast/DirecTV etc really coming up with these bundles (at least not partially). A lot of these bundles happen because one company owns many networks.
For example don't expect to be able to subscribe to Comedy Central by itself, because Viacom is most likely going to force you to also subscribe to MTV, VH1, CMT, BET, LOGO, SpikeTV, Nickelodeon and the rest of their channels at tha same time.
Don't expect to be able to get The Food Network by itself, because Scripps is going to make you take Cookcing Channel, DIY, HGTV, GAC, and the Travel Channel.
If you want AMC your are probably going to get IFC, Sundance, and We TV.
Don't expect to get ESPN without Disney and all of the other channels ABC/Disney owns.
The other thing is cost. If you guys expect channels without advertising to cost $1/month you are starting to get your rude awakening now. It isn't going to happen. These content owners are not going to lose out on the ad revenue and lower their costs for the channel at the same time.
I don't think Apple is going to be hugely successful with this. The reason is that Apple lacks original content.
If you want to see Game of Thrones legally without having to wait months, you need HBO or HBO GO. HULU has its own shows. Netflix of course has great shows. Amazon has shows.
Without unique content, Apple can't really differentiate itself in this space.
iTunes has unique content for music. Not so really for TV.
iPhones benefit from "must have apps" just as Apple TV needs "must have shows available only on Apple TV".
Content, not technology, is King in TV.
When the iTunes store launched, I don't remember any original Apple content. Once it gained traction, it hosted more exclusive content from artists. Netflix didn't have original content until recently, so we can't make that the model in order to succeed.
Apple can differentiate itself by hosting an inviting platform for content providers and users...and (hopefully) competing on price. They've done this over and over again on the Mac, iOS, iTunes. If we look at the Top 100 iOS apps at any point, Apple won't appear many times other than it's iWork suite.
Apple doesn't need to create a TV show. It just needs to create a nice user experience for existing content and make the process as easy as the cable providers. And make ESPN free for the masses!
Boom. You are a thief. Of course Apple's TV service seems like a ripoff.
Just honest. If neither Hulu nor Apple offer something I want to watch, I find it on torrent. I prefer to pay and obtain content legally. Not to mention its a lot less of a hassle to get it from iTunes or Hulu than search torrent. Now please show me where I said Apple's service was a rip off? You obviously can't read. Too busy casting judgement from your high horse and being your usual rude d-bag self.
Since you obviously can't read, I said I'm not interested in paying $40+/month for a service with commercials. I never said anything about it being a rip off. I think the price point sounds decent. I'm just not going to pay to watch commercials. Get it?
Companies use this all the time to get data to multiple employees with minimal resource impact. Gone are the days of having all remote employees connecting to your network to pull full copies massive amounts of data on a regular basis. They give a unique key which looks like a hash or really complex activation code and it connects to that specific torrent. I use this weekly to keep a 4TB drive synced with about 3TB of data. If they change a single file I don't have to re-download all 3TBs. It's wonderfully efficient and there is absolutely nothing illegal about this technology, so perhaps you need to reconsider pooh-poohing everyone that utilized the BitTorrent protocol.
If neither Hulu nor Apple offer something I want to watch, I find it on torrent.
Funny how you keep saying this sucks because you won't use multiple services and yet you keep stating that you do indeed use multiple services. Consistently!
Its already here, and its called buying season pass on itunes. IF you want it cheaper you need commercials, you can't have it both ways.
iTunes doesn't offer everything. It's funny how television used to be free because it was ad supported. And now they've convinced us to not only pay top dollar for TV service, but suffer through more and more advertising too. Twenty years ago an hour long show had about 10 minutes of commercials. Today it's 20+. I don't see the point in paying for TV if you can't skip commercials. You might. I don't. And that was my point about Apple's rumored service. As someone who "cut the cord" years ago, I'd welcome a service that offered me content on a subscription basis via the Internet. But not if it forces me to sit through ads. Then I'm better off spending my money with the cable company and getting a DVR.
I like my SlingTV service. They even sent me a free FireTV stick.
My Comcast TV package is only about $25/mo. What I find rather interesting is how hard it is to find someone in Seattle to put up a TV mast and antenna. All this talk about cable cutting, yet that appears to be a service no one thinks is a viable business.
Not gonna work well if it's just mini-cable. I want to get to pick what channels I pay for.
No kidding. I'll stick with my Large Antenna to get most of my free Legal TV!!! I cut the cord to save money, not to now pay $30-$40 per month for TV. CBS charges $5.99 for their stuff. That's to much as it is. Think about ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW along all charging $5.99 a month. That's $30 for 5 channels!!! At this point you might as well just pay for Cable TV and get a bunch more channels. Prices should be more in line of 50 cents to $1 depending on the channel, with ESPN at the high end of say $3. Leaving channels like HSN for free or maybe even pay for a channel to have them also. If it's not reasonable and realistic, it'll fail.
Funny how you keep saying this sucks because you won't use multiple services and yet you keep stating that you do indeed use multiple services. Consistently!
Yes, occasionally I torrent. And yes, occasionally that means downloading sonething to my Mac so that I can (gasp!) watch it on Apple TV.
I concur with that - big time! Very little value for money here. But a major upgrade to Apple TV hardware I'm all for.
Tell me, what MAJOR upgrade do you need for AppleTV? I hear people wanting new AppleTV, but never say why? I personally thing Apple needs top open it up to having it's own App Store. You don't even need a new AppleTV for that. You don't even need a major hardware upgrade to get this Rumored service!!! Just a software update!!!!
No kidding. I'll stick with my Large Antenna to get most of my free Legal TV!!! I cut the cord to save money, not to now pay $30-$40 per month for TV. CBS charges $5.99 for their stuff. That's to much as it is. Think about ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW along all charging $5.99 a month. That's $30 for 5 channels!!! At this point you might as well just pay for Cable TV and get a bunch more channels. Prices should be more in line of 50 cents to $1 depending on the channel, with ESPN at the high end of say $3. Leaving channels like HSN for free or maybe even pay for a channel to have them also. If it's not reasonable and realistic, it'll fail.
" and get a bunch more channels."
?A bunch more channels I never watch isn't a feature, it's reason to use "favorites" to remove the clutter from my listing at best. In any areas, due to the monopolies many service areas have, cable television is a lot more that $30, and given their tiered price scale, often a lot more.
iTunes doesn't offer everything. It's funny how television used to be free because it was ad supported. And now they've convinced us to not only pay top dollar for TV service, but suffer through more and more advertising too. Twenty years ago an hour long show had about 10 minutes of commercials. Today it's 20+. I don't see the point in paying for TV if you can't skip commercials. You might. I don't. And that was my point about Apple's rumored service. As someone who "cut the cord" years ago, I'd welcome a service that offered me content on a subscription basis via the Internet. But not if it forces me to sit through ads. Then I'm better off spending my money with the cable company and getting a DVR.
You can still watch OTA broadcast and not pay a dime. Everyone jumped on the cable TV bandwagon decades ago and ditched their anntenas, but that OTA signal was always there, and still is for those that didn't make the switch. Btw you can get a Slingbox with a tuner and transmit those channels to a mobile device.
What was wrong with his statement? I agree with his sentiment. Ads are essentially the reason I can't watch TV content other than sports and movies on HBO, Starz, etc (which are commercial-free anyway). I can't even watch youtube without Adblock.
There's nothing wrong with my statement. Sog35 is one of the forum trolls here who posts endless know-it-all condescending remarks. Doesn't matter which thread. Just read its comments. They're almost always rude, judgmental and self important. There are a handful of losers here who spend their days obsessing over the Apple Insider forums, jumping on every post they can, rarely adding anything of value, just constantly trying to assert that their view is the only correct one. They obviously have no lives, or jobs for that matter, if they can post 20+ times/day here. Kinda sad really.
iTunes doesn't offer everything. It's funny how television used to be free because it was ad supported. And now they've convinced us to not only pay top dollar for TV service, but suffer through more and more advertising too. Twenty years ago an hour long show had about 10 minutes of commercials. Today it's 20+. I don't see the point in paying for TV if you can't skip commercials. You might. I don't. And that was my point about Apple's rumored service. As someone who "cut the cord" years ago, I'd welcome a service that offered me content on a subscription basis via the Internet. But not if it forces me to sit through ads. Then I'm better off spending my money with the cable company and getting a DVR.
I don't pay for TV service,. I cut the cord. I only pay for Internet Service. I put up a large Antenna and get all the broadcast channels that way. I use 2 Duel HD Homerun tuners to record up to 4 programs at once, or record 3 and watch something LIVE, etc and Record to my Windows 7 PC using Media Center. I can then watch on one of my Xbox 360's hook to one of my 3 HDTV's. They boot up directly into Media Center Extender mode. I control them using Harmony 900 remotes. I have FULL DVR Capabilities. I can start watching in the family room and finsh off in the bedroom. Pause LIVE TV. The same program can be watched in 2 -3 different rooms at once at different points in time. it's great. A new Xbox 360 is $199. You don't need a HDD or a kinect. Don't even need a Gold subscription. Buy s used Xbox and it's even cheaper. FREE Program and Channel guide. All my shows are automatically recorded. Once the hardware is paid for, it's FREE and Legal every month!!! I get ABC, CBS,. NBC, FOX, CW and others in HD and 5.1 surround sound and with a better picture then cable or satellite.
Throw in Netflix and there's a ton of content. I sure don't have enough time to keep up as it is. For the few shows I really like, for example "The Walking Dead" on AMC. I buy a Season Pass in SD version as it looks more the good enough from Amazon, and when a new Episode Airs on Sunday night, I can watch the new one commercial free on Monday. Plus I own it and so can watch it again in the future at any time. A few season passes is a drop in the bucket in savings. There's other options now like the Tablo which looks interesting. The Monthly service for the channel.program guide is far more reasonable then TIVO. You can have the Box anywhere with a Antenna connection, Ethernet is best, plus you need a external HDD to record content onto and a ROKU or a few other devices to play the content onto your HDTV, using like a iOS device to control. It looks Interesting and there's a 2 and 4 tuner version. That's a option and cheaper then my setup.
I'm not a boy, douchebag. I'm probably older than you. Yes, occasionally I torrent. And yes, occasionally that means downloading sonething to my Mac so that I can (gasp!) watch it on Apple TV. You're just one of those people who looks for reasons to be a rude, critical jerk. You post 20+ times per day here and you're almost always rude, judgmental and condescending. You're obviously a nasty human being who gets off on, well, being nasty. Get a life.
Says the guy that slides in personal attacks in every comment when his poorly worded and hypocrotically comments are pointed out to him. You can keep calling me a douchebag and keep track of my post count but I suggest you simply learn to communicate better instead of feeling threatened by others. Introspection would do you some good. I believe you can do it, otherwise I wouldn't bother responding.
You can still watch OTA broadcast and not pay a dime. Everyone jumped on the cable TV bandwagon decades ago and ditched their anntenas, but that OTA signal was always there, and still is for those that didn't make the switch. Btw you can get a Slingbox with a tuner and transmit those channels to a mobile device.
Interesting. I haven't looked at Slingbox in years. I've been hoping TV would get better for years now, that someone would come along with a different model. But I don't see much changing and am pretty close to going back to cable simply for the convenience. I Cut the cord years ago and it's been ok. I've definitely saved money. But I've greatly limited my choices and I can't just channel surf and randomly discover something new and interesting. I don't think anyone is going to deliver a more compelling way to watch TV than cable + DVR for quite some time. The industry might allow things to shift to the Internet, but the model will largely stay the same. At least with a DVR, you can jump past the the ads.
Says the guy that slides in personal attacks in every comment when his poorly worded and hypocrotically comments are pointed out to him. You can keep calling me a douchebag and keep track of my post count but I suggest you simply learn to communicate better instead of feeling threatened by others. Introspection would do you some good. I believe you can do it, otherwise I wouldn't bother responding.
You're just a petty little person who needs to be right all the time. Get over yourself. I've made my OPINIONS on this subject very clear. Nothing contradictory despite your strong desire to find contradiction instead of engage in discourse. But that's what you do, as evidenced by your piles of I'm right, you're wrong posts that we all have to suffer in every thread. Every time I look at this site, I am guaranteed to find you stinking up the comments, being rude, unfriendly, condescending. Your posts are never friendly. They're never kind in spirit. You're a nasty little troll and a bully. Pathetic. Get a life.
Comments
One step forward and two steps back. We have good news and bad news. The good news is HBO Now. The bad news is Apple is going to sell us the same old concept of packaging channels and charging you for something you will never watch. Last Monday was a good day, this Monday was just the world is the same unimaginative place as always. Maybe I will cut the cord and just stop watching television all together.
This is not anything close to what Apple wants. This is what Apple is able to get (if the rumors are even true and come to fruition) due to the complicated nature of the industry and all of the players that stand to lose when we finally reach the promised land (years hence, in my opinion). Apple is bringing their considerable fan-base into the slow paradigm shift, and that can only help turn the tide a little bit faster.
Are you suggesting that all bit torrent traffic is illegal content?
Personally, I would like to buy individual shows, as opposed to individual channels.
That's available now within iTunes. Even "season passes" where the new ones automatically are delivered.
What many here are failing to realize is that it isn't Apple/Comcast/DirecTV etc really coming up with these bundles (at least not partially). A lot of these bundles happen because one company owns many networks.
For example don't expect to be able to subscribe to Comedy Central by itself, because Viacom is most likely going to force you to also subscribe to MTV, VH1, CMT, BET, LOGO, SpikeTV, Nickelodeon and the rest of their channels at tha same time.
Don't expect to be able to get The Food Network by itself, because Scripps is going to make you take Cookcing Channel, DIY, HGTV, GAC, and the Travel Channel.
If you want AMC your are probably going to get IFC, Sundance, and We TV.
Don't expect to get ESPN without Disney and all of the other channels ABC/Disney owns.
The other thing is cost. If you guys expect channels without advertising to cost $1/month you are starting to get your rude awakening now. It isn't going to happen. These content owners are not going to lose out on the ad revenue and lower their costs for the channel at the same time.
I don't think Apple is going to be hugely successful with this. The reason is that Apple lacks original content.
If you want to see Game of Thrones legally without having to wait months, you need HBO or HBO GO. HULU has its own shows. Netflix of course has great shows. Amazon has shows.
Without unique content, Apple can't really differentiate itself in this space.
iTunes has unique content for music. Not so really for TV.
iPhones benefit from "must have apps" just as Apple TV needs "must have shows available only on Apple TV".
Content, not technology, is King in TV.
When the iTunes store launched, I don't remember any original Apple content. Once it gained traction, it hosted more exclusive content from artists. Netflix didn't have original content until recently, so we can't make that the model in order to succeed.
Apple can differentiate itself by hosting an inviting platform for content providers and users...and (hopefully) competing on price. They've done this over and over again on the Mac, iOS, iTunes. If we look at the Top 100 iOS apps at any point, Apple won't appear many times other than it's iWork suite.
Apple doesn't need to create a TV show. It just needs to create a nice user experience for existing content and make the process as easy as the cable providers. And make ESPN free for the masses!
Just honest. If neither Hulu nor Apple offer something I want to watch, I find it on torrent. I prefer to pay and obtain content legally. Not to mention its a lot less of a hassle to get it from iTunes or Hulu than search torrent. Now please show me where I said Apple's service was a rip off? You obviously can't read. Too busy casting judgement from your high horse and being your usual rude d-bag self.
Since you obviously can't read, I said I'm not interested in paying $40+/month for a service with commercials. I never said anything about it being a rip off. I think the price point sounds decent. I'm just not going to pay to watch commercials. Get it?
The which is innumerable.
Companies use this all the time to get data to multiple employees with minimal resource impact. Gone are the days of having all remote employees connecting to your network to pull full copies massive amounts of data on a regular basis. They give a unique key which looks like a hash or really complex activation code and it connects to that specific torrent. I use this weekly to keep a 4TB drive synced with about 3TB of data. If they change a single file I don't have to re-download all 3TBs. It's wonderfully efficient and there is absolutely nothing illegal about this technology, so perhaps you need to reconsider pooh-poohing everyone that utilized the BitTorrent protocol.
Funny how you keep saying this sucks because you won't use multiple services and yet you keep stating that you do indeed use multiple services. Consistently!
iTunes doesn't offer everything. It's funny how television used to be free because it was ad supported. And now they've convinced us to not only pay top dollar for TV service, but suffer through more and more advertising too. Twenty years ago an hour long show had about 10 minutes of commercials. Today it's 20+. I don't see the point in paying for TV if you can't skip commercials. You might. I don't. And that was my point about Apple's rumored service. As someone who "cut the cord" years ago, I'd welcome a service that offered me content on a subscription basis via the Internet. But not if it forces me to sit through ads. Then I'm better off spending my money with the cable company and getting a DVR.
Options are good.
I like my SlingTV service. They even sent me a free FireTV stick.
My Comcast TV package is only about $25/mo. What I find rather interesting is how hard it is to find someone in Seattle to put up a TV mast and antenna. All this talk about cable cutting, yet that appears to be a service no one thinks is a viable business.
Not gonna work well if it's just mini-cable. I want to get to pick what channels I pay for.
No kidding. I'll stick with my Large Antenna to get most of my free Legal TV!!! I cut the cord to save money, not to now pay $30-$40 per month for TV. CBS charges $5.99 for their stuff. That's to much as it is. Think about ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW along all charging $5.99 a month. That's $30 for 5 channels!!! At this point you might as well just pay for Cable TV and get a bunch more channels. Prices should be more in line of 50 cents to $1 depending on the channel, with ESPN at the high end of say $3. Leaving channels like HSN for free or maybe even pay for a channel to have them also. If it's not reasonable and realistic, it'll fail.
Yes, occasionally I torrent. And yes, occasionally that means downloading sonething to my Mac so that I can (gasp!) watch it on Apple TV.
I concur with that - big time! Very little value for money here. But a major upgrade to Apple TV hardware I'm all for.
Tell me, what MAJOR upgrade do you need for AppleTV? I hear people wanting new AppleTV, but never say why? I personally thing Apple needs top open it up to having it's own App Store. You don't even need a new AppleTV for that. You don't even need a major hardware upgrade to get this Rumored service!!! Just a software update!!!!
No kidding. I'll stick with my Large Antenna to get most of my free Legal TV!!! I cut the cord to save money, not to now pay $30-$40 per month for TV. CBS charges $5.99 for their stuff. That's to much as it is. Think about ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW along all charging $5.99 a month. That's $30 for 5 channels!!! At this point you might as well just pay for Cable TV and get a bunch more channels. Prices should be more in line of 50 cents to $1 depending on the channel, with ESPN at the high end of say $3. Leaving channels like HSN for free or maybe even pay for a channel to have them also. If it's not reasonable and realistic, it'll fail.
" and get a bunch more channels."
?A bunch more channels I never watch isn't a feature, it's reason to use "favorites" to remove the clutter from my listing at best. In any areas, due to the monopolies many service areas have, cable television is a lot more that $30, and given their tiered price scale, often a lot more.
You can still watch OTA broadcast and not pay a dime. Everyone jumped on the cable TV bandwagon decades ago and ditched their anntenas, but that OTA signal was always there, and still is for those that didn't make the switch. Btw you can get a Slingbox with a tuner and transmit those channels to a mobile device.
There's nothing wrong with my statement. Sog35 is one of the forum trolls here who posts endless know-it-all condescending remarks. Doesn't matter which thread. Just read its comments. They're almost always rude, judgmental and self important. There are a handful of losers here who spend their days obsessing over the Apple Insider forums, jumping on every post they can, rarely adding anything of value, just constantly trying to assert that their view is the only correct one. They obviously have no lives, or jobs for that matter, if they can post 20+ times/day here. Kinda sad really.
iTunes doesn't offer everything. It's funny how television used to be free because it was ad supported. And now they've convinced us to not only pay top dollar for TV service, but suffer through more and more advertising too. Twenty years ago an hour long show had about 10 minutes of commercials. Today it's 20+. I don't see the point in paying for TV if you can't skip commercials. You might. I don't. And that was my point about Apple's rumored service. As someone who "cut the cord" years ago, I'd welcome a service that offered me content on a subscription basis via the Internet. But not if it forces me to sit through ads. Then I'm better off spending my money with the cable company and getting a DVR.
I don't pay for TV service,. I cut the cord. I only pay for Internet Service. I put up a large Antenna and get all the broadcast channels that way. I use 2 Duel HD Homerun tuners to record up to 4 programs at once, or record 3 and watch something LIVE, etc and Record to my Windows 7 PC using Media Center. I can then watch on one of my Xbox 360's hook to one of my 3 HDTV's. They boot up directly into Media Center Extender mode. I control them using Harmony 900 remotes. I have FULL DVR Capabilities. I can start watching in the family room and finsh off in the bedroom. Pause LIVE TV. The same program can be watched in 2 -3 different rooms at once at different points in time. it's great. A new Xbox 360 is $199. You don't need a HDD or a kinect. Don't even need a Gold subscription. Buy s used Xbox and it's even cheaper. FREE Program and Channel guide. All my shows are automatically recorded. Once the hardware is paid for, it's FREE and Legal every month!!! I get ABC, CBS,. NBC, FOX, CW and others in HD and 5.1 surround sound and with a better picture then cable or satellite.
Throw in Netflix and there's a ton of content. I sure don't have enough time to keep up as it is. For the few shows I really like, for example "The Walking Dead" on AMC. I buy a Season Pass in SD version as it looks more the good enough from Amazon, and when a new Episode Airs on Sunday night, I can watch the new one commercial free on Monday. Plus I own it and so can watch it again in the future at any time. A few season passes is a drop in the bucket in savings. There's other options now like the Tablo which looks interesting. The Monthly service for the channel.program guide is far more reasonable then TIVO. You can have the Box anywhere with a Antenna connection, Ethernet is best, plus you need a external HDD to record content onto and a ROKU or a few other devices to play the content onto your HDTV, using like a iOS device to control. It looks Interesting and there's a 2 and 4 tuner version. That's a option and cheaper then my setup.
Says the guy that slides in personal attacks in every comment when his poorly worded and hypocrotically comments are pointed out to him. You can keep calling me a douchebag and keep track of my post count but I suggest you simply learn to communicate better instead of feeling threatened by others. Introspection would do you some good. I believe you can do it, otherwise I wouldn't bother responding.
Interesting. I haven't looked at Slingbox in years. I've been hoping TV would get better for years now, that someone would come along with a different model. But I don't see much changing and am pretty close to going back to cable simply for the convenience. I Cut the cord years ago and it's been ok. I've definitely saved money. But I've greatly limited my choices and I can't just channel surf and randomly discover something new and interesting. I don't think anyone is going to deliver a more compelling way to watch TV than cable + DVR for quite some time. The industry might allow things to shift to the Internet, but the model will largely stay the same. At least with a DVR, you can jump past the the ads.
You're just a petty little person who needs to be right all the time. Get over yourself. I've made my OPINIONS on this subject very clear. Nothing contradictory despite your strong desire to find contradiction instead of engage in discourse. But that's what you do, as evidenced by your piles of I'm right, you're wrong posts that we all have to suffer in every thread. Every time I look at this site, I am guaranteed to find you stinking up the comments, being rude, unfriendly, condescending. Your posts are never friendly. They're never kind in spirit. You're a nasty little troll and a bully. Pathetic. Get a life.