Disney reportedly pressuring Apple to accept more channels for rumored Internet TV service
A report on Wednesday claims negotiations over a rumored Apple-branded over-the-top TV service recently escalated, with Disney now pushing for that a bulk of its channels be offered as part of the deal.
According to sources with knowledge of the ongoing talks, Disney is angling for a larger presence on Apple's upcoming Internet TV service, including spin-offs to ESPN and the Disney Channel, reports The Street.
"Disney has made it clear that it wants to drive the strongest deal it can get," the unnamed source said.
With channels like ABC Family and those tailored to younger viewers who are perhaps most likely to invest in over-the-top services, Disney brings substantial bargaining power to the table. Apple agrees and considers these channels indispensable in wooing cord cutters away from cable and satellite options, one source said.
Another key element, however, is pricing. Apple is reportedly looking to offer subscribers a competitive content package at a reasonable price, but accepting every channel Disney is proposing could result in unnecessary price tag bloat. According to rumors, Apple wants to sell a "skinny" bundle of core channels from providers Disney, CBS, 21st Century Fox and others.
Previous reports said Apple is planning to launch its branded Internet TV offering later this year with subscriptions coming in at between $30 to $40 per month. Rumored to debut alongside the subscription service is a new Apple TV set-top streamer. Not much is known about the hardware, but recent rumors suggest the device will forego 4K video playback.
According to sources with knowledge of the ongoing talks, Disney is angling for a larger presence on Apple's upcoming Internet TV service, including spin-offs to ESPN and the Disney Channel, reports The Street.
"Disney has made it clear that it wants to drive the strongest deal it can get," the unnamed source said.
With channels like ABC Family and those tailored to younger viewers who are perhaps most likely to invest in over-the-top services, Disney brings substantial bargaining power to the table. Apple agrees and considers these channels indispensable in wooing cord cutters away from cable and satellite options, one source said.
Another key element, however, is pricing. Apple is reportedly looking to offer subscribers a competitive content package at a reasonable price, but accepting every channel Disney is proposing could result in unnecessary price tag bloat. According to rumors, Apple wants to sell a "skinny" bundle of core channels from providers Disney, CBS, 21st Century Fox and others.
Previous reports said Apple is planning to launch its branded Internet TV offering later this year with subscriptions coming in at between $30 to $40 per month. Rumored to debut alongside the subscription service is a new Apple TV set-top streamer. Not much is known about the hardware, but recent rumors suggest the device will forego 4K video playback.
Comments
all the pricing and bundling talk in these articles is, I hope, wrong. As that is just more of the old.
single channels priced in tiers- $1 $2 $5 would change everything.
$40 for a bunch of crap you don't want. not so much.
I might be in the rare few but HBO for $15.. Erm I'll still just buy GoT on iTunes- of course I live in AU so we don't get the choice. nor are we likely to for years or until Murdoch goes broke
if Apple wants to disrupt then the pricing will need to be disruptive as well - as was the case with music on iTunes.
all the pricing and bundling talk in these articles is, I hope, wrong. As that is just more of the old.
single channels priced in tiers- $1 $2 $5 would change everything.
$40 for a bunch of crap you don't want. not so much.
I might be in the rare few but HBO for $15.. Erm I'll still just buy GoT on iTunes- of course I live in AU so we don't get the choice. nor are we likely to for years or until Murdoch goes broke
I agree. They can't just repackage cable as is and expect anyone to care. I don't want to buy 15 channels to get the one I want. That's what's wrong with cable.
Apple certainly wouldn't need to be "pressured" to carry more Disney content. They'd love to take anything and everything Disney gives them.
Design-your-own bundles would be the ideal here.
single channels priced in tiers- $1 $2 $5 would change everything.
Not even reasonable to expect. This whole cord cutting concept is flawed. The content providers are not going give away their profits like that. HBO Now is charging the same price as they do for cable and satellite subscriptions, $15/mo. A very large number of people simply do not have the ability to receive local channels OTA, especially urban areas. Cord cutting for most is impractical.
Not even reasonable to expect. This whole cord cutting concept is flawed. The content providers are not going give away their profits like that. HBO Now is charging the same price as they do for cable and satellite subscriptions, $15/mo. A very large number of people simply do not have the ability to receive local channels OTA, especially urban areas. Cord cutting for most is impractical.
Of course. They aren't going to give up a high-paying revenue stream for a lower-paying one unless they have no alternative. What they will be facing over the next several decades anyway is a declining population, which means fewer potential subscribers.
There must be lots of folk like me who almost solely use NetFlix.
£30 a month? That's not disruptive that's just as costly as satellite TV - and that's setting aside the bandwidth costs.
However they'd likely get some money from me if I could pick and pay for what you want. Ideally a cost per channel, with maybe three different tiered channel prices?
I respectfully disagree. I looked up Foxtel's website to see what they charge and get renowned for being a rip off.
$25 gets you 40 channels, with MTV, discovery, Nat Geo, Disney, nick and heaps of branded news, sports, movie, music, drama, and entertainment channels.
that is approx 60c a channel.
add a pack like entertainment or doco pack which gives approx 10 channels for $10.
they are $1 / channel
or a premium drama pack with HBO, BBC, FX (walking dead) which is 5-6 channels for $20
they are $4 / channel
they are all only 1 stream in the house and HD is a spotty mix.
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Disney channels ranged from 60c to $1 each
so these content companies already accept $1 for one screen
why would they suddenly want to charge $10 a channel or even $5 a channel.
and why bundle? that is the old way. just as albums were the old way.
( edit: even their every channel plan with as much as they can stream in HD and with mobile device streaming is $134 for 92 channels at only $1.45 average per channel)
( edit2: even their no lock in month to month option has a base price of $2 real channel, $1 blah channel. with a drama/movie channels add on that looks like @$20/mth $1 per genre channel and $3 per premium channel)
This is (yes, all of it) total BS.
I don't believe this will happen. It would be a complete failure if it did. And Apple don't do failure.
I agree. They can't just repackage cable as is and expect anyone to care. I don't want to buy 15 channels to get the one I want. That's what's wrong with cable.
This is going to be what Happens!!! Just look at SLINGS service for example. It starts at $20, but if you want the Syfy, that's in another bundle. This is how they get you. The More popular ones people want are in the highest costing bundle and most of the other channels you don't give a crap about. I didn't cut the cord from Comcast to then start paying Apple $30-$40 a month to start. you might as well get cable and get more channels for your money. More Disney Channels just means more cost!!!! Disney isn't the only one that's going to force this crap either. I can just do with NONE OF IT!!! You going to keep forcing all this crap on me I don't want, there's ways to get anything I want for free commercial free and automatically getting it and ready to play in a matter of a few hours of it being on LIVE without lifting a finger!!!! A few pieces of software and some setup time and it's all automatic after. No torrenting needed, but is a option. As they say, a 100 channels and nothing but crap.
they aren't going to disrupt anything with this are they, I know inside you are right. I just wish it were different.
Well, you can get Popcorn Time on iOS now, and no jailbreak required. That'll be cheap enough. Does Apple approve? Probably not.
The studios don't approve of PT either; and hence the ISPs don't approve.
No rug rats in my house. I have no need for any form of Disney Channel and do not wish to subsidize those channels. The promise of the Internet is to avoid this kind of thuggery.
Of course. They aren't going to give up a high-paying revenue stream for a lower-paying one unless they have no alternative. What they will be facing over the next several decades anyway is a declining population, which means fewer potential subscribers.
Say what? U.S. population growth is declining but the population overall is still increasing and will for decades.
In any case the rumours around this new approach to the Apple TV do not inspire. Quite the contrary in fact. At least there might be a chance of an App Store. The TV offerings rumored sound no better than cable and do nothing to get rid of TV's addiction to ads which have contributed to ruining network viewing.
A reasonable compromise would be to make the extra channels available as add-ons at attractively low prices. The price difference can be higher than if they were bundled in, but seem cheaper because the core price is the headline consideration.