My guess is that Apple had to step in; they gathered initial subscribers for zero subscription fees last year but the annual subscriptions are going to end soon and I bet many won’t renew due to the very limited amount of content they can offer.
By bundling HBO and Showtime, they can offer more overall value which is a time sensitive endeavor. Apple is probably losing money on each subscription renewal and new subscriber for the time being, paying HBO and Showtime out of their own pockets.
It’s an investment; they lose money for now but buy time to create a more attractive Apple+ library and product proposition, potentially keeping way more existing subscribers and attracting new ones. A critical mass of subscribers is everything in this game.
Apple need to up their game on original content, not just spend bucketloads of money on dubious quality series just because the directors or actors are famous. They need to cut loses too. Renewing all of their launch products is dubious but they did it on the first week. Maybe that’s the expected contract. I wouldn’t expect a season 3 of any of the launch shows, even the morning show.
They also need to lower their expectations and produce cheaper tv shows and movies. And lose the preachy tone. I believe if I turn on Oprah, someone I would never watch, I can hear a multi billionaire lecture me about privilege. Then there’s the little America show, also preachy. Visible, preachy. Dear.. also preachy.
The reason I don’t watch Oprah is twofold. I don’t watch afternoon tv and if I did I’d watch non American stuff. The idea that Oprah is world famous is just not true. In the UK she is in the TLC channel with a reach of 0.25% and that is probably her best showing in Europe. Her fame is a bit higher than that statistic because sometimes fame in the US translates, but that doesn’t mean anybody is addicted to her show, or will subscribe to Apple TV+ to hear her preach their privilege from her private yacht. Yet Apple spent multiple millions on her.
Another example of American bias is this show bc about world famous athletes.
All US based, except Bolt, as far as I can see. Also it overestimates the pulling power of Olympic athletes. We care about them every 4 years. In most sports in the Olympic a gold medal gets you local fame.
Not that documentaries about real world famous superstars like Messi or Ronaldo would be interesting either. They are skilled players not interesting people as any of the many documentaries on them would attest.
We currently have CBS All Access (ad-free) mainly because we don't have any over the air antenna reception in our location. And we don't want to pay for satellite or cable preferring instead to stream Britbox and Acorn (dropped Netflix owing to higher cost). So if this comes to pass and we're able to bundle the three for what CBS All Access alone costs (and still maintain ad-free content), this is definitely a good deal.
I hope they will fix the limitations of the CBS All Access tv channel — due to some confusion among my family’s Apple IDs, we ended up subscribing to both the CBS tvOS app and the tv channel.
The tvOS app has four live feeds, while the tv channel only has one. [We have YouTube TV for live television.] The app also handled the recent/ongoing Champions League broadcasts better, with upcoming events clearly indicated, while there was no indication inside the channel that the matches would appear — when they did, they were hard to find.
Thus, we chose to allow the tv channel to expire, while keeping the tvOS subscription.
They should still make offers to acquire the studios and libraries of Sony Pictures, MGM and/or niche library companies like Turner Classics or Criterion.
I was surprised that Apple launched TV+ without first acquiring at least a small library to provide a little depth to their offering.
Same here. The offerings are still quite paltry. Once you pick and choose and go through their mix of “free” programming on the ATV+ section of the app service, everything else costs money. That’s ridiculous compared to any other large service, including Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video. In addition, Apple TV+ now must compete with some fairly decent ad-supported “free” services like Peacock and Pluto TV (all of which I’ve tried).
It’s not ridiculous at all. IMO other than Netflix or maybe HBO, the normal way to use these services is to pay the monthly fee until you’ve finished a tent pole show, then stop it. Resume again later. Take Showtime — once a season of Homeland ends, there’s little reason to keep paying. Same with Star Trek on CBS. ATV+ is cheap enough for me to pay to continue a season of a show or shows, such as For All Mankind, See, etc... $5 is great.
The idea with this bundle may be to get more people to buy the bundle and leave it on, if the tent pole shows are staggered.
The trade papers report that the now merged ViacomCBS will be rebranding the CBS All Access service. My guess is that this is an interim step as Showtime was a CBS property sold apart from the CBS/Paramount content.
I want to get away from bundles and want a la carte, which apparently the companies that own most of the content seem willing to avoid at all costs.
Comments
Another example of American bias is this show bc about world famous athletes.
All US based, except Bolt, as far as I can see. Also it overestimates the pulling power of Olympic athletes. We care about them every 4 years. In most sports in the Olympic a gold medal gets you local fame.
Thus, we chose to allow the tv channel to expire, while keeping the tvOS subscription.
The idea with this bundle may be to get more people to buy the bundle and leave it on, if the tent pole shows are staggered.
My guess is that this is an interim step as Showtime was a CBS property sold apart from the CBS/Paramount content.
I want to get away from bundles and want a la carte, which apparently the companies that own most of the content seem willing to avoid at all costs.