Apple pitches $30 a month iTunes TV subscriptions - report

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  • Reply 41 of 188
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tumme-totte View Post


    I would take it ASAP. I'm in Sweden though and here Apple really need to accelerate if they want to take a seat worth defending in the long run!!!



    I actually have to agree. Apple came in fairly early to the digital downloads game, but they flounder along with very weak offering. AppleTV needs to step up the game in their partnerships, subscriptions and mystifyingly absent DVR capabilities. Nearly any of these things added would make for a more compelling product.
  • Reply 42 of 188
    The argument to not pay for an ATV subscription when you can watch your shows for free may be irrelevant. Last months the LA Times and other news agencies reported that a paid subscription plan may be in the works for Hulu. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...0,980649.story



    Furthermore, the vast majority of shows on cable hold little or no interest for for large chunks of the population. As in most people who are avid fans of Lifetime programing are less likely to be huge History Channel buffs. As a result if you could choice for example 15 show or 5 channels a month to subscribe to for $30 and be able to watch them on your iPhone, Computer, or in your Living Room, i would totally drop cable. The vast majority of cable channels hold little or no interest to me and i would be willing to drop them and the high price cable is charging for the privilege of saying I have 100+ channels of viewing pleasure, even though I only watch a handful of them regularly. This structure would also allow channels to receive payment based on the proportion of subscribers that are watching their channel, instead of just a flat cut of the subscription fee.



    The biggest hurdle I can see however, is the increased demand that cable providers will have on their internet lines while loosing cable customers. This will likely correlate to high internet cost.
  • Reply 43 of 188
    I also want to watch any TV show or movie found on any channel in the world. Some of us know (or want to learn) another language besides English, so why not? Chinese or Russian or German or Italian or <insert your language here> would be cool. Why should Hollywood be excluded from free trade agreements?



    Why should I be restricted to content that is found on (mostly) crappy American cable TV channels. I do not want to be forced into buying a "package" of mostly crappy channels that I don't want. I also do not want to do a "pay per view" for each program. IF "pay per view" were such a great idea, then it would dominate the cable TV market.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by joe in miami View Post


    Something similar to Sirius - $14.99/month including movies, new and old, HD, watch anywhere (TV, iPod, iPhone). Add iTunes Music for only $4.99 extra month. $19.99 for the whole iTunes library.



  • Reply 44 of 188
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kd1 View Post


    Hulu is moving to a paid subscription model. Bye bye free internet TV.



    False. Hulu will continue to serve free contents. It will, however, start offering premium contents for a price.
  • Reply 45 of 188
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    $30 on top of my monthly cable bill- I don't think so. OPen the AppleTV up already- let us decide where we want to get our entertainment, not Apple. Put Safari on ATV and let me determine how I want to be entertained, not iTunes.



    And BTW- kind of hypocritical how you all are for this subscription model for video but cried to high heaven when Microsoft offered subscription music for their Zune.
  • Reply 46 of 188
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    My cunning plan is panning out nicely. Soon... world domination!
  • Reply 47 of 188
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    $30 on top of my month'y cable bill- I don't think so.



    Oh here he goes again. Seriously, if Apple upsets you this much it's probably not the best forum to visit everyday. And by the way, the real plan isn't to have this on top of your cable service, but to be a cable competitor, some place down the line. They'll probably have a basic plan for $30, and a full plan for $50, with everything you'd normally get on cable, all shows, and live sports and news. That would be ideal, but I assume difficult to get inked.
  • Reply 48 of 188
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bdkennedy1 View Post


    I don't understand this at all. Why would I pay $30 a month for something I can get for free? I can go to Hulu.com and watch hundreds of TV shows for free.



    Huh!?! So if you could select any show from any network (or the ones who agree to allow it) whenever you want, you wouldn't pay $30/month for the service? I would drop my DirecTV service in a heartbeat for this! Hulu is going toward a paid service for up-to-date content, so you won't be doing that for free much longer. Plus, it's only a couple networks' content.



    Apple has an advantage b/c they have over 65 million consumers that use iTunes. The are the world leader for the online music service. If you couple this with the TV networks, it could be a huge success.



    CableTV is migrating toward online distribution anyway, so the first company to successfully integrate all of this will be the dominant company. Apple is very capable of combining all of these variables to offer a great ecosystem for media. It may not happen right away, but I foresee Apple being a major player with this in the coming year/years!
  • Reply 49 of 188
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MaineApple View Post


    The biggest hurdle I can see however, is the increased demand that cable providers will have on their internet lines while loosing cable customers. This will likely correlate to high internet cost.



    The cable companies have us captured anyway. If you want live sports, financial news, local news, and high speed internet, you have to use them. Sure satellite + dsl is an option but dsl isn't all that fast especially for downloading video from iTunes Store - and satellite isn't always perfect either. A few neighborhoods have Fios but it is not that widespread yet.



    The cable companies aren't in the business of letting us choose á la carte programming. You get the movie channel package or the sports package or the whatever package. They hope that you will find one program in each package indispensable so you order the everything package for $100+ per month and they still get to sell you pay-per-view.



    TV is an addiction and they are the crack dealers. But sure if you just wanted stand alone high-speed Internet the cost will be much higher than when combined with TV service or phone as well.
  • Reply 50 of 188
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ascii View Post


    If you had access to *all* the TV shows on iTunes for that price it might be worth it.



    This happens and I might actually use iTunes for more than Music and the RARE video rental.



    I want NBC and BBC (real BBC not BBCA) so I can watch the new episodes of Top Gear.
  • Reply 51 of 188
    I have to disagree with those folks saying "nobody" will cancel their cable/satellite because of sports. There are lots of people who don't watch ANY sports or care about seeing them live (ie - don't gamble on them).



    Sports broadcasting is just one niche of all TV programming.
  • Reply 52 of 188
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    The cable companies have us captured anyway. If you want live sports, financial news, local news, and high speed internet, you have to use them. Sure satellite + dsl is an option but dsl isn't all that fast especially for downloading video from iTunes Store - and satellite isn't always perfect either. A few neighborhoods have Fios but it is not that widespread yet.



    The cable companies aren't in the business of letting us choose á la carte programming. You get the movie channel package or the sports package or the whatever package. They hope that you will find one program in each package indispensable so you order the everything package for $100+ per month and they still get to sell you pay-per-view.



    TV is an addiction and they are the crack dealers. But sure if you just wanted stand alone high-speed Internet the cost will be much higher than when combined with TV service or phone as well.



    FIOSS cost/cost compared to Comcast in PA... Less than half the speed. You'll NEVER reach the advertised speeds. The 20/10 plan barely reaches 9/1.
  • Reply 53 of 188
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cory Bauer View Post


    At $30, I only see this being an attractive offer if the selection isn't limited to only certain shows, and can be streamed instantly in both iTunes and on Apple TV (as opposed to having to download the entire episode in HD and SD first ? annoying). If Apple was smart, they'd be working to include iTunes streaming on other manufacturers' televisions, set top boxes and game consoles in the same fashion that Netflix and Blockbuster streaming is finding it's way into all of those devices. They're going to get nowhere fast if they keep trying to sell everyone an $230 Apple TV.



    The download of SD and HD is so you have something to play at home and something to play on the go. An HD file is a lot bigger and would consume a tremendous amount of power if you were able to play it on a handheld device.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I can?t say I see a comparison between the two. I think a subscription model for TV rentals is long overdue.



    I'd like to see offering rentals in the first place. I don't think I want the subscription though.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by saarek View Post


    All I want is unlimited movie rentals for a set fee, I spend £15 (around $40) a month renting in DVD's from Lovefilm.com, I'd buy an Apple TV if they set this up.



    Do you mean Singapore dollars? I know the USD is down, but according to XE.com, £15 is currently worth $24.55, not US$40.
  • Reply 54 of 188
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I can?t say I see a comparison between the two. I think a subscription model for TV rentals is long overdue.



    OMG we agree on something. Did the clocks stop...lol
  • Reply 55 of 188
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by YodaMac View Post


    I have to disagree with those folks saying "nobody" will cancel their cable/satellite because of sports. There are lots of people who don't watch ANY sports or care about seeing them live (ie - don't gamble on them).



    Sports broadcasting is just one niche of all TV programming.



    I watched the 24hr LeMan's this year with BOTH Speed TV and Speed Online (you had to switch when they took it off the air to the web and vice-versa). That was cool. The 4yr old couldn't do it 24hrs straight but I did. Went to bed at 11am Sunday. LOL



    iTunes doesn't have nearly the amount of programming TV does and besides isn't the TV on iTunes not available until the day after it airs?
  • Reply 56 of 188
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by extremeskater View Post


    OMG we agree on something. Did the clocks stop...lol



    They did! For 1 hour Saturday Night!
  • Reply 57 of 188
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    The cable companies have us captured anyway. If you want live sports, financial news, local news, and high speed internet, you have to use them. Sure satellite + dsl is an option but dsl isn't all that fast especially for downloading video from iTunes Store - and satellite isn't always perfect either. A few neighborhoods have Fios but it is not that widespread yet.



    The cable companies aren't in the business of letting us choose á la carte programming. You get the movie channel package or the sports package or the whatever package. They hope that you will find one program in each package indispensable so you order the everything package for $100+ per month and they still get to sell you pay-per-view.



    TV is an addiction and they are the crack dealers. But sure if you just wanted stand alone high-speed Internet the cost will be much higher than when combined with TV service or phone as well.



    Yeah it seems like DSL is going to be stuck at 6meg download while I am now getting 30meg from Cable. I would love for FIOS to make it to my area but I don't see that happening anytime soon.
  • Reply 58 of 188
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by xwiredtva View Post


    They did! For 1 hour Saturday Night!



    Yeah thats true and its drepressing how early it gets dark now.
  • Reply 59 of 188
    If the goal was to pick off the dollars that customers currently allocated towards pay-channels; namely, HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc. it might work if for no other reason than when Tablet comes out you could have a TV anywhere offering to view same content on iPhone, Tablet, Desktop and Apple TV for one price.



    I do agree with others, though, that it sets up somewhat of an ALL-or-NONE as to whether same price includes Movies/TV and Music.



    Some fodder on this one in my post:



    Apple, TV and the Smart, Connected Living Room

    http://bit.ly/k4rOf



    Check it out, if interested.



    Mark
  • Reply 60 of 188
    dcj001dcj001 Posts: 301member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bdkennedy1 View Post


    I don't understand this at all. Why would I pay $30 a month for something I can get for free? I can go to Hulu.com and watch hundreds of TV shows for free.



    If you get it for free, you'll watch what they give you to see.



    If you pay for it, you'll watch what you want to see.
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