Apple TV+ to launch as for-pay subscription service, Cook suggests
Potentially ending months of speculation surrounding Apple's planned pricing policy for Apple TV+, Apple CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday hinted that the upcoming original content service will be available on a subscription basis.
Fielding questions on Apple's recent push into services during an investor conference call, Cook likened Apple TV+ to an over-the-top product similar to those offered by major networks and content holders.
"The TV+ product plays in a market where there's a huge move from the cable bundle to over-the-top," Cook said. "We think that most users are going to get multiple over-the-top products and we're going to do our best to convince them that the Apple TV+ product should be one of them."
Unlike cable subscription schemes, over-the-top streaming services provide users a la carte access to TV and movie content. Typically, the offering is limited to an individual service, channel or group of channels owned by a content holder and is therefore cheaper than traditional cable tiers. Further, over-the-top systems are cost efficient in that viewers pay only for the content they want, rather than a bundle that includes channels that might go unwatched.
Apple unveiled Apple TV+ at a special event in March, but failed to disclose details on pricing.
As part of a "sneak peek" at programming set to debut on the service, Apple trotted out A-list Hollywood stars like Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell and Jason Momoa to present first looks at their forthcoming projects.
Rumors claimed the TV+ would be a free, value-added service available to Apple device owners through the new TV app, with Apple generating revenue on its investment via subscriptions sold to third-party services. Previous reports said the company at one point mulled a bundle that would integrate TV+ with Apple News+ and Apple Music.
Judging by Cook's statements today, it appears Apple TV+ will instead be listed as a for-pay subscription solution, putting it in competition with the likes of Netflix and Hulu.
Apple TV+ is slated to launch this fall.
Fielding questions on Apple's recent push into services during an investor conference call, Cook likened Apple TV+ to an over-the-top product similar to those offered by major networks and content holders.
"The TV+ product plays in a market where there's a huge move from the cable bundle to over-the-top," Cook said. "We think that most users are going to get multiple over-the-top products and we're going to do our best to convince them that the Apple TV+ product should be one of them."
Unlike cable subscription schemes, over-the-top streaming services provide users a la carte access to TV and movie content. Typically, the offering is limited to an individual service, channel or group of channels owned by a content holder and is therefore cheaper than traditional cable tiers. Further, over-the-top systems are cost efficient in that viewers pay only for the content they want, rather than a bundle that includes channels that might go unwatched.
Apple unveiled Apple TV+ at a special event in March, but failed to disclose details on pricing.
As part of a "sneak peek" at programming set to debut on the service, Apple trotted out A-list Hollywood stars like Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell and Jason Momoa to present first looks at their forthcoming projects.
Rumors claimed the TV+ would be a free, value-added service available to Apple device owners through the new TV app, with Apple generating revenue on its investment via subscriptions sold to third-party services. Previous reports said the company at one point mulled a bundle that would integrate TV+ with Apple News+ and Apple Music.
Judging by Cook's statements today, it appears Apple TV+ will instead be listed as a for-pay subscription solution, putting it in competition with the likes of Netflix and Hulu.
Apple TV+ is slated to launch this fall.
Comments
Look at CBS All Access, they launched their pay service relying on basically one show, the new Star Trek reboot, which they heavily promoted. I tried that free for a month by the way, and I wasn't feeling the new Star Trek, and it wasn't worth paying anything for, in my opinion.
Will I pay for Apple TV+? I have no idea. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. I subscribe to plenty of different services from time to time. It depends on how attractive I find their offerings to be and what the cost will be.
Apple isn't stupid. They know who their competitors are in that area and what they offer, so like I said, we shall see what happens when it rolls out.
Well... sort of, but not really. There's a confound here, between the monopolist profits extracted by local cable companies and the actual economic efficiency of the distribution model. The cable model -- or something close to it -- actually might be most efficient if you take out the monopolist price gouging.
I think the most efficient model would be something more like Apple Music. You pay a low, flat price and have access to ALL music. The share of the flat fee that content producers receive is proportional to the popularity of their music.
I would prefer a similar model for video, where I pay a low flat fee and then have access to ALL video from all producers.
It's really not all that efficient to need separate arrangements with different producers in order to gain access to all of the content you want.
The only reason it might seem more efficient is that we avoid the monopolist price gouging.
It kind of reminds me in a way of how the mainframe model of computing appeared inefficient, but actually it was just IBM price gouging that made it appear inefficient. It's actually very efficient, which is why "the cloud" is now all the rage. AWS is really just a giant mainframe. But I digress...
Tim Cook is going to find out that Disney already owns the Disney market and HBO owns the HBO market. AT&T now owns the Warner library and Disney the Disney and Fox library of content. Disney has ESPN and AT&T has CNN. Exactly what special thing does Apple have to bring?
Key to that is how much is current sales and rental generating for content owners. If it’s been declining, why not like Apple Music, move towards subscription based.
Seriously!? So Tim Cook is going to be surprised by something that you in some way have already figured out and completely understand, and that he is still in the dark about?
What everyone seems to miss is that Apple’s service is not just Apple’s content, Apple TV+ is about bring together multiple distributors under a single roof. There’s no reason Disney won’t be able to offer their content through Apple’s service. Same goes for HBO. Yes, each will have their own subscription accounts, but having all that content in one central location is what’s going to make Apple’s service stand out from everyone else. Apple is effectively creating a streaming cable service, where consumers get to pick which “channels” (services) they want to pay for. And regardless of which device they’re using (Apple TV, Samsung TV, Sony TV, etc), all that content will be available in the Apple TV+ app on that device.
So, if anything TV+ is going to be huge for people who subscribe to more than one streaming service, provided those services are available in the TV+ service.
remember when iTunes for windows exploded iPod sales?
I didn't think so... (glass of icewater for someone in hell).
TV+ is an anchor thrown to a drowning man...
No, I will not pay for it. I will not pay for CBS. I will not pay for Disney. I will not pay for YouTube, or Hulu, or any of the other endless “we want a piece of this pie, too” subscription service feeding frenzy all these studios/networks, etc, think we all should be paying separately for. I’m not paying for basic cable or premium channels. I don’t even have broadcast TV and don’t miss it. I’m paying for Netflix. It’s the ONE subscription service for entertainment that I have allowed to be in addition to all of my other monthly bills. I’m not adding yet another bill, just so some other company can have their finger in the pie of “services”. Eventually every dog damned company will have their own separate video service... and every software company will be expecting us to subscribe to every piece of software... What a stupid train wreck. Stupid New World.
Let them battle it out, compete on content, compete on price and compete for customers.
Just because Netflix was one of the first, that doesn't mean that it's the only choice around. I subscribed to Netflix for many years, but stopped a couple of years ago, because I don't like their direction and their political content. The price also keeps increasing and currently it's $13 for HD and $16 for 4k. I currently have Amazon Prime, which is not bad at all and much better than it was a few years ago. I also have Hulu, which I got for so cheap at $1 a month for 12 months, that I couldn't turn it down.
Many people also jump around, they can have Netflix for one month, Hulu the next, whatever the next, etc.
Disney coming out for $7 a month will no doubt attract many customers, even though it might not be exactly my cup of tea.
If you ask me, then Apple makes the best computers and devices in the entire world, but they're basically totally unproven in this new area that they're entering. I think that if Apple is smart, then they won't make the price too high per month, especially since it's a brand new service, and they don't have any huge things in their portfolio yet. Apple has a lot of customers now. Price it at a reasonable, good price, think of the competition and try to get a ton of viewers.
Most important in my opinion, is that Apple needs to deliver on making a bunch of quality content.
I want to see HBO level content coming from Apple. I'm thinking of Sopranos, The Wire, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire and more. All very high quality content that spans many seasons.
https://www.apple.com/apple-tv-app/
https://www.apple.com/apple-tv-plus/
It shouldn’t be surprising if tv+ (Apple TV+) is bundled with most premium subscriptions within the tv (Apple TV) app. I don’t think Cook’s remarks preclude that. It will be available by itself, but most people who buy into the Apple TV app will already have it.
There’s something else stated on those pages that is significant, albeit obvious — at the bottom of the Apple TV+ page, it says “Exclusively on the tv app.” So Apple won’t be making this content available to competitors, which should not be a surprise to anyone, ever...
As Apple points out, they have the best story tellers.
People around the world will choose different OTT offerings for different reasons.
I bet the Apple TV app will be the platform of choice to watch them all because of it's ease of use and SIRI AI integration.
TV is offered and consumed very differently in different countries but Apple has managed integrate the various platforms under the AppleTV app.
AppleTV app will do for videos what iTunes did for music.
Not exactly correct. ATV+ is specifically Apple's in-house produced original content. What you're referring to is Apple TV Channels which will debut in the new Apple TV app middle of May