Apple TV+ to reportedly launch in November for $9.99 a month

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited August 2019
A report on Monday puts a date to Apple's upcoming Apple TV+ launch, saying current plans are to launch the subscription service in November for a monthly fee of $9.99.


Steven Spielberg at Apple's special video event in March.


Citing sources familiar with Apple's plans, Bloomberg reports the streaming service debut will arrive in November with a limited slate of shows. Following Apple's services rubric, the video product will likely be offered as a free trial as more shows are added over the coming months.

Apple TV+ is said to launch with a reboot of Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories," a series about unusual homes called "Homes," news drama "The Morning Show," Jason Momoa vehicle "See" and "Truth Be Told." Other shows are in the works and should hit Apple TV+ over the next year.

Unlike Netflix and Amazon, which air entire series at one go, Apple is thinking about releasing three episodes of a given show on day one and following up with weekly installments, the report said. Segment competitor Hulu typically follows a weekly release schedule like those adopted by broadcast and cable channels.

The report is less clear on a subscription price for Apple TV+, saying Apple is mulling a monthly fee of $9.99. If true, Apple would field three subscription services -- Apple Music, Apple News and Apple TV+ -- for the same going rate.

Echoing recent reports, Bloomberg sources say Apple is spending big on new content in a bid to lure customers away from incumbents like Netflix and Amazon. For example, the company is supposedly spending some $300 million for two seasons of the star-studded "The Morning Show."

Earlier today, the Financial Times claimed Apple committed $6 billion to original programming. The sum is a far cry from an estimated $15 billion Netflix intends to spend this year, but is well over initial expectations of a $1 billion outlay from Apple.

Apple TV+ was unveiled at a special event in March, where Apple trotted out Hollywood celebrities attached to its various projects. Directors Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams, actors Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, Jason Momoa and Reese Witherspoon, and Oprah Winfrey took the stage to introduce upcoming shows, series and specials.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 27
      $9.99 per month for a slew of new shows but no existing series?  What about free hit movies?  Seems like this is going to be a long slow journey for Apple.
    philboogiesdw2001razorpitjahbladecornchipchemengin1
  • Reply 2 of 27
    Flop.

    I really think Apple are missing the mark on this.  I’m confident - in a years time - they will have to rethink 
    this strategy.
    philboogierazorpitflyingdpcflcardsfan80bigtdscornchipchemengin1
  • Reply 3 of 27
    AF_HittAF_Hitt Posts: 143member
    Flop.

    I really think Apple are missing the mark on this.  I’m confident - in a years time - they will have to rethink 
    this strategy.
    Yeah, I'm not seeing the mass appeal here. Netflix has some pretty great, established original shows, as does HBO. Disney+ is both cheaper, has a huge back catalog, and the original shows look very appealing so far. Apple's entire "services" pitch is, I think, going to struggle pretty bad. News+, Apple Arcade, and this are nowhere near anything I would actually spend money on.
    trashman69razorpitAbove_The_Godsjahbladechemengin1
  • Reply 4 of 27
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,056member
    AF_Hitt said:
    Flop.

    I really think Apple are missing the mark on this.  I’m confident - in a years time - they will have to rethink 
    this strategy.
    Yeah, I'm not seeing the mass appeal here. Netflix has some pretty great, established original shows, as does HBO. Disney+ is both cheaper, has a huge back catalog, and the original shows look very appealing so far. Apple's entire "services" pitch is, I think, going to struggle pretty bad. News+, Apple Arcade, and this are nowhere near anything I would actually spend money on.
    I just don't think a subscription model works here. If Apple wants to make new content, great. I'm all for it, and if well done, maybe it is worth buying. But I'm all subscriptionsed out. Sell me a series I might be interested in at a fair price, and I might be interested. They will lose me at "subscription." Nope. 
    flyingdpjahbladecornchipchemengin1
  • Reply 5 of 27
    mattinozmattinoz Posts: 2,299member
    Amazon Prime all by itself is only $4 in Aus. Given relative catalogue of content surely Apple really can't go any higher than this either. 

    Even at this price Prime is looking like it's a 2 months a year kind of service due to content limitations like many of the other players in the market. Apple really need a rabbit in the hat to be more than a 2month casual subscription. 

    flyingdpentropyswatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 27
    I feel like Apple Arcade is a much better deal. 5 dollars a month for exclusive games that I legit can't get anywhere else. Whereas Apple TV+ is going to be 10 dollars a month for probably one new show a month? I mean maybe they're going to air these week to week, which means we'll have four or five new episodes a week? Even then that's not that much content, and that's assuming I'm going to like EVERYTHING, which I probably won't. Also if I try it out, cool I either get a few shows that I can binge, and then have nothing, or worse I have a few episodes I can watch, and then nothing. And best of all, there will be ways to get this content without paying. Apple Arcade? Those are games that won't be available anywhere else, and will likely not be easy to pirate. Apple TV+? Yeah that's going to be on torrent sites and other places within hours. At this point they have a small enough amount of content that you can't build a service out of it. Sure they might not need a TON of content, they might be relying on the fact that people are also going to have Netflix, Hulu, Disney, Prime and HBO, but at that point you're limiting yourself to just being that streaming service that gets added on when other people have already subscribed to everything else.
  • Reply 7 of 27
    Seems difficult to swallow $10 a month with no catalog to speak of. They should follow Amazon's lead in introducing this as an added perk to existing services, much like Prime Video was to Amazon Prime (and even so, they did launch with catalog). Surely they will at least introduce some kind of bundle for Music, News and TV+? Seems especially crazy in comparison with the Disney+ offering, which is priced much lower with the entire Disney vault behind it.
    edited August 2019 razorpitjahbladecornchip
  • Reply 8 of 27
    We are going to get 'storied' out. I'm still on the first season of Glee
    philboogiecornchiptokyojimu
  • Reply 9 of 27
    Apple may be in for a rude awakening if they charge $10/month for a starting lineup of 5 sub par or average shows that seem to me will struggle to find a huge audience. They would do well to include access to the entire iTunes video library at that price, just like what they are doing with Apple Music. I mean honestly, they would have to be INSANE if they think this will fly with just those five shows. $10/month for Apple News+, $10/month for Apple Music, $10/month for Apple TV+, $5/month for Apple Arcade. They should optionally bundle it all for about $20-25/month and go from there.
    trashman69razorpitflyingdpmattinozcornchipABiteaDaychemengin1
  • Reply 10 of 27
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,408member
    tenchi211 said:
    Apple may be in for a rude awakening if they charge $10/month for a starting lineup of 5 sub par or average shows that seem to me will struggle to find a huge audience. They would do well to include access to the entire iTunes video library at that price, just like what they are doing with Apple Music. I mean honestly, they would have to be INSANE if they think this will fly with just those five shows. $10/month for Apple News+, $10/month for Apple Music, $10/month for Apple TV+, $5/month for Apple Arcade. They should optionally bundle it all for about $20-25/month and go from there.
    Maybe not the entire library, but I was expecting them to work stuff out with certain studios/properties and rotate existing content in and out like Netflix and Prime do. As their catalog grows, that'll be less necessary, but seems like a no brainer to get this thing off the ground. It's going to be a hard sell with such a limited launch lineup.
    flyingdp
  • Reply 11 of 27
    firelockfirelock Posts: 238member
    The only show that I am interested in so far in their line up is "For All Mankind." Not sure that I will pony up $120/year just for that. "The Morning Show" looks terrible, and expensive with its star-studded cast. Unless Apple offers up something from its vast iTunes library as part of the deal I’m just not seeing the value here.
    edited August 2019 Carmborazorpitwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 27
    AF_Hitt said:
    Flop.

    I really think Apple are missing the mark on this.  I’m confident - in a years time - they will have to rethink 
    this strategy.
    Yeah, I'm not seeing the mass appeal here. Netflix has some pretty great, established original shows... Apple's entire "services" pitch is, I think, going to struggle pretty bad. News+, Apple Arcade, and this are nowhere near anything I would actually spend money on.
    I must admit that I also expected Apple to come in at about $5.99, to begin with, and then slowly increase as their library builds up and starts to compete with the other streaming services.

    That said, Apple's "services business" alone is already more than twice as big as Netflix's entire business, judging from last quarter's reported revenues... and it is only going to get bigger (Apple's services revenue is growing at almost 20% per year, while Netflix has had to raise $2.2 billion in further debt since October 2018).

    The problem that Netflix has is the same problem that Spotify has... they do not have another source of revenue with which to subsidise the growth of their main business, so it is funded on mounting debt. This is not a bad thing if there is a point in the future where revenues start to exceed expenses - but the streaming wars are just beginning, and all the services are going to be spending more and more on original content over the next decade or so. Amazon and Apple, on the other hand, can run their streaming services at a loss or break-even for the next decade (subsidised by their other revenue streams) while they build up their libraries to more competitive levels. That is why I expected Apple to launch at about $5.99.

    If Apple launch at $9.99 and a library of 20-odd middling shows, then it is going to be a long slow journey for them. But if they have one or two Game of Thrones level blockbusters, the total number of shows may not matter so much. People will pay the $9.99 a month so that they can escape reality to an Apple-made fantasy world for a few hours a week if Apple delivers a reasonably compelling fantasy story for them to believe in.
    lolliverfastasleepwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 27
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    The $9.99 price is a bit steep for such little content. Disney Plus is going to be $7/month and that includes 100's of movies and thousands of episodes of TV shows. If you get the bundle package for $3 more than what Apple is charging, you get ESPN Plus, Disney Plus, and Hulu. Hopefully Apple considers a bundle package with TV, News, and Apple Music. 
  • Reply 14 of 27
    CarmboCarmbo Posts: 26unconfirmed, member
    If the only product offered consists of a handful of Apple productions, charging anything close to $10 a month is suicide. Not doing a lot of content can work if the price is right. $10 is not that right price. Period. 

  • Reply 15 of 27
    CarmboCarmbo Posts: 26unconfirmed, member
    If the only product offered consists of a handful of Apple productions, charging anything close to $10 a month is suicide. Not doing a lot of content can work if the price is right. $10 is not that right price. Period. 

  • Reply 16 of 27
    AppleExposedAppleExposed Posts: 1,805unconfirmed, member
    The doubters are reminiscent of every damn successful Apple product.

    "I don't want a watch!"
    "Market already saturated!"
    "Too expensive!"
     "Why would I want an iPhone when my Nokia works perfectly fine?"

    I feel like Apple Arcade is a much better deal. 5 dollars a month for exclusive games that I legit can't get anywhere else. Whereas Apple TV+ is going to be 10 dollars a month for probably one new show a month? I mean maybe they're going to air these week to week, which means we'll have four or five new episodes a week? Even then that's not that much content, and that's assuming I'm going to like EVERYTHING, which I probably won't. Also if I try it out, cool I either get a few shows that I can binge, and then have nothing, or worse I have a few episodes I can watch, and then nothing. And best of all, there will be ways to get this content without paying. Apple Arcade? Those are games that won't be available anywhere else, and will likely not be easy to pirate. Apple TV+? Yeah that's going to be on torrent sites and other places within hours. At this point they have a small enough amount of content that you can't build a service out of it. Sure they might not need a TON of content, they might be relying on the fact that people are also going to have Netflix, Hulu, Disney, Prime and HBO, but at that point you're limiting yourself to just being that streaming service that gets added on when other people have already subscribed to everything else.

    So much hypocrisy. You realize TV+ is ALSO offering content "that won't be available anywhere else"?
    Actually TV+ content is even more exclusive as some Arcade games are available on consoles already.

    "and that's assuming I'm going to like EVERYTHING"

    Same logic with Arcade. What makes you assume you'll like EVERYTHING on Apple Arcade?
    n2itivguyStrangeDaystmaywatto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 27
    bushman4bushman4 Posts: 858member
    Don't just look at the price of $9.99  Lets see what the content they're offering is all about
    n2itivguyStrangeDayscornchip
  • Reply 18 of 27
    bushman4 said:
    Don't just look at the price of $9.99  Lets see what the content they're offering is all about

    Sanity!
    StrangeDaysentropyscornchipwatto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 27
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    tenchi211 said:
    Apple may be in for a rude awakening if they charge $10/month for a starting lineup of 5 sub par or average shows that seem to me will struggle to find a huge audience. 
    LOL, the shows aren’t even out yet, no one has seen them, yet you feel qualified to state them as subpar. Complete intellectual dishonesty on parade. 
    fastasleepbeowulfschmidtcornchipwatto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 27
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,152member
    bushman4 said:
    Don't just look at the price of $9.99  Lets see what the content they're offering is all about
    Sure, although I am worried what “limited slate of shows” means in an already crowded market.
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