“According to All Things Digital’s Peter Kafka, Apple has been trying to convince programmerrs to make their shows available as part of a subscription, available via iTunes. The monthly price would be around $30, he reports,” Burrows reports.
“No company is as well positioned to satisfy this demand than Apple. Many carriers have plans to make their content available in more numerous, and interesting ways… But only Apple has iTunes. Hundreds of millions of people have tthis program installed on their PCs, Macs, iPods and iPhones, and more than 75 million have an ongoing billing relationship with the online store by the same name,” Burrows writes. “Rather than any one product, it seems to me Apple’s greatest imperative should be maintaining iTunes’ role in these consumers’ lives. The Apple TV may never be a hit. But consumers that decide to get their TV via iTunes rather than their current provider will be much more likely to buy new Apple products down the road. Certainly, many would consider a device for watching TV that is more portable than a MacBook, but larger than an iPhone. A tablet device, for example.”
Burrows reports, “All of this remains conjecture, and assumes that Apple iTunes chief Eddy Cue can land the necessary content deals. It won’t be easy, since these partners will be loath to cross their current distributors. But don’t count Cue out.”
Full article here.
How long before Apple gets into the satellite business?
It could happen, if XM, DirecTV, and Dish can do it, so could Apple. It would certainly be cheaper than buying an antiquated pipe.
“The impediment here is not technological. As several have pointed out, it is the content providers. …”
Actually, it’s both.
There are technological limitations. The internet is a hodge-podge of hardware and software technologies. It’s amazing it works at all.
And it’s not just the content providers.
ISPs want a piece of the pie… simply because content travels over their pipes. As a consumer, I’m not happy about that business model. It means I’ll pay more and I want my prices low.
IMO, due to the changes in our society due to the digital revolution, maybe we’d be better off if ISPs became non-profit, public utilites.
Problem with current pay TV is that channels still program the broadcasting times of the shows. The consumers have to *work* on what to record and when to watch or let old recordings lapse. If you treat TV shows like movies and music – have what you want when you want – it will be a profitable business, as iTunes and Netflix have proved. So that’s what Apple is after – the Genius bar will automatically arrange the TV programming according to your couch potato schedule and interests. Smart advertisers will also realize they then have a captured audience and new medium unlikely to be disrupted by the current fast-forward remote control habit.
This would be great (If International), only problem I have is I currently subscribe to House MD and it Takes 6-8 hours each Tuesday to down load the HD\SD Version, this is most likely due to my Internet \ cable provider Rogers throttling the traffic.
I will be moving soon and I will no longer have the budget for cable currently over $100.00 per month so I intend to put up an antenna and get the fastest internet Rogers has in my area 10MB. I only watch a few shows and my kids will be staying with their mother so she will have to deal with their TV habits most of the time.
The subscription model works for me if I can choose the shows I want and I can download them once and watch whenever I have the time. Only hope that we can get some sort of net neutrality legislation in Canada.
This might work for some, but definitely not for me. I have only basic DSL and thus rely on over-the-air for local HD broadcasts and Netflix for my video offerings. And there’s a big difference from browsing the offerings via iTunes and channel surfing – something perhaps built into guy DNA. Yes, if there’s an episode of a favorite TV show I missed I might download it. But not otherwise.
Why doesn’t apple just get it over already and build a convergent TV/Internet/Itunes/DRV device in the 50 inch range already? That’s something I’d buy
Please, please, please let it be true!
I would gladly cancel cable (except for internet) if i could get a $30/month subscription to all the shows iTunes carries on my AppleTV.
Subscription ? Count me out. On-demand services are so much more cost effective for the consumer.
What’s next? A subscription fee for tapwater, whether you use it or not ?!?!?
@ anthony007
“Why doesn’t apple just get it over already and build a convergent TV/Internet/Itunes/DRV device in the 50 inch range already? That’s something I’d buy”
Apple just get it over already. A device in the 50 inch range already.
Every time I see one of your posts I wonder if your a troll, stupid or just live in a different galaxy.
Toshiba plans to sell a tv in 2010 that has 4k * 2k resolution.
It will also up-scale 1920 * 1080 to 4k * 2k.
Now I ask again, can anyone pump out a 4k * 2k DOWNLOAD?
Hint—-quad chip divides movie into 4 parts, and the quad core processes all four at a time? Hey I don’t know, but…
Who is gonna say 1920 *1080 is all that will EVER happen?
You mean in 2050, or 3000 people will only have 1920 * 1080?
Why does Apple’s new mac have as high a resolution as it does?
No reason at all?
Here’s what I’d like: Anytime, anywhere, access to the entire current and back catelogues of content from high quality film and TV production companies and news channels across the globe available 24/7/365 through iTunes, TV and in the longer term, iPhone & iTablet. In short, I’d like to create my own TV programme to watch at my leisure on demand.
The barrier is the current paradigm and entrenched positions. Everything else is just technology, infrastructure investment and deal-doing.
Take for example the BBC in the UK and its iPlayer. This is only available to users in the UK and only carries BBC content. It is unlikely that other broadcasters would agree to channeling their content through the BBC to its user base. But as the record labels have shown, they will most likely be happy to go through an independant third party conduit like iTunes and TV
Based on the record to date, Apple seems to be the only company on Earth capable of dreaming so big and making it happen. It changed paradigms for the music industry through iTunes; mobile telephony through the iPhone; and may just be the one company that saves trees by hitting photo-copiers and news stands when it introduces the iTablet…
this is a very good ptional for a customer besause every one could be want this service. this is best for every ine