“Apple has a new trick up its sleeve as it tries to launch a long-awaited television service: technology that allows viewers to skip commercials and that pays media companies for the skipped views,” Jessica Lessin reports.
“For more than a year, Apple has been seeking rights from cable companies and television networks for a service that would allow users to watch live and on-demand television over an Apple set-top box or TV,” Lessin reports. “In recent discussions, Apple told media executives it wants to offer a ‘premium’ version of the service that would allow users to skip ads and would compensate television networks for the lost revenue, according to people briefed on the conversations… Discussions have been highly secretive. CEO Tim Cook and senior vice president Eddy Cue held talks with some media companies last week at a conference in Sun Valley hosted by investment bank Allen & Co., the people briefed on the discussions said.”
Lessin writes, “It is a risky idea. Ad-skipping would disrupt the entrenched system of television ratings—the basis for buying TV ads. In fact, television broadcasters sued Dish Network when it introduced similar technology last year. On the other hand, it is no secret that fewer and fewer people are watching commercials thanks to DVRs; networks may very well be eager to make, rather than lose, money off the practice.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]