“The years-long dance between Apple and cable operators marches on, as Comcast and Apple continue to discuss enabling the cable company’s subscribers to watch TV through an Apple set-top box instead of a Comcast one, people familiar with the talks said,” Jessica E. Lessin and Amir Efrati report for The Information.
“While no deal has been reached, teams at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif. headquarters are working full-steam on the new device that would fully replace a customer’s cable box,” Lessin and Efrati report. “It has a dramatically overhauled interface and a big emphasis on gaming, the people said.”
“The new box under development would blend live TV listings with apps and Web video,” Lessin and Efrati report. “One person involved with the Apple product says the company hopes to attract more iPhone and iPad game developers to make their games work with the new box so that people can play them on their TV screen, using iPhones and iPads as controllers.”
“The new box replaces the traditional channel guide with on demand menus, and Apple has been seeking deals to allow people to watch virtually all their content on-demand,” Lessin and Efrati report. “Unlike the existing $99 Apple TV, the new box would serve as a full replacement for a cable box, offering cable content as well as iTunes and other Web video. Apple has also been working to release an updated version of the $99 box, which supports a growing number of video apps, including apps from Disney and HBO.”
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