“Apple Inc.’s lofty plans to build an online television service are coming into sharper focus,” Keach Hagey, Shalini Ramachandran and Daisuke Wakabayashi report for The Wall Street Journal. “The technology giant is in talks with programmers to offer a slimmed-down bundle of TV networks this fall, according to people familiar with the matter. The service would have about 25 channels, anchored by broadcasters such as ABC, CBS and Fox, and would be available on Apple devices such as the Apple TV, they said.”
“For now, the talks don’t involve NBCUniversal, owner of the NBC broadcast network and cable channels like USA and Bravo, because of a falling-out between Apple and NBCUniversal parent company Comcast Corp., the people familiar with the matter said,” Hagey, Ramachandran and Wakabayashi report. “The idea is to offer consumers a ‘skinny’ bundle with well-known channels like CBS, ESPN and FX, while leaving out the many smaller networks in the standard cable TV package.”
“Some media executives said they believed Apple was aiming to price the service at about $30 to $40 a month,” Hagey, Ramachandran and Wakabayashi report. “The company is aiming to announce its new service in June and launch it in September, according to people familiar with the matter. The service would work across all devices powered by Apple’s iOS operating system, including iPhones, iPads and Apple TV set-top boxes.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Bring. It. On. And GFY, Comcast.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “JayinDC” for the heads up.]
