“Here’s Apple’s latest proposal: It wants to sell consumers a premium TV bundle, which combines HBO, Showtime and Star,” Peter Kafka reports for Recode. “Apple already sells each of those channels individually. But it has approached the three networks about rolling them up into a single package, as conventional pay TV operators sometimes do.”
“Traditional pay TV operators, like Charter, usually require consumers to subscribe to a basic level of TV channels before it will sell them a premium bundle,” Kafka reports. “Apple could sell the bundle as standalone product, delivered via its iOS devices and its Apple TV settop box.”
Kafka reports, “Apple currently sells HBO for $15 a month, Showtime for $11 a month, and Starz for $9 a month.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: So, what’s the magic price – the number that sell packages and Apple TVs – for something that currently costs $30/month? $19.99 per month? Maybe that’s too steep, but Apple could do what every fscking scheming cable company does and have an “introductory period.” Sell it at $19.99/month with an asterisk and, then, after a 3-, 6-, or 12-month period, have it pop up to $24.99/month. Although, that risks customer wrath as it’s one of the many reasons – besides awful customer services, horrible UIs, crappy equipment, hidden charges, etc. – why customers have grown to hate cable companies.
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