“In the war for talent, Apple has just scored a major victory,” Lesley Goldberg reports for The Hollywood Reporter. “The tech giant and eventual streamer has inked a multiple-year content partnership with Oprah Winfrey. Under the pact, terms of which were not immediately available, Winfrey and Apple will create original content that will be released as part of the latter’s lineup of content.”
“Sources say the pact includes everything from film, TV, applications, books and other content that could easily be distributed on Apple’s all-encompassing platform,” Goldberg reports. “Sources note that Winfrey landed at Apple in a competitive situation with other tech giants, likely including Netflix and Amazon, all pursuing similar deals. Apple is said to have aggressively pursued Winfrey as part of a larger push to reach a broad audience.”
“The deal is non-exclusive as Winfrey will continue to remain chairman and CEO of Discovery Communications-backed cable network OWN,” Goldberg reports. “Winfrey’s OWN exclusivity remains same she has always had since the formation of the cable network. She is exclusive to OWN for pay cable for on-camera work and has the ability to render on-camera services on other platforms on a limited basis. That allows Winfrey an opportunity to have on-camera roles on potential Apple content. Winfrey’s deal with Apple comes amid a growing arms race for established writers and producers after Netflix poached Shonda Rhimes [from ABC Studios]…”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Oprah, Apple. Apple, Oprah.
Apple to Netflix: “Nice Shonda Rhimes move. Oh, BTW: Checkmate.”
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