It’s taken quite awhile, but on November 1st, Apple TV+ will finally debut.
Lesley Goldberg and Natalie Jarvey for The Hollywood Reporter:
According to dozens of interviews across the industry, Apple CEO Tim Cook is experiencing his own learning curve despite hiring respected showbiz execs. But while there have been some missteps… the interest surrounding Apple’s Hollywood debut remains high.
“The two-way relationship they have with the consumer and the vast number of consumers they have, that’s going to be game-changing,” says CAA TV agent Rob Kenneally… Any hurdles they’ve faced leading up to the launch won’t matter if their plan to offer a handful of original shows for $5 a month succeeds in attracting a fraction of their 1.4 billion Apple users. And many believe that it will. Wedbush estimates that Apple could attract 100 million TV+ subscribers by 2023 and generate between $7 billion and $10 billion in revenue from the product.
When Apple enters a new industry, it doesn’t do so tepidly. When it launched iTunes in 2001, it struck deals with every major music label and, eventually, revolutionized the way people bought and listened to music. Now, for TV+, it has struck deals with A-list creators including Oprah Winfrey, Alfonso Cuarón, Justin Lin and Jason Katims. Echoing an industrywide push to own the content you distribute, on Oct. 11 Apple announced plans to launch an in-house studio (Masters of the Air, a third installment in the Band of Brothers saga, will mark its first wholly owned show). “They didn’t step in halfway,” says CAA TV agent Sonya Rosenfeld of Apple’s entertainment ambitions. “They were smart to hire people who have spent their careers at the center of the TV business, and they didn’t stutter start.”
MacDailyNews Take: There is much more in the full article that covers the twists and turns from the horrid start under Eddy Cue (Planet of the Apps) to this point, two week before Apple TV+’s big debut – a recommended read!
