This month, the free ride is over for tens of millions of Apple users who’ve watching award-winning Apple TV+ series and movies — regularly priced at $4.99 per month — at no charge during a year-long promo period. Some users haven’t paid for Apple TV+ since the streaming video service debuted in November 2019.
In a bid to jump-start Apple TV+ — and boost device sales — Apple has offered one year free to buyers of new iPhones, iPads, Apple TV set-tops and Macs. The company extended the free-streaming offer several times, but as of this month it expects Apple TV Plus users to start paying.
And starting July 1, new buyers of products like iPhone or Apple TV 4K will qualify to get only three months free of Apple TV+…
Through the end of 2021, the company has queued up programming it’s hoping will convince people is worth five bucks per month.
Coming later this month is Season 2 of “Ted Lasso,” the breakout fish-out-of-water comedy starring Jason Sudeikis, who won a Golden Globe for his turn as the relentlessly upbeat small-time Kansas college football coach hired to coach a English Premier League team, despite having no soccer experience whatsoever. Season 2 premieres Friday, July 23, on Apple TV Plus.
Then in September comes the second season of Emmy-winning drama “The Morning Show” (Sept. 17), starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell and Billy Crudup, and “Foundation,” David S. Goyer’s adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s iconic sci-fi book series of the same name starring Jared Harris and Lee Pace.
The fall lineup includes Todd Hayne’s documentary feature “The Velvet Underground” (Oct. 15); sci-fi drama series “Invasion” (Oct. 22) from Simon Kinberg and David Weil; and “The Shrink Next Door” (Nov. 12), a limited series starring Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell…
MacDailyNews Take: The slate currently offered by Apple TV+ is strong, and rapidly growing stronger. It’s an easy call, Apple TV+ is worth more than $4.99/month. And, since we’re already Apple One subscribers, we’ve already got Apple TV+ covered!
What freeloader? I turned down the yearly free offer on 4 devices.