Apple TV Rumors and News Update: Company Reportedly in Talks With TV Programmers to Offer Shows Online, Compete With Dish Sling and Sony PlayStation Vue
Apple is negotiating with TV programmers to set up deals that would allow the tech giant to offer an "over the top" pay-TV service, like the Dish Sling TV product and Sony's TV service PlayStation Vue, reports Re/code.
The concept is that Apple offer programming bundles -- not the complete TV lineup that pay-TV providers offer -- and sell it directly to consumers via the Internet. Apple wouldn't be reinventing the way television works. The company would be offering its own version complete with interface and user experience.
Apple created demonstrations of the proposed service that it has shown programmers, according to Re/code. Since talks are in the early stages, details like timing and pricing aren't figured out yet. There are TV programmers who say they've not yet talked with Apple.
This is not the first time Apple has tried to penetrate the TV business. It proposed a $30-a-month subscription service back in 2009 that did not pan out. Media outlets have speculated about an Apple pay-TV service long before the iPad was in existence. The most recent version of the rumor claimed Apple was going to partner with Time Warner Cable on a TV-streaming box, but that never came to fruition.
Since cable companies haven't been receptive, Apple decided to attempt TV through deals with the television content owners instead.
There is more reason to believe the Apple TV rumors now that media companies are allowing live streams of their programming to be viewed online. In the last six months, CBS, HBO and Nickelodeon have announced plans for streaming networks in addition to the traditional cable bundle. Now that Sony and Dish have found ways to deliver TV over the Web, Apple will surely follow in their footsteps.
Apple's only successful TV venture has been its Apple TV box, which is a device that helps users get Web TV on their conventional television. Currently, Apple doesn't sell the programming that's on the Apple TV box, but if the rumors are true, that is about to change.
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