CBS, Disney, Considering Unannounced Apple iTunes Subscription TV Service
According to the Wall Street Journal, CBS (and CW) and Disney (ABC, Disney Channel, ABC Family) and considering Apple's (unannounced yet previously rumored) subscription TV service. To throw nebulous fuel on the imaginary fire, the WSJ adds:
The proposed service by the maker of iPhones and iPod music players could, in at least some scenarios, offer access to some TV shows from a selection of major U.S. television networks for a monthly fee, according to people familiar with the discussions. Apple is pushing to complete licensing deals and hopes to introduce the service in 2010, some of those people said. It is unclear whether any networks have signed on yet.
No names, no networks, but is there a story? Maybe. The mere idea of Apple doing for digital television what they did for digital music -- rip it from the hands of old, unresponsive media companies and give it to consumers in an easy, a la carte form -- is compelling enough to account for some of the chatter.
Hey, even in Canada where I have $20 for 20 a la carte channels already from my local cable company, their horrible PVR boxes, lack of channels, and the idea that offering $5 for the first 3 episodes of the original 90210 is "on-demand TV", the idea of Apple offering a real Apple TV makes me giddy.
And Disney always makes sense to mention as an early Apple partner, seeing as how Steve Jobs is their biggest shareholder and a member of their board of directors... But as much as I want to believe it, as much as it may even be true, there's nothing to say it really is yet. Though that doesn't mean a good dose of mythical iTablet wouldn't help:
Apple is revamping iTunes as it finalizes its plans for a tablet device, which is meant to be a multimedia gadget, according to people briefed about the product. The multimedia tablet is expected to be larger than an iPhone but smaller than a laptop computer. People briefed by Apple say the company is aiming to launch it by the end of March.
Alrighty then. You want?
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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I prefer free TV over the antenna but regardless of that we have a 30 gig data cap on our highspeed so this wont be useful to me anyway
I'd replace my directv and TIVO in a hear beat if I could get only what I want at a cheaper price a la cart from an iTV...
Even basic cable services have become ridiculously expensive. The cable industry needs a slap in the face, and Apple is just the company to do it.
Being new to Apple products, the 3GS is my first, I'm hooked. I'd definitely turn off my cable for 10 months to cover the rumored $1000 price of the mythical Apple tablet product.
I think we all know that no matter what great service Apple might offer, as usual it won't be available in Canada. We often seem to get the short end of the stick when it comes to these things. (See Hulu and Netflix for example)