Apple is planning on launching its own Web-based TV service this fall with about 25 channels. The iPhone and Mac maker is currently negotiating with content providers and its service is expected to include CBS, ABC, Fox, and Walt Disney.
Apple wants to launch its own streaming television network this fall
Since Apple is remaining tight lipped about its plans, news of the company's streaming service plans comes courtesy of insider sources speaking with the Wall Street Journal.
Conspicuously missing from Apple's negotiations list is Comcast's NBCUniversal. Apple reportedly had a falling out of sorts last year with Comcast when talks about a collaboration for a streaming television platform fizzled out. Apple felt the talks were being used as a stalling tactic while Comcast worked on its own X1 Web-based streaming content service.
Apple has been working to bring more content to Apple TV and its iOS platform. Most recently, it announced HBO will be launching its own channel in April that doesn't require a cable television subscription.
The idea behind Apple's service is to offer TV viewers a more streamlined content package at a competitive price. Assuming the WSJ's sources are right, Apple will announce its service in June and launch in September at US$30 or $40 a month.
Apple will face competition Dish Network's SlingTV which doesn't include any network channels for $20 a month. Sony is about to start up its own streaming channel service, too, but with a higher monthly cost than Apple.
If Apple can pull together the content deals, subscribers would be able to access live television through their Apple TV, along with large libraries of previously aired shows. If so, Apple's service could be very enticing to cable and satellite TV subscription customers looking for an excuse to get out of their contracts.
If Apple can pull together a good mix of channels that also includes sports, cable and satellite TV providers could be facing new competition. TV viewers who pay $90 or more a month for channel packages because that's their only option could see Apple's offering as their way out, and considering how vocally dissatisfied many cable TV subscribers are, this could be just what they're looking for.