Apple is reportedly working on its TV service, but the product is not expected to hit the market anytime soon
Apple is believed to be holding talks with programmers about offering a Web-based Pay TV service similar to Dish’s Sling TV product and Sony’s soon-to-be-launched service. That’s according to a report from Re/code.
Apple TV service not in sight
Citing unnamed industry executives, the report says Apple will not offer a whole line-up but will make a collection of certain programming and sell it directly to customers over the internet.
“That means Apple wouldn’t be reinventing the way TV works today, but offering its own version of it, with its own interface and user experience,” Re/code said.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has already come up with demos for programmers, but talks are in early stages, says the report. Also there has been no decision made about the timing and pricing, and if the Re/code report is to be believed, then Apple has not talked to all programmers.
When asked about Apple TV offerings during the company’s earnings call last month, CEO Tim Cook avoided the question, saying that the company has sold 25 million units of its Apple TV box. Cook did not mention anything about a complete TV offering and said that Apple TV is something that the company is looking forward to working on and finding a way that “we can make an even greater contribution than what we’re doing.”
Similar speculations as before
This is not the first time we’ve heard news of Apple offering its own TV programming. Rumors of the company working on a more complete, over-the-top video streaming service have been the topic of discussion for some time. But there is no hint about whether or not such a product will be launched in the near future due to the challenges the company is facing in securing content deals at reasonable rates.
Eddy Cue, Apple senior vice president of Internet software and services, said in May that TV is a hard problem to solve. “One of the problems you have with a TV is you have a disparate system with a bunch of providers. There’s no standards. There’s a lot of rights issues.”
