Apple’s long-rumored TV service has still not come thanks to Apple’s unprecedented demands and its brash negotiating tactics with the TV industry, according to reports. The Wall Street Journal says that the talks between the Cupertino-based company and media giants 21st Century Fox, Disney and CBS didn’t go anywhere because of Apple’s content boss, Eddy Cue.
Cue’s brash negotiating style to blame
After Cue demanded that Apple be allowed to pay a flat monthly rate per viewer for years, the talks between the media giants and the smartphone maker went nowhere. Cue was reportedly asking to go against the annual rate increases that the media companies depend on to increase their revenue, says the WSJ. Media executives did not appreciate the negotiating style of Cue, according to the newspaper. A source told the Journal about Cue’s approach and said it could be summed up in one phrase: “We’re Apple.”
In 2013, Cue reportedly showed up 10 minutes late wearing a Hawaiian shirt and tennis shoes with no socks for a meeting with the CEOs of Time Warner and Time Warner Cable, who were in a suit, the report says. The tech giant asked for full on-demand seasons of popular shows and assent for a cloud DVR that would allow its users to skip commercials on first-run episodes, which might please its consumers but not advertisers.
Regular Apple tactics not working
Apple has repeatedly tried to get a TV service up and running since 2009, but to no avail. As per the report, Comcast and Time Warner Cable balked at the $10 a month per subscriber payment request from the smartphone giant to run their services through the Apple TV. Also the smartphone maker did not share any information in respect to the user interface with the companies, with one Apple executive reportedly telling Time Warner Cable that it would be better than anything they have ever had.
Apple has dominated almost every new industry that it entered over the last 16 years, but the tactics that may have worked with mobile carriers or the music industry are not working when it comes to the media firms which own the channels the iPhone maker needs for an over-the-top TV service.
When it comes to the Apple TV, the Cupertino-based company is taking a little different approach. The tech giant has ordered original programming, and it now enables TV providers to build their own apps for the set-top box. In addition, the tech giant is offering Netflix-level content through its iTunes store and is reportedly talking to executives about getting into the premium content game.
