Shane Cole
An over-the-air change to the Apple TV on Wednesday brought Bloomberg, Crackle and KORTV to the set-top streamer alongside access for cable subscribers to their local ABC affiliate.
Like the Apple TV's existing Watch ESPN app, Watch ABC requires an existing subscription to a cable service provider and is available only in selected cities. Subscribers will find popular ABC shows like Modern Family and Good Morning America alongside content from local affiliates.
Bloomberg joins WSJ Live as a provider of financial news content on the device, bringing live video as well as a searchable archive of past shows at no cost.
Crackle, from Sony, makes "hundreds of movies, thousands of TV episodes, and an extensive collection of anime" available on the Apple TV at no cost. Crackle's rotating selection currently features movies like Step Brothers, Pineapple Express, and Men in Black alongside television shows such as Seinfeld and The Shield.
The new Watch ABC channel
KORTV provides live Korean-language content, including movies, news, and pop shows, in a mixture of free-to-watch and premium channels that require a monthly subscription.
Apple has been aggressively expanding the Apple TV's content selection in recent months, adding channels for PBS, Yahoo Screen and Major League Soccer, among others. The streamer has also gained support for Netflix Super HD as well as Apple's iTunes Radio.
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40 Comments
So Directv isn't authenticated on any of the disney-based apps. Does directtv have to pay disney for the ability to authenticate or does directtv just 'pass' because they realize people can exchange working user/passes and they'd lose customers? I remember that DIrectv received an uproar about not being authenticated on the hbogo app on the appletv but they quickly gave in and granted access. As a Directv subscriber I would like access to channels im already paying for.
Love to see added content, really disliking the UI paradigm for it. Whole thing needs some sort of redesign for the home screen. It's getting really clunky....but if anyone can do it, it's Apple.
I've never quite understood the need for an app to watch TV if I already have a cable/satelite subscription. Since Apple TV and similar offerings such as ROKU are used by a large number of chord cutters, this doesn't seem to add much value. I count myself in those ranks. At least I have HULU Plus so I can already watch all the ABC stuff anyway and CBS I use Airplay from my Macbook Air since it is not included on Hulu.
Wow, still more channels for Apple TV! Yet more reasons not to buy a box that sucks your life away. I've not read Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, but I suspect I agree with his point, as Publishers Weekly put it, "that television represents a hostile attack on literate culture." I've noticed a distinct difference in the kids of friends who don't have a television. Their kids are much more inquisitive and much better at keeping themselves busy and active. It's also discouraging that Apple's publicly cultivated image is as the distributor of gadgets that amuse rather those than teach disciplined thinking. The budget for iTunes must be at least a hundred time greater than that for iBooks. Amazon has Kindle ads that show mature adults quietly reading. Apple's corresponding ads show young adults bouncing around so wildly and pointlessly they look like little kids on a sugar high.
In before the misplaced “more stuff cluttering up the screen” complaints. In during the “the day Apple detaches all of this stuff from the idiotic ‘already paying for cable/satellite’ requirement is the day that the Apple TV starts to destroy television as we know it” post. In after nothing.
Guess I was right when I said, “In after nothing.