Roger Fingas
Speaking during a Wednesday financial results call, Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes said he is "pretty confident" Apple will be launching a subscription streaming TV service in the near future, callling the company "very forward-thinking about television."
"It's no surprise to anyone that Apple would be interested in launching a TV product," Bewkes added according to CNet.
Time Warner is the parent company of TV network HBO, and recently partnered with Apple to launch HBO Now as a three-month exclusive for iOS and Apple TV devices. During the results call, HBO head Richard Plepler reportedly said he "couldn't be more pleased" with the arrangement.
"We got out of the gate very fast with Apple," he remarked. "We see a lot of momentum there."
Apple and Time Warner have collaborated in the past, and at one point were rumored to be working on an interface that would allow an Apple TV to replace a cable box. That arrangement may have been nixed by Comcast's proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable, which was officially abandoned on April 24.
Apple is strongly rumored to be preparing a streaming TV service for launch later this year. During an Apple earnings call on Monday, CEO Tim Cook fueled these rumors by claiming that "major, major changes in media" are coming, in which Apple could play a part.
Past reports have indicated that Apple is working on a "skinny" channel bundle that should cost between $30 and $40 a month. It's expected to launch this fall, and may be announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8 alongside a new Apple TV set-top.
Christine McKee
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Amber Neely
Andrew O'Hara
31 Comments
So the future of TV is skinnied down cable like packages over the Internet? Wake me when we get true ala cart pricing where people can pay for the channels they want. A skinnied down package does me no good if it doesn't include the channels I want.
Why do people assume it will get less expensive if pricing is a la carte? If you want more than the "basic" networks, by the time you add up all the stations you would want, I would bet you wind up paying the same or more.
I think most people are like me in that they watch maybe 10 channels max....[SIZE=3][/SIZE] which should make my cable bill shrink dramatically
[quote name="sog35" url="/t/186052/time-warner-ceo-pretty-confident-apple-subscription-tv-service-in-development#post_2717930"] sorry the world isn't exactly how you want it to be. you can cry in the corner now. [/quote] Hey I'm perfectly happy with my DirecTV. A skinnied down cable package would not get me to switch to ?TV. Though since my ?TV is second gen I'll probably get a new one anyway because I hate the UI and non-existent search functionality.
The irony of an Apple TV service is it still requires a subscription from a cable TV company to deliver it. Steve may have cracked TV but the last mile is a tough nut as Google is discovering.
Edit: Clarity for the anally retentive