Neil Hughes
With Apple's anticipated subscription television service said to be targeting a price between $30 and $40 per month, one analyst has predicted that the company will come in on the low end of that range, or else risk pricing itself out of the market.
Rod Hall of J.P. Morgan issued a note to investors on Wednesday, a copy of which was provided to AppleInsider, in which he said a $40-per-month price tag for a subscription TV service would be too high.
In his view, the incremental cost of cable television service from a provider like Comcast, in addition to basic Internet, is less than $40 per month. And so if Apple were to exceed the price of a basic cable package, there would be very little reason for consumers to "cut the cord" and go with a streaming-only solution from Apple.
The rumored price range for the service was first reported on Monday by The Wall Street Journal, which said that Apple could launch the service as soon as September with prices ranging from $30 to $40 per month. At those prices, it would be more costly than the already-available Sling TV from Dish Network, priced at $20 per month.
A key factor in pricing, of course, is exactly what channels Apple's service would offer. Reports have suggested that Apple is in talks with broadcast networks ABC, CBS and Fox, as well as other cable networks owned by Viacom and Discovery, though apparently talks have stalled with Comcast-owned NBC.
But if other content owners forge a deal with Apple, Comcast could find itself forced to play along, based on the terms of the deal it reached with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in 2011 to purchase NBCUniversal. The final judgment rules that Comcast must treat online video services as essentially equal to cable companies.
Beyond a subscription TV service, Hall has also predicted that Apple will launch new Apple TV hardware, potentially with the same A8X chip found in the iPad Air 2. He believes it would be accompanied by a new App Store for the Apple TV that would allow users to download games and other content, competing more directly with modern game consoles like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
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127 Comments
Sony's Playstation Vue allows for DVR through cloud storage, although it is only storable for 28 days. They also offer the last 3 days of live programming On-Demand. I could see Apple doing something similar with thier service.
This sounds interesting and could be a game changer, depending upon which channels and what content is going to be available for it.
I still subscribe to cable, and I also have other online subscriptions like Netflix, but I look forward to seeing exactly what this Apple service will be offering.
Apple could make it free and it would make no difference. Comcast caps our data usage at 300 GB a month, which we struggle to stay under even now. Comcast demands $10 tribute for each additional 50 GB beyond 300. We would end up paying way more than $30 a month if we used AppleTV as our primary media delivery system. Comcast and the corrupt politicians that let them get away with this need to be taken down.
Can't wait.
To me the WORST part about CableTV is the HORRIBLE cable boxes they give you. Most of them are POS and old as hell. Yet the still charge you $20 a month, EVERY MONTH per box. Also horrible is the user interface. Straight from the 1990's. So aweful.
With AppleTV that will end.
Things I'm looking forward to with AppleTV:
1. Cheaper. Pay $30 instead of $90
2. Better user interface.
3. Own your own equipment instead of paying $20 a month for POS crap
4. Better picture quality
5. Watch anywhere with iPad/iPhone (TimeWarner does not allow this)
But what about DVR? The ultimate is if you don't need a DVR and you can simply stream shows from the past few days.
You mentioned Time Warner, so I assume that that's what you use. I'm also on Time Warner.
If you want a brand new cable box, just take your old box to a Time Warner store and exchange it for a new one, it doesn't cost anything. I've done that a few times already with my boxes. The new box that I have allows it to be controlled by my iOS devices. It's much better than using their horrible remote.
And that means packages, whether you like it or not, unless you think Apple is going to change you 16¢ per channel so that all channels come out to below $40. [quote name="sog35" url="/t/185299/apples-subscription-tv-service-predicted-to-cost-below-40-to-compete-with-cable-providers#post_2694360"]Can't wait.To me the WORST part about CableTV is the HORRIBLE cable boxes they give you.[/quote] They are bad. I think I've had this discussion several times with [@]mstone[/@] over the years.