Mike Wuerthele
Apple appears to be on the cusp of signing an Apple TV+ content deal with RLP & Company, helmed by former HBO chief executive Richard Plepler.
Just more than a week following the launch of Apple TV+, Apple is still making deals to bring more content to the service. The latest report claims that a deal could be finalized with RLP & Company in the next few weeks to provide unique content for Apple TV+.
At present, there is no indication on the size of the deal, nor the amount of content that is expected.
The Wall Street Journal says in Tuesday's report about the content buy that Plepler is "one of the most well-regarded entertainment executives of the last decade." Under Plepler's lead, HBO and Cinemax started two streaming services.
Plepler was born in 1960, and studied government at Franklin & Marshall college. After a short stint working for Senator Christopher Dodd, Plepler moved to New York City, and opened a public relations firm.
In 2007 through 2013, he served as co-president with Michael Lombardo, and launched "True Blood," "Game of Thrones," and "Veep." In 2013 Plepler drove both HBO and Cinemax, reaching about 130 million subscribers between the two services.
Richard Plepler departed HBO in February, following the service's acquisition by AT&T's Warner Media.
Apple TV+ was announced by Apple CEO Tim Cook on March 25. In a presentation that was replete with star names, at the time, Apple would only say that the service is coming in the Fall and be available via the Apple TV app.
The service launched on November 1, for $4.99 a month, and free to purchasers of Apple's new stable of devices. There were some critical reviews of programming at launch, but viewer response has been somewhat better.
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8 Comments
Why is he orange?
And his lips are so pressed together that they’re white.
Considering AT&T is on the verge of destroying HBO’s tried and true formula of low volume but very high quality shows by pumping out tons of shows, Netflix style, this could be huge and make Apple TV+ a real successor to the old HBO. As long as Apple, and Tim Cook, can get over their prudish sensibilities.
...the first show is rumored to be about iPhone knockoffs, called ‘Game of Clones!’