Apple TV+ has something planned for January 4 & 5

Apple TV+ has hinted that it's planning something for early January, enticing viewers to "see for yourself."

On Wednesday, the Apple TV X account posted a cryptic message telling people to "Save the date" and to "see for yourself." The accompanying image, which featured Will Ferrell, also included a date of January 4-5.

Save the date. pic.twitter.com/c60xvXY2ZF
— Apple TV (@AppleTV) December 25, 2024

On Thursday, the account posted another teaser, telling users to "stay tuned." Once again, the accompanying image featured the January 4-5 date.

While it's hard to know what Apple TV+ is planning, the fact that the dates fall on a weekend suggests that the company may be preparing to open access to Apple TV+ for everyone for a limited time. This would be a new move by the Cupertino-based tech giant, as Apple has never held an Apple TV+ open weekend before.

Typically, Apple instead offers free viewing for specific properties, such as the Peanuts holiday classics, or first episodes of certain shows it expects to do well. The company also offers a seven-day free trial for new subscribers, as well as longer trials with purchases of qualifying hardware.

The teasers could also suggest that Apple is preparing to announce its lineup for new shows and films set to hit the service in 2025. Last year, Apple announced the 2024 lineup in early February, so the timing is right.

2 Comments

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AppleZulu 8 Years · 2210 comments

About 6 hours ago

“the fact that the dates fall on a weekend suggests that the company may be preparing to open access to Apple TV+ for everyone for a limited time.”

Because… why? Does scheduling an announcement or event on a weekend usually suggest that the organization or person making the announcement is going to give away all their wares for free, you know, for a limited time? If a thing is scheduled for a Thursday, what does that suggest?

Seriously. I’m trying to understand where the leap came from. Why is it that the dates falling on a weekend means that one thing, specifically, as opposed to literally anything else you might think of?

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charlesn 11 Years · 1204 comments

About 4 hours ago

AppleZulu said:

“the fact that the dates fall on a weekend suggests that the company may be preparing to open access to Apple TV+ for everyone for a limited time.”

Because… why? Does scheduling an announcement or event on a weekend usually suggest that the organization or person making the announcement is going to give away all their wares for free, you know, for a limited time? If a thing is scheduled for a Thursday, what does that suggest?

Seriously. I’m trying to understand where the leap came from. Why is it that the dates falling on a weekend means that one thing, specifically, as opposed to literally anything else you might think of?

Ummm... did Santa leave you a bag of coal or something? I mean, seriously: what's with the needlessly aggressive and snarky tone? I've been a TV executive for over 20 years and I can tell you that Sunday is the most heavily watched day of the week and weekends are best for binge-watching. So if Apple were going to open up Apple TV+ for non-subscribers to sample for free, the weekend would be the optimal time to do it. This free sampling strategy could make sense for Apple since it has a very strong roster of highly acclaimed shows that haven't been highly watched, for the most part, because Apple TV+ has a much smaller subscriber base than the major streamers like Netflix, Disney, etc. Of course, we don't know for sure what Apple is planning to do, we'll find out in about a week, but what AI is speculating is very plausible from the perspective of when and how people watch television.