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TrentS

macrumors 6502
Sep 24, 2011
491
238
Overland Park, Kansas
Heaps Of Cash!!

Simple solution. Apple has gobs and gobs of cash. So why don't they create their own cable network, call it Appleseed, and from there, air their own weather station, news station, Apple produced shows and movies. Therefore they won't have to get rights for all the content they create, because they already own the rights to it all.

Either that, or just buy Paramount Studios and the Fox Network, and go from there.

:) :) :) :)
 

69Mustang

macrumors 604
Jan 7, 2014
7,895
15,044
In between a rock and a hard place
Let's say I'm a TV executive for your average cable channel, like... Animal Planet. What's to stop a channel like Animal Planet from working directly with Apple to provide content, bypassing cable companies?

The contracts [Animal Planet] already has in place with the cable companies expressly forbidding a la carte or online distribution.

Discovery Communications Inc., DCI, is not selling any of their properties piecemeal. They own 28 networks including Animal Planet, Science, Discovery Channel, and TLC (formerly The Learning Channel). Why would they want to bypass the cable companies to work with Apple? To make less money? Ha!
As if they are going to walk away from the guaranteed money from cable providers for possible money from ATV owners.:eek: On top of that, missing out on all that ad revenue. I can really see that happening.:rolleyes:
 

VeryVito

macrumors regular
Feb 5, 2008
173
199
Apple needs to cut the cord

Why is Apple trying to include cable companies in this mess? The Apple TV needs an App Store -- period. By allowing developers and content providers to create their OWN Apple TV experiences (instead of trying to replace a cable box that many of us gladly gave up years ago), Apple can effectively "own" the AppleTV experience, just as it does the iOS platform.

I REALLY want an Apple TV with an App Store. I truly have NO use for another #@$^@# interface on top of a cable subscription.

Create NEW content providers (a la Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime), and forget the old studio system.
 

fallenjt

macrumors 6502a
Jul 3, 2013
519
43
As much as I like Apple TV, I haven't fully been satisfied with the UI. If I have different TV channel subscriptions and each comes with an app, I have to close each app before opening another. That's not what Steve Jobs's TV secret crack supposed to be. Apple should design the device somehow to allow users to drop all subscribed channels into a bucket/folder and scroll through like conventional cable/satellite boxes. That way, you can watch TV in a seamless way as you watch current TV programs with 1 click.
Why I say this? It's about user experience and the current ATV UI is not a good UI. Yesterday, I was watching YouTube in ATV, I came back and couldn't find the YouTube icon in the same location because more apps were added to ATV after I turned it off and all icon locations were rearranged. This's annoying.
 

Tech198

Cancelled
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,151
Simple solution. Apple has gobs and gobs of cash. So why don't they create their own cable network, call it Appleseed, and from there, air their own weather station, news station, Apple produced shows and movies. Therefore they won't have to get rights for all the content they create, because they already own the rights to it all.

Either that, or just buy Paramount Studios and the Fox Network, and go from there.

:) :) :) :)


Apple may as well.... outside cable companies are delaying things..
 

69Mustang

macrumors 604
Jan 7, 2014
7,895
15,044
In between a rock and a hard place
Simple solution. Apple has gobs and gobs of cash. So why don't they create their own cable network, call it Appleseed, and from there, air their own weather station, news station, Apple produced shows and movies. Therefore they won't have to get rights for all the content they create, because they already own the rights to it all.

Either that, or just buy Paramount Studios and the Fox Network, and go from there.

:) :) :) :)

Viacom is not selling Paramount and 21st Century Fox is not selling the Fox Network. The majority of these companies are not stand alone properties.
 

Amazing Iceman

macrumors 603
Nov 8, 2008
5,348
4,113
Florida, U.S.A.
It's impossible to get all the content providers to agree. just release the darn thing with what's available now. Once others see it succeed, they will voluntarily agree to anything.
 

Tech198

Cancelled
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,151
Why do Apple gotta do things the hard way :rolleyes:

In this case there is an open door in front of their eyes, but they like to go over the bridge first
 

576316

macrumors 601
May 19, 2011
4,056
2,556
I think just revamping the UI would be enough right now. I don't think the Apple TV is a product that needs updating, from a hardware point of view, very often.
 

rasputin1969

macrumors 6502
Mar 4, 2010
417
257
I don't understand - this year we were supposed to see the "greatest product lineup in Apple's history" but so far all we have seen are some pretty crummy laptop revisions. What's going on?
 

winston1236

macrumors 68000
Dec 13, 2010
1,902
319
They should just abandon the tv at this point.

----------

I don't understand - this year we were supposed to see the "greatest product lineup in Apple's history" but so far all we have seen are some pretty crummy laptop revisions. What's going on?

Good marketing is whats going on.
 

elgrecomac

macrumors 65816
Jan 15, 2008
1,163
162
San Diego
Again, and again

I have repeatedly posted on Macrumors that the video content providers will not let Apple have control over content as it has with the recording industry....and here it is the mid-2014 version of that battle.

Apple was great for the recording industry but the recording industry was desimated by the likes of Napster and others when the iPod came out. TV/video is a totally different ball game: the networks and ISP/cable providers have solid revenue streams and sports leagues are in bed with the major TV networks so Apple is an 'also ran' in this arena.

As others have posted, Apple can provide a great UI (and one that is, hopefully, much much better than the current Apple TV), but the cable providers are running a cartel so they don't need Apple's UI to make a ton of money. And every TV manufacturer as well as Google and Microsoft are in this space already to some degree.

We'll see this discussion again in December and then, hopefully, all of this will be put to rest when Apple officially moves the Apple TV out of the 'hobby' category and into something more meaningful in a year or two.
 

Bayshun

macrumors member
Feb 24, 2014
82
91
I can definitely believe that Apple has bitten off more than it can chew. TV contracts are ridiculously complicated. Each network, each station, and sometimes each show has to be negotiated for individually. They play hardball; especially the cable providers themselves who are under the constant threat of being replaced by something more modern. Other large companies (such as Microsoft) have tried to tackle this situation before, only to be overwhelmed by the complexities of it all.
 

Frankied22

macrumors 68000
Nov 24, 2010
1,779
583
I guess I will stick to my Chromecast then. I really want Apple to give the ATV a facelift. I can pull out my phone and watch something on my Chromecast so much faster than I can dig through multiple menus and wait for them to load on my ATV.
 

nt5672

macrumors 68040
Jun 30, 2007
3,385
7,228
Midwest USA
As others have posted, Apple can provide a great UI (and one that is, hopefully, much much better than the current Apple TV), but the cable providers are running a cartel so they don't need Apple's UI to make a ton of money. And every TV manufacturer as well as Google and Microsoft are in this space already to some degree.

The cable industry needs to be totally revamped, so I hope Apple can do it, no matter how long it takes. As others have mentioned, we gave up cable 3 years ago because there was no way we were going to continue paying $150+ per month to watch 6 or 8 channels. I wonder why the only channels we wanted to watch were only offered in the 300 or 400 channel packages. Until people stop paying stupid prices for bad content, the cable companies will continue to offer crap for a lot of money.
 

Piggie

macrumors G3
Feb 23, 2010
9,130
4,036
Apple may as well.... outside cable companies are delaying things..

Yes, dam annoying when Apple make a case, and then have to wait for other companies to make most of the bits to go inside it.

Here's an idea!

They could actually make something themselves.
Radical thought I know!
 

Count Blah

macrumors 68040
Jan 6, 2004
3,192
2,748
US of A
Such a waste. Release an SDK, put out new hardware, and let the content providers come running to you to get on the gravy train. Single core A5, no SDK, crappy development setup to even get on the AppleTV(they have to send you a physical development unit). So much missed opportunity.

I understand wanting to get it "right" from the start, but having a simple gaming device that also streams content, for well under what the consoles charge, WITH a huge built in development infrastructure, would be freakin huge.
 

ellsworth

macrumors 6502a
Jun 13, 2007
923
237
One great quality about Apple, they'll delay something no matter how long it takes to get right, ripe, and ready for debut.
 

PsykX

macrumors 68020
Sep 16, 2006
2,438
3,236
Whew. The wait was so long that I decided to gamble a little bit and bought a used AppleTV 3rd-gen for 80 CAD yesterday, hoping that the next AppleTV would be released in 2015 instead. So their big releases this year will be : Yosemite, iOS 8, iPhones 6, new iPads, and the iWatch.

So far, AirPlay is clearly my favorite feature. I can't wait until I update my AppleTV to iOS 8 this September, because the actual AirPlay implementation is slow and completely unreliable. P2P AirPlay will undoubtedly fix that in two months.
 

2010mini

macrumors 601
Jun 19, 2013
4,698
4,806
Perhaps Apple wants to make cable companies the "content rights aggregators." It would actually be a nice model:

-Buy cable internet/FiOS service from whoever services your area. $50/month.
-Buy Apple TV and television set.
-Subscribe to TV content from any of the traditional cable TV companies, but delivered over the internet through Apple TV.

This has several advantages, both for consumers and cable companies:
-Consumers get to choose which content aggregator to buy from. Maybe Time Warner owns the cable lines in your neighborhood, but Charter offers a better package of channels. You could buy content from Time Warner, AT&T, Verizon, Charter, Comcast, or any other cable company.
-Cable companies get the ability to sell content to consumers where they don't own any cable lines. They also get to avoid being relegated to "dumb pipes" by maintaining a content revenue stream.

This would only work if the FCC made cable companies have to separate their broadband into its own entity.
 

PsykX

macrumors 68020
Sep 16, 2006
2,438
3,236
They should just abandon the tv at this point

So if you played Poker, and you put a $1 000 000 bid on the table and the current winnings were $50 000 000 000, and you're sure to win, you'd fold ? Just sayin' ! :D
 
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