It’s all been quiet on the western front, regarding the Apple iTV in recent months, something that’s been mainly attributed to Apple’s rumoured inability to form alliances with stubborn cable companies stateside.
Now, according to new reports on Thursday, Apple has decided to break the deadlock by by-passing the unmovable old-media monoliths and going straight to the networks themselves.
Quartz claims the iPhone-maker is negotiating with the likes of ESPN, HBO and Viacom (which owns Comedy Central, MTV and Paramount among others).
The company has recently made deals with ESPN and HBO to bring their on-demand services to the Apple TV set top box, but users still have to be a subscriber to those channels through a cable provider in order to access the content.
Apple hopes it can convince the conglomerates to unbundle themselves in order for viewers to subscribe without paying out for channels they don’t want. According to the report, the company hopes to agree deals with a few providers, forcing the rest to follow because of consumer demand.
The Quartz report claims Apple may even form its own digital-only network in order to attract the content providers, enabling it to encourage a departure from the traditional model.
Both Apple and HBO and ESPN have denied they have plans to break from the cable-only model, but even if they were we probably wouldn’t hear about it until Apple announced it on stage at a press event.
So, for the first time in a while, we have mutterings about the prospect of an Apple iTV set. Do you think we’ll see it announced any time soon? Does it have the change to change TV as we know it?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Via AppleInsider
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
