Here’s another log to throw on the Apple set-top box rumor fire: A report on Monday claims the Cupertino company is talking with media executives about a “premium” level of the much-rumored Apple TV service that would allow viewers to skip ads entirely.
Citing people familiar with the ongoing discussions, The Wall Street Journal’s Jessica Lessin reports that Apple is pitching a system that would have it pay media companies for the lost revenue every time a viewer skips a commercial.
The “premium” version of the alleged service would see users paying Apple an extra fee for the ability to skip ads.
Similar offerings from other services have met resistance from broadcasters. Dish Network launched its ad-skipping technology in 2012, and was immediately sued over the service.
The invention of the DVR has given viewers the ability to fast-forward through commercials, and this could give Apple some leverage in the negotiations.
Rumors of an Apple-branded set-top box have been bandied about on the Interwebs for almost a year now. The rumored system would be cloud based, giving more viewing flexibility than hard drive based DVRs.
