CBS CEO Les Moonves, while speaking at the Business Insider Ignition Conference in New York City on Tuesday, suggested Apple has put the development if its much-rumored television streaming service “on hold.” A Bloomberg report later in the day confirmed Moonves comments.
“They’ve had conversations on it and I think they pressed the hold button,” Moonves said, referencing prior talks CBS has had with Apple about joining its subscription service. Apple and CBS were reportedly negotiating prices before Apple paused the discussions.
Moonves notes that while Apple and CBS were close to setting a price on the bundles, they discussed a price point of between $30 and $40 per month for the bundles, Apple had decided to put the plan on hold for now.
The new streaming service was rumored to be debuting alongside the new Apple TV, but Apple has reportedly ran into trouble negotiating content deals with providers. Although, as late as October of this year, Moonves suggested talks were still ongoing, but had not come any closer to sealing a deal.
Apple’s streaming service was expected to include around 25 channels for the $30-$40 per month fee. Apple has been rumored to have been in talks with several content providers, including CBS, ABC, Disney, Fox, and Discovery.
Moonves is still confident that this type of service will be delivered to viewers, whther by Apple or another party. “This will happen,” he said. “People will not be spending money on channels they don’t want to watch.”
