Apple and Oprah Winfrey has signed a multi-year production deal that will create content for Apple’s planned new video service, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Apple Inc. has formed a production partnership with Oprah Winfrey to make programs for its planned subscription-video service, part of the company’s aggressive push into the content business as competition for Hollywood talent escalates.
Apple has joined an arms race for top producers and actors by tech giants and traditional media companies alike. All parties are trying to recruit the most valuable talent they can to help programming stand out in a fragmented TV landscape where consumers’ choices are growing.
Details of the deal, such as what types of video content Winfrey will create for Apple’s new service, haven’t been released. However, Apple in a statement on Friday said only that they would team up with Oprah to “create original programs that embrace her incomparable ability to connect with audiences around the world.”
Apple today announced a unique, multi-year content partnership with Oprah Winfrey, the esteemed producer, actress, talk show host, philanthropist and CEO of OWN.
Together, Winfrey and Apple will create original programs that embrace her incomparable ability to connect with audiences around the world.
Winfrey’s projects will be released as part of a lineup of original content from Apple.
The deal is just the latest in a series of deals Apple has inked for dozens of original television productions. Apple is also teaming up with Steven Spielberg to create new episodes of sci-fi series “Amazing Stories.” Other deals include a cartoon series, “Central Park,” and a podcast-themed mystery, “Are You Sleeping.”
The first of Apple’s new video productions could debut as early as 2019. However, details as to how the content will be distributed have not been announced.
