The Apple TV app – which is expected to be at the center of the television streaming service to be announced at Apple’s media event later today – may offer subscriptions to non-Apple video services, including HBO, Showtime, and other premium services for $9.99 per month.
The Wall Street Journal says Apple has been negotiating with HBO, Showtime, Starz, and others to offer their shows to users for $9.99 a month each.” That’s a decent discount off of current pricing, as HBO sells HBO Now streaming subscriptions for $14.99 per month.
While it’s obvious the premium networks will see a loss in subscription fees, but are depending on Apple’s service to substantially boost their subscriber numbers, helping to compensate for any lost revenue.
Apple’s TV app – currently limited to iOS and Apple TV devices – may also make an appearance on other platforms, including smart TVs and Roku devices, says WSJ. It was announced during CES earlier this year that many Smart TV makers will offer AirPlay 2 and HomeKit compatibility in their sets this year, making an expansion of devices for the TV app a real possibility.
In addition to details about Apple’s streaming service, the article also offered details about the upcoming Apple News subscription service, which is expected to debut Monday.
Apple is expected to debut a $9.99 per month subscription news service via its Apple news app that will offer unlimited access to stories from the subscription paywalled areas of major new sites, like The Wall Street Journal. In addition, the subscription will include magazine content, similar to that offered by the Texture magazine service, which Apple purchased last year.
The WSJ article also revealed that Apple CEO Tim Cook has for the last few years held monthly meetings in which a services team pinpoints apps that “benefit and threaten” the company. This has helped create a a “release radar” for Cook, illustrating apps likely to sell well and metrics for ones that pose competition.
Today’s event will begin today at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time (1:00 p.m. Eastern Time) at the Steve Jobs Theater on the Apple Park campus. The event will be live streamed on its website and through the Events app on the Apple TV.
MacTrast will report on all the action, immediately following the event, so stay tuned.