Apple today has added three new channels to the Apple TV lineup: A&E, The History Channel, and Lifetime. Each channel does require a cable subscription to unlock full content. At the time of launch, each channel only supports DirecTV, Verizon FiOS, and Cablevision Optimum, but the network says it will add support for more providers soon.
I always get excited about the new channels, until I see that you need a cable subscription.
You will always need a cable subscription. There’s no real way to break that model, because that’s where the channels get all their money, and they aren’t going to piss off the cable companies.
Agreed Jim. All of these channels can be accessed via On Demand via the cable company. Lame.
At least these accept DirectTV. Most of the channels on AppleTV, save HBOGo, are useless to me as they do not (ESPN, Disney, etc.).
And using them on AppleTV goes against any monthly data caps you may have with your ISP.
I look at this as getting a foot in the door, by both Apple and the Cable companies. Let them flirt like this and maybe something more serious will develop.
you know what’s lame-r? the horrendous ui for comcast’s on-demand service. therefore, using “on-demand” via the apple tv is a win-win.
I absolutely disagree. Netflix is competing with HBO for total subscribers and has done so entirely without cable companies.
It’s absolutely a myth that anyone needs cable to provide compelling content and services. Cable TV will get disrupted. They will become dumb pipes. Content is and will continue to come from other places like Netflix, YouTube, Vimeo, Vevo, Crackle, etc, etc, etc.
Or when you realize that us in Canada still don’t get most of these options, cable subscription or not.
Maybe, but that is different than what we’re talking about. First off, many people subscribe to both Netflix and HBO. It’s not an either-or. Secondly, none of those outlets you listed are cable channels. I’d also point out that the quality of content on Netflix, Vimeo, Vevo, and Crackle don’t even begin to think about coming close to content on HBO or AMC or even Netflix.
TV may get disrupted eventually, but it won’t be via Apple or Intel or Amazon becoming the conduit for existing outlets like HBO, Showtime, Lifetime, AMC, or the broadcast networks. It will be via newcomers producing their own content like Netflix and Amazon through their own, new outlets.
My comment about “always” needing a cable subscription was aimed purely at the availability of existing cable content over the top. You’ll never get Lifetime or AMC or HBO without a cable subscription. That doesn’t mean you’ll never get ANY content without a cable subscription.
It’s also important to note that large swaths of content production are now owned by cable companies, so cable will never truly become a dumb pipe. That was the whole reason Comcast bought NBCUniversal. To own both ends of the equation.
Who is “we” and where are he definitions of what “we” are talking about?
Of course it’s not either/or, that’s the beauty. You can of course subscribe to multiple services. I have Netflix, Hulu, and watch content on PBS, Crackle, Vimeo, and Vevo, for example. None of that requires I have cable TV and it’s awesome.
” It will be via newcomers producing their own content”
Yes, I believe that’s exactly my point. Cable tv is only slowing the inevitable.
So your comment about “always” simply means until those newcomers produce their own content. Glad we agree on that.
Comcast and other do indeed own a large chunk of content and it’s disappointing as hell that the government let that happen. They will likely allow the TWC merger too because the government is dumb.
Two of those channels used to have stuff worth watching.
We are slowly seeing the cable company middlemen losing their grasp. But let us not forget that the channels are middlemen, too.
Subscribers does not equal profit. That’s like saying Samsung is ‘winning’ because they sell more devices yet make A LOT less money.
How do these newcomers make money to produce their own content?
How does any new business make money? Sell a compelling product.
As soon as there is a system that guarantees more money to the content owners than the current system, that system will become the norm. Right now, the cable model offers the largest guaranteed payment to the content owners. If you want to break cable, pay more guaranteed money for content.
It doesn’t, which is why I specifically mentioned subscribers. I never said Netflix was winning, though I do think it’s inevitable they will (both in subscribers and profit) unless HBO pivots.
isnt that because of the french-language requirement in Quebec, and the content providers dont want to double-produce everything?
“There’s no real way to break that model”.
Yes there is. You cut your cable subscription. You live without it. I did it. If enough people do it, the cable companies will adapt, or die. You really can vote with your wallet.
Some of the content on these channels can be viewed without a subscription.
The problem is that there’s no telling which videos are free to view until you go to play them.