Apple Announces Apple TV+, the Company’s New Video Streaming Service

Apple has just made its much-awaited video streaming official. At its Services-focused event, the company today announced Apple TV+, it’s new video streaming service that will compete directly with the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

Apple has been trying to get into the video streaming service for a while, with the company investing more than a billion into the project. Not only is Apple building the new streaming service, but it is also investing heavily on original content to compete with shows from Netflix Originals.

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With Apple TV+, Apple is working on a number of original content — including Oprah’s Toxic Labor and yet another multi-part story focusing on mental health, Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories, The Morning Show starring Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, and Steve Carell, Steven Knight’s See starring Jason Momoa and Alfre Woodard, Kumail Nanjiani’s Little America, Sesame Street’s Helpsters (for kids), and JJ Abrams and Sara Bareilles’ Little Voice.

Apple TV+ will be available in 100+ countries this Fall.

Apple TV will also now act as the gateway to more shows, unlike Netflix. It will essentially be the central hub or a storefront for (almost) everything you want to watch via Apple TV Channels. Along with Apple’s original content, the company is going to offer “channels” for an additional subscription per channel that will give you access to other shows with Apple TV Channels.

This May, HBO, Starz, SHOWTIME, CBS All Access, Smithsonian Channel, EPIX, Tastemade, Noggin and new services like MTV Hits will be available for a subscription that you pay separately for each channel. That means you will be able to watch the final season of Game of Thrones from the new Apple TV app. Apple TV Channels also works with Family Sharing, so you only have to pay once and let your family members access the same shows and content.

Apple is also announcing a news subscription service, a games subscription service, and a credit card service today.

The new video streaming service will be available from the newly redesigned Apple TV app on Apple devices, and Apple is working closely with other companies to bring the service to your other devices. Apple will also be making Apple TV available on the Mac.

The company says it is working with smart TV makers to bring the new service to your TV, and it will likely launch apps for other platforms so the new service is accessible everywhere. It will be available on TVs from Samsung, Sony, LG, Vizio, as well as Roku and Fire TV devices. Apple knows locking its service inside its own ecosystem won’t help, so it’s making the obvious decision to make the platform available on all your devices.

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Conversation 27 comments

  • munkeybuziness

    25 March, 2019 - 2:20 pm

    <p>Roku spelling. </p>

  • VancouverNinja

    Premium Member
    25 March, 2019 - 2:21 pm

    <p>Amazon Prime <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Video/</span>HULU Clone – Man is Apple late to this game. I see no upside to this at all except another streaming service of Original Content to join CBS, DC Universe, and Disney+…it is getting out of control.</p><p><br></p><p>Apple will show okay numbers here but they are too late to become a leader with this.</p>

    • lvthunder

      Premium Member
      25 March, 2019 - 3:05 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415250">In reply to VancouverNinja:</a></em></blockquote><p>How can you say that they won't be a leader? All it will take is 4 or 5 of these shows to take off like Game of Thrones or House of Cards and people will be willing to pay.</p>

      • VancouverNinja

        Premium Member
        25 March, 2019 - 4:32 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#415266">In reply to lvthunder:</a></em></blockquote><p>They are literally the last major player to enter the space. It is likely that their user base already subscribes to Netflix and/or Hulu with a free Amazon Prime Video service. Now the homes with family or that love Disney properties e.g. Star Wars, Marvel, etc will want to have the Disney+ streaming service or even DC Universe. What does Apple's service offer that those customers cannot access worth another monthly subscription? </p><p><br></p><p>Apple is offering nothing innovative worth subscribing to other than a few new shows – who really cares. I think they have already lost any chance to be a leader in this space. Apple's value proposition is extremely weak. </p>

        • lvthunder

          Premium Member
          25 March, 2019 - 7:27 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#415317">In reply to VancouverNinja:</a></em></blockquote><p>The Steven Spielberg show looked interesting to me, so did the morning show, and the space show they just showed clips of. That to me is worth subscribing to. Will it last a while. Who knows. It all depends on the content. I bounce between HBO and Showtime now as it is. So now I'll throw in Apple TV+ and switch between the three.</p>

          • VancouverNinja

            Premium Member
            25 March, 2019 - 8:44 pm

            <blockquote><em><a href="#415383">In reply to lvthunder:</a></em></blockquote><p>I have no doubt these will be more good shows to watch – I love sci fi and Spielberg…I just don't see it being enough for me suddenly live in Apple TV+ land for.</p>

            • lvthunder

              Premium Member
              26 March, 2019 - 11:48 am

              <blockquote><em><a href="#415400">In reply to VancouverNinja:</a></em></blockquote><p>So do what I do with HBO and Showtime. Subscribe for a little bit and watch what you want and then switch to another one and do the same thing. It's not like there is a year long commitment or anything.</p>

    • Yaggs

      25 March, 2019 - 3:15 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#415250"><em>In reply to VancouverNinja:</em></a><em> I don't see this as a competition… they are just getting into the content marketplace… there is plenty of room for people to subscribe to several services to get more exclusive content. I don't have an allegiance to any of these services… if there is something I like on Netflix and something on Apple TV+ there is nothing to stop me from using both services. Well have to see what their prices look like. </em></blockquote><p><br></p>

      • VancouverNinja

        Premium Member
        25 March, 2019 - 4:33 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#415272">In reply to Yaggs:</a></em></blockquote><p>I like, millions of consumers and iPhone/ipad customers, have three major services or more already and there is nothing compelling about what Apple unveiled to make me think i want or need their service.</p>

    • jgraebner

      Premium Member
      25 March, 2019 - 7:57 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415250">In reply to VancouverNinja:</a></em></blockquote><p>This is the most interested I've been in an Apple product, probably ever. 🙂 I think their big pocketbooks are very much on display here. They have pulled together a lot of major talent for their original content and described several shows that I'd be pretty interested in seeing.</p><p><br></p><p>I really loved the original 2 seasons of "Amazing Stories" (I even recorded every episode on Beta… &lt;g&gt;) and I'm very curious to see the revival.</p>

      • VancouverNinja

        Premium Member
        25 March, 2019 - 8:45 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#415395">In reply to jgraebner:</a></em></blockquote><p>Amazing Stories was good; I will bet you these ones will be just as good if not better.</p>

  • dcdevito

    25 March, 2019 - 2:34 pm

    <p>I don't find this offering very compelling. You can save some money but most cord cutters aren't going to make this a huge revenue gain for Apple. </p>

    • lvthunder

      Premium Member
      25 March, 2019 - 3:06 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415258">In reply to dcdevito:</a></em></blockquote><p>I'm just the opposite. Out of the 4 or 5 shows they gave previews to 3 of them peaked my interest.</p>

      • Saxwulf

        Premium Member
        27 March, 2019 - 9:13 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#415267">In reply to lvthunder:</a></em></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote><em>Piqued.</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

    • VancouverNinja

      Premium Member
      25 March, 2019 - 4:35 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415258">In reply to dcdevito:</a></em></blockquote><p>You nailed it. This is basically a copy of Hulu or Amazon Prime Video – with some Apple shows…not enough to get me to subscribe to yet another service.</p>

  • Lordbaal

    25 March, 2019 - 3:12 pm

    <p>So just another streaming service.</p>

  • curtisspendlove

    25 March, 2019 - 3:18 pm

    <p>The one piece of this that is hugely compelling to me is “all content is downloadable”. </p><p><br></p><p>I live in a rural area with lousy high speed bandwidth. Streaming does not work well for us. </p><p><br></p><p>If this service can let me select shows my family wants to watch and download them overnight it is the option I’ve been looking for. </p><p><br></p><p>I pay nearly $200 / month for satellite TV service, mostly for the DVR. I would happily toss that at Apple if this works well for us. </p><p><br></p><p>HBO, showtime, and a few others recently pulled their content off the satellite service we use. My wife and I were just discussing last week what our options were. Since nearly everything is stream only, there weren’t any good options. </p><p><br></p><p>The internet challenges are also why having a gaming PC instead of streaming games from Google or MS is appealing. </p><p><br></p><p>Thus, I’m also interested in Apple Arcade. </p>

    • lvthunder

      Premium Member
      25 March, 2019 - 7:29 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415273">In reply to curtisspendlove:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yes that is interesting to me as well. I like to watch content while on an airplane. I might need to move my HBO Now subscription to HBO in the TV app to get the download feature.</p>

  • Yaggs

    25 March, 2019 - 3:27 pm

    <p>So is it just me or does it seem like everything available in the "Channels" stuff is just on demand stuff? Did they say you would be able to watch live programming from things like HBO, History, etc? Or is this stuff like HBO Go and (not HBO Now), but just tied into the Apple TV system/interface? They showed a logo for History Vault which to me seems like you will get the access to the on demand stuff but none of the live stuff.</p>

    • VancouverNinja

      Premium Member
      25 March, 2019 - 4:35 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415279">In reply to Yaggs:</a></em></blockquote><p>This was not a great launch for Apple today.</p>

    • lvthunder

      Premium Member
      25 March, 2019 - 7:23 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415279">In reply to Yaggs:</a></em></blockquote><p>No it is HBO Now tied into the TV app. HBO Go is if you subscribe to HBO via your cable or satellite provider. I wonder if you have an HBO Now subscription if it gets activated in the TV App. The big difference is being able to download content to watch offline.</p>

  • Daekar

    25 March, 2019 - 9:35 pm

    <p>Wow.. That list of originals is SAD. Nothing in there I would even remotely care about. Ho hum, yet another streaming service to ignore. </p>

  • dontbe evil

    26 March, 2019 - 6:03 am

    <p>spielberg has been always against streaming… till apple money</p>

    • jgraebner

      Premium Member
      26 March, 2019 - 1:00 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415484">In reply to dontbe_evil:</a></em></blockquote><p>No he hasn't. His objection was to movies made for streaming being considered for an Oscar instead of an Emmy. </p><p><br></p><p>This new series isn't the first that his company has produced for a streaming service. Just last year, they produced "The Haunting of Hill House" on Netflix.</p>

  • mefree

    26 March, 2019 - 11:46 am

    <p>Not a single one of their 'original content' shows looks appealing to anyone but pretentious douchebags. So, Apple. Makes sense.</p>

    • jgraebner

      Premium Member
      26 March, 2019 - 12:54 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415596">In reply to mefree:</a></em></blockquote><p>There are few things more pretentious than judging someone else's taste.</p>

  • lytranmobdro

    30 May, 2019 - 4:30 am

    <p>Why do we have to pay a high price for Apple's video streaming service while there are lots of free apps to do that. <a href="https://mobdroplus.com/&quot; target="_blank">Mobdro</a> is an example</p>

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