Apple Reportedly Wants to Bring More Hollywood Films to Apple TV+

Apple is discussing with major Hollywood studios to add more films to its TV+ subscription service, Bloomberg is reporting today citing people familiar with the matter. After Apple invested in live sports by bringing Friday Night Baseball to Apple TV+ two years ago, Apple’s negotiations with studios could mark the beginning of a new strategy to make the service more “sticky.”

“The iPhone maker has spoken to several of the largest studios about acquiring more programming from their libraries to offer customers both in the US and abroad, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private negotiations,” the Bloomberg report reads.  The negotiations follow recent content licensing deals that gave Apple TV+ subscribers in the US access to approximately 50 Hollywood movies including Titanic, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Saving Private Ryan. Mean Girls.

Get your popcorn ready.

Starting now, your favorite films are available for a limited time with your Apple TV+ subscription (US only):

See more: https://t.co/fevfI5bbB6 pic.twitter.com/fuuwgyZgUZ

— Apple TV (@AppleTV) March 1, 2024

To launch Apple TV+ back in 2019, Apple avoided expensive content licensing deals and made big investments in original content with high-profile talent. That’s probably what allowed Apple to make Apple TV+ available for just $4.99/month at launch, though this price was bumped to $6.99/month two years ago, and then to $9.99 in October 2023.

Even though several Apple TV+ films and TV shows such as Ted Lasso, For All Mankind, and Silo received critical acclaim, it’s still hard for the service to compete with Netflix and other services with a huge back catalog of films and TV shows. And it’s probably even more difficult for Apple to attract subscribers when other services like Netflix and Disney+ have now launched cheaper ad-supported tiers.