Apple TV's impact on the future of television

Posted Apr 3rd 2007 6:02PM by Brian White
Filed under: Rumors, Products and Services, Industry, Apple Inc (AAPL), General Electric (GE), Viacom (VIA), News Corp'B' (NWS)

With talk of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s just-released Apple TV shaking up another entertainment industry (the broadcast TV one), I have to wonder if that can happen in the short term. It's true that Apple's iPod led to a complete redefinition of how consumers "consume" their music -- while the traditional recording industry struggled to change from the format of physical media to digital music files. In standard fashion, Apple helped the music industry see that it's now even time to see music without consumer-limiting digital copy protection -- something that was just announced this morning. Well, last night in London, actually.

Will Apple's Apple TV change television distribution like the iPod changed music distribution? Once content outside the Apple ecosystem is available to be channeled through the small and diminutive Apple TV box, odds are that it may just affect TV habits. As in: consumers buying just the programming they want (à la carte) and even creating content to be shared with the world and their Apple TV boxes, YouTube-style -- but on your normal TV set (well, HDTV), not that small computer monitor that YouTube is usually confined to.

The challenge here is creating the reasons for the consumer to buy the $299 Apple TV when programming is so plentiful already -- but it's also costly. Why pay that $90 cable or satellite bill when you really only consume about 15% of that entertainment? It's money out the window for most, and once consumers realize that, the Apple TV could be the conduit that lets consumers "compete" with the likes of NBC Studios, Viacom, News Corp. and other media giants.

Tags: AAPL, Apple, Apple TV, AppleTv, General Electric, GeneralElectric, News Corp., NewsCorp., Viacom

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

4-03-2007 @ 6:38PM

Daghan Altas said...

Imagine if Apple bought Netflix... Now, that would bring a ton of content (and a ton of new customers, including me) to the party and create some serious momentum....
Is this really a dumb idea?

4-03-2007 @ 9:58PM

Neurotic Nomad said...

ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX should be aware that Google, Revver, Blip.tv et al are becoming the new networks as the AppleTV pits broadcasting against podcasting.

That is to say they are performing the same functions that broadcast networks performed in the age of broadcast; sending you the video for free over the connection you already have and adding advertising to cover costs and make a profit.

...and Apple makes money on the hardware that connects it all to your HDTV.

Like MP3s before it: Apple didn't invent the wave, they're just the first one to bother to make riding it easy for the non-geek.

4-04-2007 @ 5:23AM

c.Lake said...

#1 -- No, that's not a dumb idea. It's just that Netflix doesn't actually "OWN" the rights to the movies they rent. However, if they did some sort of "renting" thing with Apple -- that would be BIG.

4-04-2007 @ 11:15PM

EP said...

The title says it all. Apple is the FUTURE of TV (at at least is trying to be) but that's not going to happen in the short term. It will take some time and another generation or two of the ATV platform.

Broadcast is dead. In the future you will choose your programming and pay for it a la carte. It's possible there will be some form of advertising option allowing you so watch programs and movies for free if you submit to watching ads (which you won't be able to skip over because they will be introduced dynamically out of band every x minutes or something rather than be inline with the content). I don't see a subscription model going forward 5-10 years. Anyone adopting a subscription model is worth shorting long-term.