Following on from more speculation about the long-rumored Apple television, the New York Post is reporting that Apple is planning on launching a subscription based television service by the end of this year. The service would apparently be delivered by streaming content over the web although there has been some less-than-enthusiastic responses to the idea from media companies who would supply the content.
The resistance appears to stem from the fact that Apple wants to retain a vast amount of control over the content that is offered, in addition to being the ones that decide the price of the content delivered. Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue, is apparently the guy who has been leading Apple’s negotiations with the content companies.
The format of the content provided would actually be in the form of specific channels rather than the single on-demand service that is currently offered on the iTunes Store and by other providers such as Netflix. However, no details were offered on how the ‘Apple Channels’ would be structured.
Apple has also reportedly been trying to encourage cable companies to use their hardware over the existing in-home hardware currently offered, although it’s not clear how reliable this information is, and to what specific hardware they are referring.
Given that the company is expected to be launching an updated version of the Apple TV at their iPad media event on March 7th, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising if hints of the new TV service, if the report is accurate, appeared shortly after.
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