According to Wall Street Journal, Apple has failed to proceed with the launching of a TV streaming service. A lot of people anticipated this new service, especially after the new Apple device in 2015.
This would be a competitor for streaming services on demand. For now, the whole project does not look optimistic. Apple wanted to stream entire seasons of TV series like Family Business Season 4, and the major networks were not too keen to allow that.
Apple has already met quite a few times with the networks (including Disney, Time Warner, Fox, Comcast and CBS). Yet, the result was not good for the company.
One of the reasons for the negative turn, quoting WSJ, was the rate offered by Apple: “In particular, Apple wanted to freeze for several years the monthly rate per viewer it would pay to license Disney channels. TV channels usually get annual rate increases and rely on them to fuel profit growth.” Also, there were problems with the communication between the parties to the agreement. Apple did not wish to reveal any information on the navigation of Apple TV. This, in turn, made it more difficult for the networks to trust.
Eddy Cue seems to be behind the problems with closing the deal. He is the company’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, and he is not new to such problems. Take a look back at the dispute with Taylor Swift. You will then see that Apple did not comply with paying the artist rights from Apple Music in the first place. The company came around, in the end, thanks to the popularity of the artist. Yet, this is not okay for the profile of Apple.
If you have a moment and look at the quarterly report released by Apple, you will realise that there is an underlying problem. Even though there is $42.4 billion in revenue, there is also a decline in the sales of hardware, new products and services. This is what keeps a giant company like Apple going.
If they cannot take a significant share of the market, they cannot keep up with the challenges of the commerce for long. And it will be a problem that becomes bigger and bigger by the minute. Of course, disagreements such as that for the TV streaming services are not going to help the situation. So, Apple needs to decide if being strict about their rules means more than having competitive products and services soon…
Top/Featured Image: By Rayukk / Wikipedia
