According to an article in The New York Times by John Koblin, Apple is looking to launch its TV streaming service for the TV app on the Apple TV1 in the spring or summer of 2019:
Producers and entertainment executives who have met recently with Apple executives said the company has been leaning toward programming in keeping with its bright, optimistic brand identity. In other words, it seems possible that Apple will shy away from projects that are gratuitously dark or heavy on social issues.
They added that the company was targeting somewhere between March 2019 and the summer of that year to roll out its slate of new programming.
While I’m normally on board with Apple’s brand identity, I hope it doesn’t get in the way of making good content. A lot of the best television of the last few years has been dark.
The business model here is still unclear, according to Koblin:
Apple has not shared specifics with its new business partners on how it will distribute the shows, but they may be housed in its TV app, which allows access to video services like HBO Now and Hulu. Nor has the company announced whether its projects will be behind a pay wall, but the company will most likely require viewers to have subscriptions to access its shows at some point.
Oh, I’m sure Apple will charge for this. Apple isn’t one to spend over $1 billion to develop something then give it away for free.
- Seriously, what has happened to Apple’s naming schemes? Not everything has to be the simplest noun it can be. ↩