[opendtv] News: Apple's Over-The-Top Plans For TV

http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/02/itunes-hulu-netflix-technology-personal-apple-tv.html?partner=technology_newsletter 

Tidbits
Apple's Over-The-Top Plans For TV
Taylor Buley, 11.02.09, 06:00 PM EST
The company's got a new subscription TV service in the works. Will cable networks line up their content?
BURLINGAME, Calif. -- All Things Digital's Peter Kafka reports multiple sources saying that Apple is looking to extend its iTunes software with a $30-a-month subscription service.
It's an Internet television service that would ride "over the top" of existing infrastructure and could rival the traditional ones offered by cable TV operators, notes Kafka. That is, "if Apple is able to get enough buy-in from broadcast and cable TV programmers."
So will the Apple TV finally live up to its name? Kafka notes that the Apple television service would likely be an extension of its iTunes software, rather than tied to a device like Apple TV. "There's no word on what role devices have to play in this deal," notes gadget blog Engadget. Apple's stock closed up 81 cents to $189.31 in Monday trading.
Kafka says iTunes boss Eddy Cue is tasked with promoting the idea and fingers Disney as a likely early adopter. But Apple's chances of being met with open arms, he says, is "a big if." Though the Internet-based television model is already being tested by services like Boxee, Netflix, NBC Universal and News Corp.'s Hulu and CBS' TV.com. Kafka--a former Forbes editor--opines that potential content providers are likely to tread lightly around existing revenue streams from cable operators like Comcast.
"Don't hold your breath," writes Gizmodo writer Matt Buchanan. But don't write off the idea altogether, either. Media industry executives will eventually have to get over their fears of "over the top": "The exodus is inevitable," Buchanan writes. "There's no stopping this." 


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