[opendtv] It's all about Apps
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2015 09:19:36 -0400
I hate to admit it, but Bert may be right.
The other night I opened the CBS app on my iPad to see which programs I could
get for free. When I clicked on certain programs the app told me I needed to
pay for CBS All Access to watch them...
Yesterday while watching the Apple event, Tim Cook told us:
"Our TV vision is simple and provacative," Cook said. "We believe the future of
television is apps.”
Here's the long version from an Apple press release:
Apps are the future of television. Think about it. On your mobile devices and
computers, you already use apps such as Netflix, Hulu, WatchESPN, and iTunes
to watch TV shows. And that’s exactly where TV in the living room is headed.
Apps have liberated television. They allow you to make individual choices
about what you want to watch. And when and where you want to watch it. With
the new Apple TV and its powerful new tvOS, developers are creating
experiences that will change what you expect from your big screen, making
your TV feel as personal as your iPhone or iPad.
There are dozens of stories this morning about the event and the new Apple TV
that I could post or link to. No need.
The product is exactly what I expected. It was obvious.
It opens up the big screen to Apps created by developers - everything on the
old Apple TV was created by Apple and focused on entertainment or getting
content from your Apple devices on the big screen.
It features a new remote with a touchpad for navigation and Siri to handle
search functions. The remote also can be used as a game controller, and it will
be possible to play multiplayer games using iPhones, iPads and the iPod Touch.
And it offers the ability to search across multiple content sources to find the
programs you want. The first version will search the iTunes Store, Netflix, HBO
and Hulu, but the developer hooks are there to search the content in any app.
As expected there was no announcement of an Apple OTT streaming service. It
could come next year...
or never.
Perhaps the road to ala carte purchasing of TV programming and movies is right
in front of our faces. If you want your content to be accessible by Apple's
huge customer base, build an App.
All that is left is to figure out how much to charge for your content.
CBS has set their price at $6.99/ month. Way too high in my opinion, but
somebody had to be the guinea pig. As we saw with casual gaming and literally a
million other apps, prices have to be very reasonable because of REAL
competition.
I believe the same will happen with TV content Apps as the content owners try
to differentiate their Apps and convince us to click the "pay" button. And the
main app can be free, as is the case with the CBS app. The free app can be the
discovery engine, then when we get excited about a program they can set the
hook and sell the monthly subscription.
Live sports is still the great unknown. Bert keeps telling us that Skipper is
exploring ways to free ESPN from "the bundle," but at what price? If $6.99 is
too high for CBS, will people pay $20/mo for ESPN?
The demo of the Major League Baseball app during the Apple event is well worth
watching. It illustrates the full potential of the IP infrastructure to bring
together content from multiple live events with contextual data. The developer
of the app said hockey is next. What will sports nuts pay to watch any game, or
two simultaneously in split screen mode?
Now there's an app for that.
Regards
Craig
Other related posts:
