Apple TV Plus - will you be subscribing?

[AncalagonTheBlack]

As if we already didn't have enough streaming services,i have lost count lol.I'm loath to add yet another streaming service on top of the existing one's that i'm using! But i have to say,some of the announced shows looks tasty,especially the Steven Knight series starring Khal Drogo Jason Momoa! Then there's For All Mankind, Ronald D. Moore’s alternate history space series and Isaac Asimov’s Foundation!

At Apple’s “show time” event today, it offered an extremely brief look at a number of the shows it’s producing for its original programming lineup.

Plus,a brief trailer

 

Quote

The shows Apple revealed onstage are a range of science fiction, drama, and children’s programming. The company didn’t unveil individual trailers for each show, but it put together a teaser of its entire lineup, highlighting brief glimpses of the shows it introduced.

Those shows include:

• Amazing Stories, helmed by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, a science fiction anthology series based on the 1985 NBC show.
• Little America, from Big Sick writers Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon. It’ll be an “anthology series inspired by immigrants in the US.” Nanjiani noted that the series will feature real-life stories like one about a 10-year-old Indian child who ran his parents’ hotel in Ohio after they were deported. It will “cover the whole range of human emotions.”
• Little Voice, from J.J. Abrams and Sara Bareilles, “a funny, romantic show about what is hard and wonderful and transformative” about finding a voice through music. It’s set in New York City. Bareilles and Abrams introduced the series, with Bareilles singing the theme song live onstage.
• The Morning Show, a drama about the dynamics of the inner workings of a morning television show starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell. It’s loosely based on the book Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV by CNN reporter Brian Stelter.
• Two documentaries from Oprah, Oprah’s Book Club, a revival of Oprah’s famous project, a “meeting of the minds connecting us through books,” and Toxic Labor, about workplace harassment.
• See, a series from Steven Knight, starring Jason Momoa, which “takes place in a world devastated by a virus that left only a few million survivors, who emerged blind.” The series takes place “centuries later,” where it’s disputed whether people could actually see in the first place.
• Apple is partnering with the Sesame Workshop to develop a slate of children’s programming for Apple TV Plus. The series will be a preschool show called The Helpsters, which will teach basic problem-solving through coding.

In addition to those announced shows, there’s glimpses of For All Mankind, Ronald D. Moore’s alternate history space series and Dickinson, about the famous poet, as well as clips from The Morning Show, Amazing Stories, Little America, and See.

Apple has many other shows greenlit or in development, including an adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation. Apple did say it’s working with the best storytellers in the world, and teased involvement from a number of other actors, directors, and characters.

 

[Werthead]

So far, meeeeeeeh.

I think we've reached saturation point with streaming services. I think between Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and CBS All Access, the appetite for yet more services is going to be limited. I've seen industry commentators say that the way forward will be bundle deals like cable, where you pay the rate of say two full services and get another one bundled for free, but so far these haven't appeared.

Apple TV is way too late to the party, its content is more "interesting" then "must immediately watch" and it's launching at the same time as Disney+, which is a vastly more appealing service with a huge amount of both compelling new material (the Marvel shows) and a colossal backlog of existing material, including the entire Disney, ABC, Fox, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar back-catalogue. I can't see Apple competing with that.

[Iskaral Pust]

I agree with Wert.  We’re saturated now with a fragmented streaming market.  More and more content is getting locked up in largely irrelevant pockets.  Apple is too late to this party and has too little to offer.  The next step is bundling or consolidation.

[red snow]

It's mainly an attempt to get money out of people who refuse to update their iphones i suspect.

Nothing in the shows mentioned above scream "must subscribe".

Streaming is slowly transitioning into just being cable TV and like others say it's becoming as expensive to have access to them all. And there's only really Netflix has enough material to feel like it's more than just a "channel". Amazon is slowly getting there and I'm sure Disney will put money into it. The problem is also that as more companies start streaming channels the weaker they all get eg netfliy losing Disney and presumably back catalogue that other channels will want back.

It'll probably fare better than sony tv but i expect it's as doomed. Unless apple fund some really innovative and trendy shows where you need to update your phone in order to watch the next season.

[The Anti-Targ]

Nope. Too much TV on the two subscription services I already use, and the on demand of the free-to-air channels for me to watch everything that might be good, so no point in adding another one.

When news of TV shows coming to services I don't subscribe to (eg Amazon) has come out in the past I've felt momentary pangs of desire to stump up and subscribe to another service. But that moment passes and I realise I have neither the time nor the inclination to watch every possible TV series I think I will like.

So I do get FOMO a little bit, but then it passes quickly.

Also, I used to like Apple, because it was the anti-Microsoft, but then it became like a Steve Jobs cult so I stopped liking it.