Apple looking to help cut the cord with web-based TV bundle service

Apple looking to help cut the cord with web-based TV bundle service

With an abundance of cheap, easy-to-use media streamers flooding store shelves and a plethora of services flooding the digital marketplace, it may seem like it’s too late for any company to get in on the game and carve out its own share of the market — unless that company has enough influence to change a market all on its own. Recent reports suggest that Apple is looking to make its own streaming TV service, and with an influence as wide as Apple’s, the market could dramatically shift should that plan come to fruition.

One of the longest-running (and ongoing) Apple rumors is that the company has been planning to make a television, and considering its attention to detail and aesthetics, that has always been a juicy prospect. Instead, the company made a media streamer, the Apple TV, and named it after what would almost certainly be the name of its mythical television. Now, it seems, if Apple doesn’t want to get into TV hardware, it will at least get into TV services. Industry insiders are reporting that Apple is exploring deals with TV programmers that would allow the company to offer programming bundles that customers could pick and choose.

Rather than offer everything available through traditional cable services, Apple would bundle together certain packages and sell them on its own streaming service. Unless you’re very lucky with your viewing habits, the bundles won’t offer everything you want to watch, and thus won’t spark a cord-cutting revolution, but the breadth of the bundles could at least soften the blow of dumping your cable package. It could very easily offer “live” programming as well, considering competitors — such as Dish with its Sling TV — have managed to strike similar deals.

The Apple TV is simply a device that delivers other companies’ services and content; these reports don’t mention anything of Apple attempting to create its own content. If Apple does manage to get people paying for its own offering of television programming and those customers are watching it over Apple’s own hardware delivery mechanism, it would be remiss to think Apple wouldn’t want to further conquer the market by then getting customers to watch its own original content. Sony is already giving it a go with PlayStation Vue, Netflix proved original non-cable content can garner acclaim, and Apple is arguably an even bigger mover and shaker than either.

For now, these reports are just that — reports. However, if Apple is actively discussing plans with content creators and providers, then that at least means the company is seeing if the venture would be worthwhile. If so, why would Apple not do something worth doing?