Questions We Still Need Answered After Apple’s Media Event
The company officially announced new subscription plans for TV, news, magazines and gaming — but details were scant.
After months of rumors, Apple announced a big expansion of its services business on Monday. But it stopped short of announcing critical details that could turn curious fans into actual subscribers.
The company announced several products, including a news and magazine service, a gaming subscription plan, and its highly-awaited video streaming service. It also unveiled an Apple Pay credit card in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard.
Here’s what we’re still waiting to learn:
1. How much will Apple TV+ cost?
Apple’s magazine and news subscription service, Apple News+, will cost $9.99 a month. That much we know. But the company didn’t announce the price for its Netflix competitor, Apple TV+.
If the ad-free subscription fits in line with Apple’s other offerings, we can assume the company will charge a flat monthly fee for unlimited access to its exclusive shows and movies. But Apple will also offer outside services like HBO, Amazon Prime Video, and CBS All Access. These channels have traditionally been add-on costs rather than bundled together. We have no inkling whether Apple TV+ subscribers will get these additional pay-TV channels as part of their plan, at a discounted rate, or have to pay full price.
2. What do Apple’s TV shows look like?
Besides a short, snazzy montage of footage, Apple didn’t present actual trailers from their roster of original shows. The company relied on notable showrunners and actors like Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, Oprah, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Anniston to pitch the projects without having anything to actually show. Sources say the majority of Apple’s shows are still casting and filming.
While having star talent is always a draw, how the shows are actually executed is key. Apple’s early forays into the original content space like “Planet of the Apps” haven’t been well-received. The company has since hired household names who are known for delivering hits — Apple programming executives Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg are respected Sony Pictures TV veterans with a great track record. The duo were responsible for greenlighting “Breaking Bad,” “Rescue Me,” “Damages,” “The Crown,” and The Blacklist,” among others.
3. How many exclusive shows will Apple TV+ have?
Apple didn’t say how many original shows it was ordering. It will spend about $2 billion this year, according to BTIG. That pales in comparison to Netflix, whose content budget is pegged at $15 billion in 2019, per BMO Capital Markets.
Apple’s service will have the added bonus of folding in content from over 150 streaming apps into its interface, so it will seem like it has more shows than you actually paid for. But for viewers deciding which service to add into their monthly budget, they’ll have to wait and see if there’s enough exclusive content in Apple TV+ to deserve their monthly dollars, particularly when many potential customers already subscribe to Netflix, Hulu and the like. Plus, there’s new companies that will be unveiling their streaming plans in the near future, including Disney and WarnerMedia.
4. Will customers who don’t subscribe to Apple TV+ be able to buy the shows a la carte?
Companies like HBO allow non-subscribers to buy episodes or seasons of its shows without subscribing to its service. You can buy a season of “The Sopranos” on iTunes, for example. Whether Apple will allow viewers to do the same remains to be seen.
5. How much will Apple Arcade cost?
We know Apple’s gaming subscription platform, Apple Arcade, will feature over 100 new and exclusive games for mobile, desktop and living room gamers. But we don’t know how much it will cost. Game creators like Hironobu Sakaguchi, Ken Wong, and Will Wright will have titles in the service, but we don’t have a full list.
