Apple’s Plan For Subscription TV Snares CBS & Disney
Posted 12/22/2009 at 7:13am
| by J.R. Bookwalter

If the rumor mill is to be believed, Apple wants to reinvent television as we know it with a subscription service through iTunes. And now, word on the street is that they’ve found at least two willing networks interested in the plan.
CBS Corp. and Walt Disney Co. have both shown interest in the TV subscription plan proposal that Apple is offering, which is expected to roll out sometime next year.
According to The Wall Street Journal and
AppleInsider, CBS would offer programs from its parent network as well as The CW, while Disney would bring ABC, Disney Channel and ABC Family networks to the table.
The concept behind Apple’s subscription TV service is that content providers would get $2-4 per month for broadcast networks like CBS and ABC, while basic-cable networks would fetch $1-2 per month.
Last month, reports were flying that Apple was pitching the idea of a $30 per month iTunes TV subscription plan to major networks. The idea of an “all you can eat” subscription plan is a big step away from the traditional iTunes business model of purchasing individual shows or series for a flat fee.
It’s no surprise that Disney is on board for such an idea, since they were the first company to offer movie & television content on iTunes back in 2005. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is the company’s largest single shareholder thanks to the Pixar deal, so Apple and Disney share a very simpatico relationship.
The major hurdle that Apple will be fighting with a subscription TV plan is the networks’ resistance to irritating their traditional bread & butter, namely cable television providers. With cable revenue already feeling the strain from online sites like Hulu, it’s assumed that a more cost-effective Apple-offered television subscription would continue to erode those cable revenues further.
AppleInsider points out that Comcast’s purchase of NBC Universal would likely make it an unwilling participant in Apple’s new plan, although no official word is out yet either way.