Apple Internet TV requires TV stations to stream their own videos

In its cooperation with Hollywood and the music industry, Apple has always been very aggressive, with many demands that are unacceptable to the content copyright industry. According to the latest reports, in the planning stage of Apple's Internet TV service, Apple actually requires cooperating TV stations to be responsible for the network streaming data transmission business of the channel, and Apple will become a "hands-off boss".

Internet TV services that broadcast live channels and videos entirely over the Internet have become a hot topic in the technology industry. According to multiple media reports, Apple plans to follow Sony's footsteps and launch a monthly Internet TV service in the United States. Apple's set-top box (Apple TV) and other hardware devices will become the "landing platform" for this service.

It is reported that Apple executives have recently conducted licensing negotiations with major TV stations in the United States. In addition to content copyright, Apple has proposed that the TV stations themselves provide streaming media services.

As we all know, it is not easy to provide TV streaming services through the Internet. TV stations need to purchase network equipment and establish cooperation with other content distribution service providers. According to industry executives, Apple requires TV stations to bear the relevant infrastructure investment and operating costs themselves.

Apple's Internet TV service faces multiple obstacles, and the above-mentioned division of labor in live streaming is one of them. If Apple hopes to launch the service this year, it must sign a cooperation agreement with TV stations.

In conventional film and television streaming cooperation, operators obtain content copyrights from Hollywood or the music industry, and the live broadcast and on-demand content are generally completed by the operators and have no direct relationship with content manufacturers.

For example, well-known channels such as HBO and ESPN in the United States have been licensed to multiple online TV service providers, and these two channels will naturally not be involved in the provision of streaming media services.

However, in Apple's application ecosystem model, television media such as Fox and Disney have also launched online live streaming clients, and the live streaming of these clients is completed by the TV stations themselves (commissioned by content distribution service providers).

According to Tom Morgan, a veteran in the video streaming industry, video streaming services incur certain costs, with the streaming service provider spending 5 cents for every hour of viewing.

In the video streaming industry, Netflix has taken the lead, broadcasting hundreds of millions of hours of video every month. Outside of Netflix, traditional TV stations and channels have just started their Internet live broadcast services and do not have a large user base.

Sources said that Apple Internet TV will use Apple's brand, but Apple requires TV stations to be responsible for the "shipping costs" of video data. Apple's requirement has forced TV station executives to think twice.

According to sources in the TV industry, Eddy Ku, Apple's executive in charge of content and copyright, is in charge of negotiating cooperation with TV stations in the Internet TV service. Eddy Ku told the TV industry that both parties should have their own division of labor and play to their respective strengths. Apple's strengths are consumer electronics and software, so the streaming media transmission of TV channel data, such as streaming media, should be handed over by TV stations to content distribution companies that are good at this.

Apple's entry into the online TV industry is bound to bring it into direct conflict with existing cable and satellite TV service providers such as Comcast and Verizon. Many of these service providers are also broadband providers, and they are likely to retaliate against Apple through other means.

Therefore, another view is that if TV stations are required to bear the cost of streaming media transmission in Internet TV services, this may ease the hostility from companies such as Comcast.

In the context of the poor network neutrality environment, Netflix was forced to negotiate with companies such as Comcast and Verizon last year, and obtained network fast lane treatment by paying, improving the lag of users watching videos. Obviously, if Apple is responsible for streaming media transmission, Apple must also negotiate with these broadband companies.

Before Apple, Japan's Sony Corporation had already launched Internet TV services in three cities in the United States. The cheapest package costs $50 per month and bundles 50 channels. Sony's massive game consoles will become the landing equipment for this service. However, the outside world generally criticizes Sony's TV service for being too expensive, and the price gap with cable TV is very limited.

According to US media reports, Apple's basic Internet TV service package may bundle 25 channels and charge around US$30 per month.

Previously, American satellite TV company Dish has launched an Internet TV service with 12 channels, charging $20 per month.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.