Apple Negotiating TV Deals With Major US Channels

After news from Sony earlier this year, now some of America's largest TV stations have confirmed that Apple is planning to launch its own television service.  The Wall Street Journal has reported that Apple's Vice-President, Eddy Cue, has been doing the rounds of American TV networks to trail the promised changes.

''In at least one meeting, Apple described future television technology that would respond to users' voices and movements,'' reports the article—which is yet another confirmation of what we already suspected.  That was already mentioned in Steve Jobs' official biography, but it now seems that voice recognition will be used both for searching for programmes and flipping between channels.

The WSJ also talks about ''Apple technologies'' that will allow users to flip between watching the same programme on their TV and on a smartphone or tablet, picking up where they left off.  Similar systems already exist, with Sony and LG both offering this service, and plenty more are due to arrive in 2012.  Once again, though, it might be up to Apple to make sure the service really goes mainstream.

Apple vs Google: A Tale of Two Strategies

Ultimately, the article doesn't tell us that much about the new product.  The real interest is that Apple has already started talking to content providers at the TV networks, which is in stark contrast to some of Google's recent problems.

Sony launched its first 'Google TVs' in the US this year, and although the manufacturer remains confident about the product's prospects, it was disappointed by the reaction at the TV networks, which were furious about a product stealing control over their content without their permission.  As a direct result, many of them stopped providing programming for the platform, leaving Sony with the difficult job of renegotiating access for its customers with the channels.

Apple seems to be doing things the other way round.  After its experience in the music industry, where it concluded deals with all the major record labels before launching iTunes, the company can easy point to its win-win strategy for content providers.  Will the major TV networks be as convinced as the record companies were?


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