Is Apple Actually Getting Into the Web TV Game? The tech giant has reportedly been entertaining the idea for several years and is kicking the tires again.
By Nina Zipkin
It looks like Apple is kicking the tires again on a web TV service. It is rumored that the company is looking to provide its own "over-the-top" subscription service and is opening up discussions with content partners, ReCode reports. While Apple is said to have floated this kind of offering in the past, with a $30 per month service in 2009 that didn't get much traction, the tech giant has largely stuck to developing its $99 TV box.
Ostensibly, Apple's service would be a similar model (and a likely competitor) to what Dish Network is doing with its new $20 a month Sling TV service, which launched this month and offers a bundle of 12 channels (including ESPN, The Food Network and CNN), and streams live on devices like Roku players, Samsung and Amazon Fire TV's -- but so far nothing doing on Apple TV's.
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Sony is also getting in on the action with its live streaming, cloud-based PlayStationVue service which was unveiled in beta last November. There isn't much overlap between the two services as far as the channels they offer, and while Sony is only available at the moment through PlayStation's, according to a company release, it will available on iPads in the future.
Additionally, it seems that Verizon is also getting ready to enter the fray with an internet TV service of its own later this year. With Dish and Sony's services on the market, networks are clearly willing to enter into these types of partnerships, which could lead the way for Apple's to emerge.
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