Apple on Monday revealed the headliner TV shows that will make Apple TV Plus compete with Netflix. And they’re… OK, I guess? When the folks…
Apple on Monday revealed the headliner TV shows that will make Apple TV Plus compete with Netflix. And they’re… OK, I guess?
When the folks at Netflix first got into the game of making their own original episodic content, they made House of Cards. At the time, the concept of Kevin Spacey playing an evil politician was dynamite. If new streaming service Apple TV Plus is to be a success, Apple needs original content like that. Proper must-see telly. Something everyone talks about. Something everyone pays for.
Game of Thrones, basically.
I stream a lot of TV and movies. I watch Netflix and Amazon Video and Hulu and Now TV, and I welcome the choice of new shows on a new streaming service. But I have to admit, I don’t get much of a tingle in my antennae from any of the original Apple shows announced at the launch event in Cupertino, California.
«Great stories can change the world,» Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the star-studded launch event. «We feel we can contribute something important to culture and our society.» Although he also complained, «With so many choices, sometimes it’s hard to know where to start,» literally minutes before launching an entire new TV platform.
Cook left out a few key details about Apple TV Plus. First and foremost: the price. Viewers seem to accept a charge of 10 bucks a month and no higher for streaming services, and Apple will certainly struggle to charge more without some killer shows wooing potential customers.
Various glittering names took to the stage to officially reveal the shows they’re creating for Apple. Cook and Co. are reported to be sinking as much as $2 billion into producing content, and for that kind of money Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon, J. Abrams and Oprah Winfrey will make the trip to Cupertino.
