Clearly drawing on information gleaned from sources from within the television industry, the report describes Apple’s typically “assertive” negotiating style as having alienated networks and cable providers, suggesting that the tactics used by Steve Jobs to “muscle music labels into selling songs online for 99 cents apiece” may have backfired on the company in working with television media companies. As The Wall Street Journal points out, inking a “sweetheart” deal with Apple could lead to traditional cable distributors demanding similar deals.
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Apple’s Senior Vice President Eddy Cue is said to have taken the wrong approach.
A new report from the Wall Street Journal has shed more light on Apple’s unsuccessful efforts to pull together a live television streaming service.
But it never came to pass. When the new Apple TV launched, Apple pushed apps as the future of TV rather than an all-in-one service. The plan is for Apple Music to make the series available to users on the platform in 100 countries. Apparently Apple wanted $10 per month per subscriber from the cable guys, and they wanted to handle the experience through its Apple ID logins. The company has ordered original programming, it now allows TV providers to build their own apps for the set-top box, and Apple is reportedly talking to executives about getting into the premium content game and offering Netflix-level content through its iTunes store. On the other hand, Cue has accused the TV industry of “overly complicating” talks, telling some media executives that “time is on my side”.
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-One anonymous cable industry exec summed up Cue’s hard-nosed strategy as him saying: “We’re Apple”. In one instance, Apple wanted full on-demand seasons of hit shows and a recording feature that would include ad-skipping in newly aired shows, something cable executives were surprised by.
