Apple TV has its eyes on cable TV companies

Apple decided that Apple TV should go viral, sort of, as the Cupertino-based company is going after big cable companies all around America with their upgraded Apple TV services. This Fall, Apple TV will benefit from 25 new channels, which will directly compete with the offerings from national cable TV companies. The service isn’t exactly Apple TV, as it would also be available on other devices besides the set-top box from the company, such as the iPhone and the iPad.

ABC, CBS and Fox are supposedly already on board with the new service, although it’s not clear how they are going to be part of the project in the future. According to the reports found online, the price of the service will be between $30 and $40 per month. There’s no clear guide as to which channels will be included in the new Apple TV service, but you can bet that some NFL, Disney and maybe even ESPN action, as well as film channels and documentary channels will be on board. With the move, Apple seems to be directly targeting Comcast.

The relationship between Comcast and Apple has been a bumpy one, which is why NBC is missing from the list of providers on board with the project. Seeing as Apple will be offering a cheaper version of TV to customers, it could induce a growth in the number of cord-cutters in the United States. But truthfully, the other major competitor for Apple at this time is Dish’s own Sling TV, which has taken away a lot of prizes at CES 2015 in January and has risen to become one of the best options for cord-cutters across America.

Rumors say that the new type of Apple TV will have a base package for $30, and then there will also be extra packages for users who would like to watch more expensive channels such as the above mentioned ESPN and NFL. Although this hasn’t been confirmed by the company yet, it’s a rather high possibility, since acquiring sports channels, for example, would raise the costs for Apple as a service provider. It would also be a good marketing strategy, because the base model would appeal to all kinds of cord-cutters, while the more expensive packages would definitely appeal to fans and passionate people who would prefer and afford them.

If we are to speculate, we could say that Apple TV as a product might become obsolete soon. If Apple rolls out this new service that would be more similar to Sling TV than Chromecast, the force that Apple TV is competing against at the moment, the whole product might not be necessary. If the company wants to get rid of the inventory and start fresh with a completely new product, this would be a good way to go about that. Take that bit of info with a grain of salt, though, because we can’t know for sure what the company’s plans on the TV front are.