Apple today announced a new app, appropriately named TV, which aggregates TV and movies from multiple apps into one unified search platform available on Apple TV, iPhone and iPad.
The TV app will allow users to tune into live broadcasts via Siri and also enables single sign-on for pay-TV subscribers from providers including DirecTV and Dish Network.
Content partners include HBO, Hulu and Showtime but, as publications like Variety have confirmed, not Netflix. Additional reports suggest that Amazon Prime Video is also not included in the TV app.
So Apple is launching its "TV" app without the two most popular streaming-TV apps?$AAPL $NFLX $AMZN https://t.co/BhC0ltTQV7
— Jeremy C. Owens (@jowens510) October 27, 2016
The exclusion of Netflix from the new TV app coincides with a report yesterday from Recode that the SVOD giant would not be a part of the app.
Apple did not immediately respond to FierceBroadcasting’s request for confirmation.
Additional features for the TV app will allow users to see an Up Next queue which will display new episodes as they become available. The app will also include a recommendations section and provide access to users’ iTunes library as well as the iTunes store.
“Using apps on Apple TV, iPhone and iPad has become the primary way for so many of us to watch television,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, in a statement. “The TV app shows you what to watch next and easily discover TV shows and movies from many apps in a single place.”
The TV app and single sign-on function will be available in December as free software updates for 4th generation Apple TVs, iPhone and iPad customers in the U.S. The Siri Live Tune-In feature is available today.
As USA Today pointed out yesterday in an earlier report on the new TV app, the unified search and discovery capability could help programmers get more eyeballs on new shows in an era when it's become less effective to slot new programs next to popular series in a linear TV lineup.