Aside from announcing several content deals and shows, Apple has been mum about how and where consumers will be able to access the company’s content.
But a new report from The Information suggests that Apple is considering a subscription bundle that packages its music streaming, magazine and upcoming VOD subscription services.
It’s unclear how such an offering would be priced, but as the report points out, packaging music and video streaming would be a similar tack to companies like Amazon, YouTube (with its recently announced Premium service) and, to a lesser extent, Hulu, which offers its base tier streaming service as part of a package deal with Spotify Premium.
Apple spent months last year assembling an experienced team of media and entertainment executives—including Sony Pictures Television alums Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht—to run its fledgling video business. The company has also been busy announcing upcoming series and content deals, most recently signing on Oprah Winfrey for a multiyear agreement to “create original programs that embrace her incomparable ability to connect with audiences around the world.”
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But what Apple hasn’t talked much about yet is how it plans to distribute its upcoming wealth of original programming. Alan Wolk, co-founder and lead analyst for TV[R]EV, said Apple has been linked to several possibilities for distribution, like building a new proprietary app or using Apple Music’s existing platform.
“The bigger mystery of course, is why Apple just won’t say what they’re doing. I mean, besides their irrational propensity towards secrecy,” said Wolk in a blog post. “Because you have to figure that people as smart as Winfrey and Spielberg would not have signed on without first knowing how their work is going to be distributed, which means that Apple must already have a fairly well-developed plan.”
One possibility for Apple’s sealed lips is that the company’s working on some new technology to support its streaming video platform. Speaking earlier this year at SXSW, Apple Senior Vice President Eddy Cue mostly maintained the current strategy of not discussing distribution but did offer one clue about the upcoming service. According to 9to5Mac, he said that there will be a “surprise” technology angle to Apple’s video service.