Apple TV+ finally licenses older content for streaming service: report

Apple may have finally relented and added some licensed library content for its streaming video service, Apple TV+.

According to Bloomberg, the company is accepting pitches from studios about licensing content and has already bought some older shows and movies for its service. Still, Apple TV+ will remain focused on its original content and the executives in charge of the service aren’t going after any big franchises.

Apple TV+ launched on November 1 with a relatively lean lineup of original content. Though the service has added more originals since then, it now seems to be latching onto the playbook that’s worked for peers like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Disney+.

RELATED: Apple CEO calls Apple TV+ a ‘gift to our users’

Apple has been giving away a free year of Apple TV+ to consumers who buy new Apple products including the iPhone and Apple TV. However, the service hasn't matched the growth trajectory of Disney+, which launched a few weeks after it. While Disney+ has already reached 54.5 million paid subscribers, Apple TV+ reached 10 million sign-ups by February and, according to the report, only five million of those sign-ups are active users.

Apple didn’t mention Apple TV+ much in its most recent earnings call but did acknowledge that the SVOD helped the company reach a record $13.3 billion in service revenues during its fiscal second quarter.

In January, CEO Tim Cook said the company is primarily gauging the success of Apple TV+ by how many subscribers it can attract.

“As you can tell from the way that we launched the product, we started with a very aggressive price at $4.99. And in addition to that we have our bundle where if you buy pretty much any device, you’re getting a year for free. And so, we're very focused on subscribers,” said Cook, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript.