Does Apple have to do what it takes to “save the dispensers”?

The Internet TV service that broadcast live channels and videos through the Internet has become a hot spot in the technology industry. According to a number of media reports, Apple plans to follow the pace of Sony and launch a monthly fee-based Internet TV service in the United States. Apple's set-top box (AppleTV) and other hardware devices will become the "platform" of this service.

It is reported that Apple executives have recently negotiated with the major TV stations in the United States. In addition to content rights, Apple has asked for hope that the TV station itself will provide streaming media services.

As we all know, it is not easy to provide TV streaming services through the Internet. TV stations need to purchase network equipment and establish cooperation with other content distribution service providers. According to industry executives, Apple Computer requires television stations to bear the relevant infrastructure investment and operating costs.

Apple's Internet TV services face multiple obstacles, and the above-mentioned division of live streaming media has become one of them. If Apple wants to launch services this year, the premise is to sign a cooperation agreement with the TV station.

In the conventional cooperation of film and television streaming, operators obtain content rights from Hollywood or the music industry. The live broadcast and on-demand work of content are generally completed by operators and have no direct relationship with content vendors.

For example, well-known channels such as HBO and ESPN in the United States have been authorized to multiple Internet TV service providers, and these two channels will naturally not be involved in the provision of streaming media services.

However, in Apple's application ecosystem model, TV media such as Fox and Disney have also launched webcasting clients. The live streaming of these clients is completed by the TV station itself (a commissioned content distribution service provider).

According to Tom Morgan, a veteran of the video streaming industry, video streaming services generate a certain cost. Each user watches for one hour and the streaming service provider costs 5 cents.

In the video streaming industry, Netflix has taken the lead and broadcast hundreds of millions of hours of video each month. In addition to Netflix, traditional TV stations and channels have just started their live Internet broadcast service, and their users are not very large.


Sources said that Apple's Internet TV will use Apple's brand, but Apple asked the television station responsible for video data "freight", Apple's request, so that TV executives have to think twice.

According to sources in the television industry, Apple Inc., the director of Apple's content and copyright, is responsible for the cooperation negotiations between the Internet TV service and the TV station. Eddy Ku told the television industry that both parties should have their own division of labor and give full play to their respective advantages. The advantage of Apple is consumer electronics and software, so streaming media such as TV channel data should be handed over to the content distribution company that excels at the matter.

Apple's entry into the Internet TV industry is bound to have a head-on collision with existing cable and satellite TV service providers such as Comcast and Verizon. Many of these service providers are also broadband providers, and they are likely to retaliate against Apple through other means.

Therefore, another view is that if Internet TV services allow TV stations to pay for streaming media, this may ease hostility from companies such as Comcast.

In the context of a poor network neutral environment, last year, Netflix was forced to negotiate with companies such as Comcast and Verizon, and gained access to the fast-track network for payment, improving the user's ability to monitor the status of the video. Obviously, if Apple is responsible for streaming media, Apple must negotiate with these broadband companies.

Before Apple, Japan’s Sony Corporation had already launched Internet TV services in the three cities of the United States. The cheapest package costs US$50 a month and bundles 50 channels. Sony’s massive game consoles will become the service’s equipment. However, there is widespread criticism that Sony TV service charges are too high, and the price gap between cable TV and TV is very limited.

According to U.S. media reports, Apple’s basic package of Internet TV services may bundle 25 channels, with a monthly fee of around US$30.

Previously, the US satellite television company Dish has launched 12 channels of Internet TV services, charging $20 a month.