Apple Interested in TV Subscription Service

In a recent article about Tim Cook, The Wall Street Journal dropped an interesting tidbit about Apple’s future plans to invade our living rooms. The article questioned if Cook was aggressive enough to muscle Apple into the TV industry.

As most of you know, Apple is rumored to be working on a television set. And there has also been ongoing speculation that it is thinking of launching its own subscription-based content service, worthy of competing against NetFlix or cable.

The Journal’s article lends some more credibility to the latter theory by confirming Apple’s interest in a “subscription TV service…”

“Apple is working on new technology to deliver video to televisions, and has been discussing whether to try to launch a subscription TV service, according to people familiar with the matter.”

I know, the tip is damned by its “people familiar with the matter” source. But for the record, the WSJ has been fairly accurate in previous claims. They predicted the Verizon iPhone in February, and more recently confirmed the smartphone to be Sprint-bound.

Apple has been making some pretty interesting moves regarding its TV content lately. A few weeks ago it made purchased TV shows available for redownloading, and more recently it canceled the ability to rent them.

It’s important to note that CNET mentioned in an article on Apple’s rumored iTunes Replay service a few weeks ago that they haven’t heard anything about a “NetFlix-killer.” The site nailed the iTunes Match service months before it was announced at WWDC.

That being said, Apple easily has the money and the reach in the right industries to pull off a TV subscription service. They could push it out through iTunes, which has over 200 million active members. That’s not a bad starting audience.

The major question, is would you want an Apple TV service? In this day and age of high definition DVR’s and triple-play bundle packages, how many people are ready to cut-the-cable? For me it’s going to depend on price and content, obviously. What about you?

[9to5Mac]