Apple TV picks up ABC, Bloomberg, Crackle and KOR TV channels

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After adding Yahoo Screen and PBS channels last month, Major League Soccer and Disney Junior channels in September as well as Vevo, Weather Channel, Disney, Smithsonian and a bunch of other content sources earlier this year, Apple’s again expanded on the device’s content sources.

The $99 media-streaming box is now even more useful with four additional channels from ABC, financial organization Bloomberg, Sony’s streaming movie and TV show service Crackle and Korea-based on-demand video service KOR TV, all now accessible from the Apple TV‘s Home menu…

As you could imagine, the Watch ABC channel requires a subscription with a cable service such as AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Google Fiber, Verizon FiOS and others in order to watch content through your Apple TV. Popular television shows as the new Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D series are available for streaming, provided you’re an ABC Subscriber.

I suspect many people won’t be using subscription-based channels. If you’re among them, I recommend checking out our guide on hiding unwanted Apple TV channel icons.

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As for the Bloomberg channel, it features 24/7 streaming of the content found on Bloomberg TV and the company’s other web properties. It includes a live stream of business news and breaking news and on-demand clips and TV show episodes, with pre-roll video ads on some of the content.

All Bloomberg content via the official channel is available in nearly all markets supported by the Apple TV, with users automatically getting a live stream depending on their location.

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Moreover, Bloomberg is the fist Apple TV channel provider to stream business news 24/7, unlike The Wall Street Journal channel which delays streams a few hours after the shows have aired. Future features will bring a playlist feature that’s integrated with Bloomberg’s iOS apps, according to 9to5Mac.

You’ll be able to sign-into your Bloomberg account on any device (including the Apple TV), create playlists, and quickly pick up where you left off on another device by signing-in and accessing your playlist.

There isn’t a sign-in or account creation process needed to access Apple TV content, but when playlists roll out users will have the option to create an account and sign-in to access the feature.

The updated channel will also allow viewers to opt-in to iOS alerts for specific shows or events right from on the Apple TV. Users will receive the notifications on their iOS device, “but there will eventually be a way to display notifications on the Apple TV itself”.

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These channels should have been pushed to your device over-the-air.

If not, you can update your Apple TV software manually by visiting Settings > General > Software Updates and hitting the Update Software option.

In addition to the four new channels, the iPhone maker is understood to be in talks to launch channels for cable provider Time Warner Cable and TV network The CW.

Screenie top of post via MacRumors.