Apple wants big newspapers to join its Texture magazine subscription service

Earlier this year, Apple surprised many by purchasing the Texture magazine service. Now, the company wants to add daily newspapers to the list of titles Texture offers as part of its monthly subscription program.

According to Recode, Apple’s Eddy Cue has been in talks with some of the most prominent newspapers in the U.S. about adding their stories to Texture. Discussions began this summer with at least three papers, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

For now, it’s unclear whether Apple wants to offer all the newspaper content to Texture subscribers as an add-on or just select articles each day. The most significant sticking point, no doubt, is whether it makes business sense for the newspapers to join Apple. Each already offers all-digital subscriptions, ranging in price from $10 per month for The Washington Post to $37 per month for The Wall Street Journal.

Texture charges users $9.99 per month to access various weekly and monthly magazines. Content providers, in turn, are paid based on the usage their titles generate. The worry might be that newspapers could get a much smaller payout from a Texture subscriber than from those who sign up for the service separately.

Recode says there’s a flip side to this that newspaper publishers must also recognize: Apple has a large user base and has already proven it can turn its hardware buyers into digital subscribers (think Apple Music).

Apple’s talks with newspaper publishers come ahead of its planned launch next year of a slate of original TV programs. Rumors have suggested the company would like to offer some sort of bundle that would include Apple Music, Texture news, and the new video content. Adding newspapers to the mix could make that bundle more appealing.

Perhaps, we’ll hear something very soon. Apple’s annual fall press event is next Wednesday, Sept. 12. Maybe Apple will offer some insight about its plans for Texture at that time.