While Apple isn’t giving up entirely on releasing a live-TV service, its plan to sell a package of 14 or so channels for $30 to $40 a month has run into resistance from media companies that want more money for their programming, said the person, who asked not to be named discussing a prospective product.
CBS Corp. Chief Executive Officer Les Moonves said at a conference earlier Tuesday that Apple had put its live TV plans “on hold.”The struggle highlights the difficulty new entrants face in trying to persuade media companies to overhaul the conventional pay-TV bundle, which costs about $85 a month. To break the logjam, Apple would either have to charge more, or the media companies would have to accept less.
Moonves, speaking at the Business Insider Ignition conference, said he expects Apple to eventually offer a bundle of channels.
“This will happen,” Moonves said. “It has four major networks and 10 cable networks, let’s say, and the price point will be in the $30s, $30 to $35, $40 maybe. People will not be spending money on channels they don’t want to watch.”
In the meantime, Apple is focused on the strategy that helped make the iPhone a breakout hit -- opening up its App Store for outside developers to sell to customers. Apple has seen a number of media companies adopt that approach with television, including Time Warner Inc., which sells HBO Now for $15 a month.
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