Stories leading up to Wednesday’s debut of a $99 Apple TV focused on how some studios were worried about the impact of the Cupertino, Calif. company offering 99-cent episodes. However, the bigger threat from Apple TV may be the damage that can be done to the cable industry’s video-on-demand revenu.
The addition of Netflix and YouTube, along with $4.99 movie streaming not only moves Apple TV out of the self-professed “hobby” classification, but the little box could also “kick the cable companies in the shins in the process,” according to Light Reading.
Apple for now has signed-on just ABC (owned by Disney, where Steve Jobs is the largest shareholder) and Fox (owned by News Corp., whose owner Rupert Murdoch lusts after Apple’s iPad as a savior of print newspapers.) Noticeably missing was NBC, recently purchased by cable giant Comcast. Not only would a 99-cent per episode cause some cable subscribers to pause paying the monthly subscription, but the Apple TV device could also put a crimp in Comcast’s ability to sell video-on-demand.
