Apple pours $6B into original streaming content for TV+ service: report
Watch out, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video. Apple has budgeted $6 billion for original show and movie content even before the launch of its new video streaming service, TV+.
That number eclipses allocations for Disney and AT&T-owned HBO, according to The Financial Times. Bloomberg reports that a subscription will cost $9.99 per month.
The tech giant has been plotting its foray into the streaming arena for years by hiring former Sony Pictures Television executives Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg in 2017.
The highly-anticipated series "The Morning Show," featuring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell, cost the company hundreds of millions alone – even more than "Game of Thrones’" cost per episode, which was $15 million per episode in its final season.
Netflix still surpasses Apple’s budget at $15 billion this year for its formidable library.
Apple TV+ will go live in the next two months, while Disney Plus is launching Nov. 12 for $7 a month.
While subscription pricing or other details have not yet been revealed, content will roll out each month and will be available in over 100 countries. Other services like Netflix cost consumers currently $13 per month or Hulu’s newly-announced $5.99 a month plan.
Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to increase the company’s digital content and cloud services presence, while reducing dependence on the iPhone. They project to reach $50 billion in streaming services revenue by 2020.
On the recent Apple earnings call, Cook said he wants consumers to “get multiple over-the-top [streaming] products” and Apple’s is to “do our best to convince them that the Apple TV+ product should be one of them.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS As a coming out into Hollywood society, Apple held an event in March in which Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg promoted TV+ alongside Tim Cook on stage. “They are in a billion pockets, y’all — a billion pockets,” Winfrey said of Apple. She is exclusively producing a series of new documentaries and live book club shows with Apple this year.
Apple was not available for comment at this time.