With John Ternus announced as Tim Cook’s successor in the big chair at Apple, many fans are wondering how the soon-to-be CEO will approach some staple Apple properties.
One of those is Apple TV (née Apple TV+) – the streaming service, sports broadcaster and Hollywood studio that is – that is highly acclaimed, but reportedly not pulling in the revenue and viewing figures to justify the immense outlay on rights and programming.
Well, a new Deadline report on Wednesday suggests the incoming chief executive offers some encouragement for those concerned Ternus may divert Apple’s focus away from the streaming service over time.
On the contrary, in fact. The report suggests Ternus is a big fan of Apple TV who wants to make it more competitive against the likes of Netflix and HBO. What does competitive mean? Well Apple TV is already priced competitively with those rival services. So that suggests going even bigger and bolder on its original streaming shows and perhaps even the sports rights too.
Reporter Jim Goldsmith wrote (via 9to5Mac): “People inside Apple’s Cupertino HQ and in L.A. also call Ternus a fan of the streaming service [who] watches its programming. “If anything, John wants to make it more competitive,” says one Apple insider. […]
“Ternus attended Apple TV’s F1 premiere and is a known racing fan. Apple TV last fall inked a five-year rights deal for Formula 1 in the U.S. Ternus also is said to have a strong relationship with Apple Services SVP Eddy Cue, who oversees Apple TV.”
So it’s all lining up for a glorious new era for Apple TV under Ternus. But soon, you’d imagine, Apple will have to start bringing in the subscriber numbers to justify the expenditure to shareholders.
The company doesn’t reveal this numbers publicly at present and you know they would if the figures made good reading. Estimates have suggested around 45 million people subscribe to Apple TV in the US, but Services head Eddie Cue recently said: “We haven’t said what our numbers are, but we’re significantly more than that.”
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