If you’re hankering for Apple’s live TV subscription service, you may have to wait a while longer.
Apple has apparently “pressed the hold button” on the service, in the words of CBS president Les Moonves. Moonves, who spoke today at Business Insider’s Ignition conference in New York, saying Apple was “looking for a service” but ultimately decided to put it on the back burner. Apple hoped to unveil a streaming TV service next year — if not sooner — but pricing disputes for content deals were to said to have continually pushed it back. Now, Moonves seems to suggest it may no longer be an immediate priority.
The service, which is said to be similar to Dish Networks’ Sling TV, has Apple reportedly seeking far more than the two dozen or so channels Sling offers and for a price far lower than that of traditional cable at around $30 to $40 a month. Apple nixed a September reveal for the service alongside the Apple TV. The company also planned on revealing the service first in June, but those plans too were scrapped.
Apple is currently building up support for its fourth-gen Apple TV set-top box, but will have to negotiate deals for content for its streaming service. Moonves did note that such a service “will happen” eventually because “people will not be spending money on channels they don’t want to watch.”
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.