Spending $6 Billion On Shows, Apple Hopes To Beat Netflix & Amazon

The Financial Times has reported that Apple is planning to spend more than $6 billion on original shows and movies to develop its own TV Plus service. This move allegedly aims to challenge a series of the other top streaming services provided by Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and HBO.

According to a report from The Verge on August 19, the US tech giant previously spent $1 billion attracting famous actors and creators to its own platform. In other words, many may never forecast that it will invest such much money on original shows.

The FT pointed out that, as quoted in the report, “The Morning Show”, a comedy-drama series starring Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carrell, and Billy Crudup, reportedly costs Apple up to $150 million for a season.

The first time Apple revealed its TV Plus service was at an event five months ago (March 2019) on its Cupertino-based campus. In terms of its on-demand subscription service, the company plans to produce new programs with the participation of many top-class artists such as Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg.

The new service is expected to be available in the fall of 2019; however, Apple hasn’t yet mentioned the official release date, as well as the price of this service.

According to the FT, the company may introduce the service before Disney introduces Disney+ streaming service in mid-November. Bloomberg reported that it has considered providing its users with the TV Plus service at $9.99 per month. The price is three dollars higher than Disney+.

Besides, it has sold Apple TV Channels which allows its users to subscribe to lots of services from HBO to Showtime via the TV application.