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Senior VP: Apple HDTV Display Won't Happen Unless Content Deals Are Secured

By Andy Sim - on 28 Aug 2012, 10:18am

No Apple HDTV Unless Content Deals Are Secured

Image credit: Apple.

Rumors and speculations over a possible Apple HDTV display have been squashed.

In a recent article published by CNNMoney.com (the online arm of Fortune magazine), Apple's Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, Mr Eddy Cue, told industry analyst Andy Hargreaves that the Cupertino firm has shelved its plans to manufacture the Apple-branded television for the time being. The company's failure to cement deals with major TV networks to screen their broadcast and cable network content was one of the primary reasons behind the delay.

Cue also stated that the poor quality of user-interfaces and forced-bundling of pay TV content as key issues plaguing the television industry today. It is clear that the man is disappointed with the setback, for he believes Apple is more than capable of delivering a "revolutionary" interface to improve the way viewers experience TV content. However Apple's hands are tied, unfortunately, without the wherewithal to deliver mainstream TV programmes to the masses.

Here's an excerpt from the interview between Cue and Hargreaves, as penned by Fortune.com's Philip Elmer-DeWitt:

An Apple Television Appears Extremely Unlikely in the Near-term

Relative to the television market, Eddy Cue, Apple SVP of Internet Software and Services, reiterated the company's mantra that it will enter markets where it feels it can create great customer experiences and address key problems. The key problems in the television market are the poor quality of the user interface and the forced bundling of pay TV content, in our view. While Apple could almost certainly create a better user interface, Mr. Cue's commentary suggested that this would be an incomplete solution from Apple's perspective unless it could deliver content in a way that is different from the current multi-channel pay TV model.

Unfortunately for Apple and for consumers, acquiring rights for traditional broadcast and cable network content outside of the current bundled model is virtually impossible because the content is owned by a relatively small group of companies that have little interest in alternative models for their most valuable content. The differences in regional broadcast content and the lack of scale internationally also create significant hurdles that do not seem possible to cross at this point.

With this message, we can be certain that if Apple's HDTV display were to materialize in the near future, it would probably be later than sooner. 

Source: CNNMoney.com via HDTVtest

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