Apple Is Launching Its Own TV and Movie Streaming Service
Apple TV+ will launch in the second half of 2019, and will feature a slate of original shows — featuring Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Jason Momoa and more.
Prepare to spend more time scrolling through streaming queues — Apple is following in Netflix's and Disney's footsteps and releasing its own streaming platform.
Called Apple TV+ and set to launch in spring this year — in the southern hemisphere — the new subscription service will feature a heap of new original television shows, movies and documentaries. They'll all be available ad-free and on demand, with access via the company's existing Apple TV app.
While the platform's exact release date hasn't been announced, nor has pricing or the regions that it'll be available in, the company has revealed a sizeable lineup of new series it hopes will attract your TV-loving eyeballs. Fancy watching Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell navigate the world of morning television in the appropriately titled drama series The Morning Show? Jason Momoa in a new sci-fi show called See, which is set in a world where humans are born blind? A revival of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories anthology series? A new docu-series from Oprah — and the return of her book club? They're all on the way.
So is Are You Sleeping?, which is based on a novel about true crime podcasts and featuring Octavia Spencer and Aaron Paul; crime thriller Defending Jacob, starring Chris Evans; and a TV remake of Terry Gilliam's film Time Bandits, with a pilot directed by Taika Waititi. The list goes on, and includes a comedy set in a video game development studio from the folks behind It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a yet-to-be-named CIA undercover agent series starring Brie Larson, and new shows from both M. Night Shyamalan and La La Land director Damien Chazelle (separately, not together — although a collaboration between the two would certainly be interesting).
In preparation for its new streaming service, Apple also announced an update to its existing Apple TV app, which'll be available from May. The app will also become available on Samsung Smart TVs in the second half of the year, and via Amazon Fire TV, LG, Roku, Sony and VIZIO platforms sometime in the future — meaning that you won't need an Apple device to watch Apple TV+.
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Also on the cards: Apple Arcade, a paid gaming subscription service that'll feature more than 100 new and exclusive games on an all-you-can-play, ad-free basis — and, crucially, with no additional in-game purchases required. It's due to release in more than 150 countries around the same time as Apple TV+, and will be accessible via a new tab in the App Store.
For news junkies, the company also launched Apple News+. Available now in the US and Canada, but not coming to Australia until later this year, it offers access to more than 300 magazines, newspapers and digital publishers in one spot. Titles included range from Vogue to National Geographic Magazine to The Wall Street Journal, for the US price of $9.99 per month.
Apple TV+ is set to launch in spring 2019, Australian and New Zealand time. We'll keep you updated with further details when we have them.
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