Apple iTV to bring customised channel options?

Apple iTV to bring customised channel options?
Apple to take on all smart TVs

Apple is looking to bring customisable channel and show options to Apple iTV in a bid to differentiate the service from other web TV offerings.

This is according to Apple Insider which is reporting that Apple is looking into the idea of allowing its users to pick and choose what channels and even what shows they want and then stream this content through the web.

Sky and Virgin currently offer a number of package options to its users and if the rumours are true then Apple will compete with these services but offer an even more granular approach to subscriptions, allowing its users to even pick and choose the shows they want to pay for.

If successful, this 'wheat from the chaff' approach to television programming could change the TV game, said one analyst – although there does seem to be some question over just how Apple would be granted the various licenses to achieve its TV utopia.

TV game changer

"This is obviously much more complicated [than current offerings] from a licensing standpoint [but] in our view, would change the game for television and give AAPL a big leg-up against the competition," said analyst Shaw Wu from Sterne Agee.

"Today, iTunes has a rich library of movies and TV shows but it is mostly for downloads and only movies are available for rentals," he wrote. "What's missing is live broadcast television."

If Apple does indeed offer iTV through its own Apple Television, then it wouldn't just shake up the broadcast market but the physical television market as well.

If we were the likes of LG, Samsung and Sony then we would be trying our best to make our smart TVs that little bit smarter.

Via Apple Insider and Pocket-lint

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.