Apple's ambitious TV plans, including its long-rumoured iTV set, have been put on ice as talks with media companies prove difficult.
The tech maker has lofty ambitions to 'reinvent TV viewing' with a new-look Apple TV STB this year, but Bloomberg's sources now report that there will be no "new TV product this year".
The new, more advanced Apple TV is said to act more like a traditional PVR, blending live and recorded programming with a new interface that's easier to navigate and a hefty recommendations engine, according to Bloomberg's sources.
Chatterbox
But it's stuck in limbo as Apple is mired in complex talks. The TV industry is a crazy-complicated one, and media companies and cable providers want as much control of their programming and how it is seen as possible, without being up for losing a cent of their advertising income.
It's quite a different set up to that of the struggling record labels who were desperate to sign up to the iPod, for example.
But the television people are apparently trying to gain control over how the software looks on screen; Apple, which is fiercely protective of its walled-garden software and likes to promote a universal look and feel across products will be loathe to relinquish.
The long and the short of it seems to be that we won't see a new Apple TV or an Apple television until these talks are resolved and, if these insiders are right, that's not looking likely to happen any time soon.
From Bloomberg
