ABC News' New Apple TV Channel Showing Strong Live Video Usage

Roughly six weeks ago, ABC News launched a new Apple TV channel offering a wide range of live and on-demand content from both national and select local feeds. Based on the first 30 days of availability, ABC News has now put together an infographic that offers a look at how the channel is being used. Among the interesting observations:

- Live video usage on Apple TV, which accounts for 20 percent of channel views, is 50 percent higher than on mobile and desktop combined.

- Apple TV viewers spend 65 percent more time per visit than desktop users.

- Peak usage for the ABC News Apple TV channel falls at 9 PM Eastern Time, likely due to that time period encompassing evening viewing hours for most of the United States.

abc_news_apple_tv_infographic_crop

Click for full infographic

Alongside today's usage data release, ABC News is also announcing the addition of three new local stations to the channel: Albuquerque (KOAT), Boston (WCVB), and Honolulu (KITV). The new additions join the original nine local stations made available on the channel at launch.

Apple has been adding new channels to the Apple TV at a fairly rapid pace, at least in the United States, although many of them require authentication through an existing cable service provider. The company has long been rumored to be working on a more powerful set-top box, but the latest rumors have suggested the device is unlikely to arrive until 2015.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Popular Stories

M5 MacBook Pro

Apple Announces New 14-Inch MacBook Pro With M5 Chip

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:07 am PDT by
Apple today updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, which is also available in updated iPad Pro and Vision Pro models. In addition, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro can now be configured with up to 4TB of storage on Apple's online store, whereas the previous model maxed out at 2TB. However, the maximum amount of unified RAM available for this model remains 32GB. Like...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

Apple Debuts New iPad Pro With M5 Chip, Faster Charging, and More

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple today announced the next-generation iPad Pro, featuring the custom-designed M5, C1X, and N1 chips. The M5 chip has up to a 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and six efficiency cores. It features a next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerator in each core, allowing the new iPad Pro to deliver up to 3.5x the AI performance than the previous model, and a third-generation ray-tracing ...
apple oct 2024 mac tease

Apple Expected to Announce These Two to Three Products 'This Week'

Sunday October 12, 2025 7:05 am PDT by
Apple plans to announce new products "this week," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple's "Mac Your Calendars" teaser last October In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the products set to be updated this week include the iPad Pro, Vision Pro, and "likely" the base 14-inch MacBook Pro, with all three likely to receive a spec bump with Apple's next-generation M5 chip. Gurman...
maxresdefault

Here's Everything Apple Announced Today

Wednesday October 15, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We didn't get a second fall event this year, but Apple did unveil updated products with a series of press releases that went out today. The M5 chip made an appearance in new MacBook Pro, Vision Pro, and iPad Pro models. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up our coverage and highlighted the main feature changes for each device below. MacBook Pro M5...
joz macbook tease

Apple Teases Upcoming M5 MacBook Pro Launch: 'Something Powerful is Coming'

Tuesday October 14, 2025 11:59 am PDT by
Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak today teased the launch of an upcoming product, saying "something powerful is coming" on social media. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. A short animation accompanying Joswiak's teaser reveals a brief glimpse of a MacBook Pro along with the words "coming soon." The shape of the MacBook Pro is a V, which is the Roman numeral...
airpods max 2024 colors

AirPods Max 2: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday October 14, 2025 8:43 am PDT by
Apple's AirPods Max have now been available for almost five years, so what do we know about the second-generation version? According to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the new AirPods Max will be lighter than the current ones, but exactly how much is as yet known. The current AirPods Max weigh 0.85 pounds (386.2 grams), excluding the charging case, making it one of the heavier...
Vision Pro M5 Announcement

Apple Updates Vision Pro With M5 Chip, Dual Knit Band, and 120Hz Support

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:14 am PDT by
Apple today updated the Vision Pro headset with its next-generation M5 chip for faster performance, and a more comfortable Dual Knit Band. The M5 chip has a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and a 16-core Neural Engine, and we have confirmed the Vision Pro still has 16GB of RAM. With the M5 chip, the Vision Pro offers faster performance and longer battery life compared...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
macbook pro blue

Apple's M5 MacBook Pro Imminent: What to Expect

Tuesday October 14, 2025 4:35 pm PDT by
Apple is going to launch a new version of the MacBook Pro as soon as tomorrow, so we thought we'd go over what to expect from Apple's upcoming Mac. M5 Chip The MacBook Pro will be one of the first new devices to use the next-generation M5 chip, which will replace the M4 chip. The M5 is built on TSMC's more advanced 3-nanometer process, and it will bring speed and efficiency improvements. ...
MacBook Pro M5 Screen

New MacBook Pro Does Not Include a Charger in the Box in Europe

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:59 am PDT by
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip does not include a charger in the box in European countries, including the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and others, according to Apple's online store. In the U.S. and all other countries outside of Europe, the new MacBook Pro comes with Apple's 70W USB-C Power Adapter, but European customers miss out....

Top Rated Comments

furi0usbee Avatar
146 months ago
A good start. If people could get live news with Apple TV, many people would cut their cable cord so fast.... I've always said, if I could just get a subscription for 7-10 channels and supplement that with iTunes Season Passes, that's all I would need
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BrockC Avatar
146 months ago
These numbers should make the negotiations with service providers easier. :D
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thatisme Avatar
146 months ago
I still don't understand the draw to these App channels. If you already have a cable / sat subscription then watch cable. Why would the standard over-the-air channels require a cable subscription? ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, WB, etc...

I watch only a handful of channels, but am required to buy multiple tiers on cable or DirecTV to get what I want to watch. On top of the over the air channels, I use ESPN, Velocity, Discovery, CNN, Fox News, MTV, Nick and the Golf Channel. ATv will show it's value when you don't need to already pay for service elsewhere and offer up a per-channel subscription independent of cable/sat. At $ 0.99 per month per channel, you could a-la-carte your viewing and I would suspect that a good percentage of users would be perfectly happy with that.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
146 months ago
A good start. If people could get live news with Apple TV, many people would cut their cable cord so fast.... I've always said, if I could just get a subscription for 7-10 channels and supplement that with iTunes Season Passes, that's all I would need

When do we get ESPN Go without needing a cable/satellite subscription?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MarkNY Avatar
146 months ago
Why would the standard over-the-air channels require a cable subscription? ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, WB, etc...

Blame the retransmission consent fees of the 1992 Cable TV act. Completely rigged the game in favor of the network affiliates and is one big roadblock for Apple and others reaching deals with cable companies. They're holding things up, looking for money, even though they produce nothing.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ncollingridge Avatar
146 months ago


Apple has been adding new channels to the Apple TV at a fairly rapid pace, at least in the United States,
Thanks for recognising that the situation in the US is not the situation elsewhere in the world. Here in the UK the AppleTV is, let's face it, little more use than an equivalently sized piece of solid plastic.

All the main TV channels here (that's all of the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, and Sky channels which adds up to a lot of TV) not only have no end of people watching their material using catch-up internet viewing, but their apps are present on pretty much all the platforms available - apart from AppleTV, that is. How disgraceful is that on Apple's part? What makes it even worse is that they ALL have apps on iOS devices apart from AppleTV, so porting them across to AppleTV would be a trivial matter.

Come on Apple, step up to the plate. If you want to be a credible player then you need to deliver on the basics. And not just in the USA but other places as well, particularly where the job would be easy.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)