In addition to the return of the iTunes Festival channel for Apple TV today ahead of September's concert series in London, Apple has also added a new Showtime Anytime channel to its set-top box.
The Apple TV channel is a companion to the Showtime premium cable network and offers limited free content to all users. Most content, which includes live and on-demand shows and events, is limited to customers who subscribe to the network through a participating cable provider.
Update 8:52 AM: As noted by Mac1 [Google Translate], Norwegian public television network NRK has also launched on Apple TV in that country.
Update 9:50 AM: Swedish public broadcaster SVT has also announced [Google Translate] the launch of its SVT Play channel for Apple TV.
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device.
Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors.
Rumors
Faster Wi-Fi Support
The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports ...
Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series in two months, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive.
If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming...
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models.
Latest Rumors
These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is nearly over, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device.
Below, we recap what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3:Satellite connectivity for sending and receiving text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable
5G support, up from LTE on the Apple Watch Ultra 2
Likely a wide-angle OLED display that ...
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report.
Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain.
Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports...
The iOS 26 public beta release is quickly approaching, while developers have recently gotten their hands on a third round of betas that has seen Apple continue to tweak features, design, and functionality.
We're also continuing to hear rumors about the iPhone 17 lineup that is now just about right around the corner, while Apple's latest big-budget film appears to be taking off, so read on...
We traditional broadcasters only care about verifiable eyeballs. Something we can take to the local car dealer/grocer/ad agency/whoever and say "See! Advertise with us for X dollars and you'll be seen by Y many people!"
The cable companies invested (many times heavily) into the infrastructure (physical copper and fiber in the ground, the head-ends, etc.) and sold their subscribers' eyeballs to the networks. "See! Sign this agreement and we'll deliver X potential eyeballs and even Y amount of dollars to your revenue stream. Provided of course that you play by these rules which state you can't offer your services a la carte and cut us out of the deal."
One of the problems now is that the networks have grown accustomed to this revenue and ratings stream and are very nervous about possibly upsetting the hand that has fed them and provided for their growth for so many years.
Another problem is that cable is still an Oligopoly and, at least for the last-mile, its a monopoly based on who owns the physical cabling in the ground. Very little incentive for one company to change the business model when they're all enjoying the hayride.
Finally, the biggest reason Apple can't "just do what they did with iTunes, the iPod, and the recording industry", is that the cable TV industry has much tighter control than the recording industry did. You could copy tapes and CDs easily. You could import a CD, upload it to Napster, and share it easily. There really weren't many anti-copy safeguards because at some point, the audio signal had to become analog in order for an amplifier to push it through your speakers and into your ears. The record industry was losing their a$$e$ and couldn't see a solution until Steve came riding in on a white horse and saved them (while taking a nice % of each transaction, of course.) The result was a win-win situation, but more so for consumers. The record industry's sales were saved, but they weren't seeing the same rate of return as before. Meanwhile consumers could now choose their music a la carte, many times at a cost-savings. No more did you have to pay $15.99 for a twelve track album that included three songs you actually liked, just to have the one song you really loved.
I've been watching the cable industry very closely, especially the last few years. They are increasingly tightening their grip on the content, aided by the fact that the signal is now almost completely digital (and therefore much easier to secure) from start to finish. It started when satellite companies injected an FM frequency into certain channels that a tuner box basically filtered out (for a monthly fee of course). Now, with the system being completely digital, your cable box acts like a node. It has its own MAC address and can be seen and managed remotely by the cable company. Now some systems are going completely digital, with no analog service to the home. You're forced to rent a smaller node for each additional television in your home. This allows them the ultimate in secure control.
There is no earth shaking market disruption like Napster to interrupt the cable industry's way of doing business. (Yes, I know there are a few tech-savy folks who VPN or port their IP addresses and stream content from home, but it still requires a cable subscription.) But really, unlike the recording industry, the cable companies have no reason to negotiate or change their business model. They saw what that did to the bottom lines of both the record industry and Apple, and they don't want to share their $$. Why would they?
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more. Developer beta available now ahead of public beta in July.
