Apple to Invite Hollywood Stars to TV Service Launch on March 25 [Updated]

Apple is planning to unveil both its news service and its TV streaming service at its March 25 event, reports Bloomberg, and celebrities will be in attendance.

Apple's plans for a March 25 event were revealed yesterday, but at the time, Apple was only known to be unveiling an upcoming news subscription service in Apple News. The rumored TV service that's in the works will also reportedly be included.

appleservices
Hollywood stars such as Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner, and JJ Abrams are set to attend the event, which will be held at the Steve Jobs Theater on the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California. All of these actresses are starring in television shows that Apple has purchased, and JJ Abrams is directing one of them.

Apple's upcoming video service is said to be similar to Amazon's Prime video option and Netflix's service. It will include TV shows and movies acquired by or funded by Apple, and Apple has more than two dozen original television shows in the works. An actual paid subscription service will launch by the summer.

There is some confusion over Apple's streaming TV plans. While Bloomberg's report suggests Apple's content will be delivered via paid streaming service, other rumors have indicated that Apple plans to provide at least some of its original content to Apple device owners for free.

These other rumors have also suggested that Apple will be teaming up with content providers like Showtime to allow Apple owners to sign up for add-on services like Showtime premium through its TV app, where the upcoming streaming service will presumably be available.

Apple's plans for its TV service will become clearer after March, when the details are officially announced.

Along with its TV service, Apple is going to unveil a premium news service that will let ‌Apple News‌ users sign up for a $9.99 per month subscription that will provide unlimited access to paywalled content from sites like The New York Times and the Washington Post, though Apple is said to be still negotiating deals ahead of the service's launch.

There's also a magazine subscription service in the works, which will provide unlimited access to dozens of magazines for $9.99 per month, similar to the Texture service that Apple acquired in 2018. All of these services could potentially be bundled into a single subscription package option in the future.

The March 25 event is believed to focus solely on services, with Apple not planning to introduce any hardware.

Several hardware products, such as the iPad mini 5, seventh-generation iPad, AirPower, updated AirPods, and seventh-generation iPod touch are in the works and are expected to be updated in the spring, but those updates are not expected at the March event and could instead come via press release.

With the AirPower having already been announced and all of the other updates being relatively minor in scale based on circulating rumors, it makes sense for the new products to debut more quietly.

The iPad mini 5, for example, is expected to be quite similar in design to the ‌iPad mini‌ 4, with the exception of an updated processor, and the same goes for the seventh-generation iPad. That device may get a slightly bigger 10-inch screen and a new chip, but the changes won't be significant.

AirPods rumors have been a bit mixed, but it looks like we may get a wireless Charging Case and "Hey Siri" functionality with other features saved for a later update in 2019 or 2020. We're also not expecting significant design changes to the seventh-generation iPod touch, which will look similar to the sixth-generation model.

Update: A separate report from Reuters suggests that Apple may be planning to hold an event to introduce its streaming television service in April, not March.

Update 2: The Hollywood Reporter also confirms that Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner, and J.J. Abrams have all been invited to an Apple event set to be held on March 25.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Neutral)

Top Rated Comments

itsmilo Avatar
63 months ago
Probably US only while Netflix is available in 100+ countries
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
calzon65 Avatar
63 months ago
Apple news service … this will be interesting … will we now see an onslaught of Silicone Valley oriented politically correct news services spreading their vision of society?
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
calzon65 Avatar
63 months ago
So Apple is going to invite the pathetic Hollywood crowd … damn they are good a public relations.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JagdTiger Avatar
63 months ago
Big deal, now apple will puppeteer Hollywood (like the film industry isn’t already) and it’s films definitely will be politically correct nonsense.
[doublepost=1550093891][/doublepost]Instead of owning everything in the world how about apple just making better and less expensive equipment?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
blacktape242 Avatar
63 months ago
ohhhhh hollywood stars.....yah who cares!
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jasonefmonk Avatar
63 months ago
I just hope they strike a better tone than with the U2 thing... Overly-excited Tim Cook can come on strong and cringe-y.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

apple card 1

Apple Ending Apple Card Partnership With Goldman Sachs

Tuesday November 28, 2023 3:09 pm PST by
Apple is ending its credit card partnership with Goldman Sachs, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apple plans to stop working with Goldman Sachs in the next 12 to 15 months, and it is not yet clear if Apple has established a new partnership for the Apple Card. Apple and Goldman Sachs will dissolve their entire consumer partnership, including the Apple Card and the Apple Savings account....
iOS 17

Everything New in iOS 17.2 Beta 4

Tuesday November 28, 2023 12:18 pm PST by
Apple is wrapping up development on iOS 17.2, with the update expected to come out in December. While we're getting to the end of the beta testing period, Apple is still tweaking features and adding new functionality. We've rounded up everything new in the fourth beta of iOS 17.2. Default Notification Sound Under Sounds & Haptics, there's a new "Default Alerts" section that allows you to ...
ios 17 namedrop

Police Departments and News Sites Spreading Misinformation About How iOS 17 NameDrop Feature Works

Monday November 27, 2023 5:11 pm PST by
Apple with iOS 17.1 and watchOS 10.1 introduced a new NameDrop feature that is designed to allow users to place Apple devices near one another to quickly exchange contact information. Sharing contact information is done with explicit user permission, but some news organizations and police departments have been spreading misinformation about how NameDrop functions. As noted by The Washington...
All New CarPlay Five New Features Article 2

What to Expect From All-New CarPlay, Still Listed as Coming 'Late 2023'

Tuesday November 28, 2023 7:44 am PST by
At WWDC in June 2022, Apple previewed the next generation of CarPlay, promising deeper integration with vehicle functions like A/C and FM radio, support for multiple displays across the dashboard, increased personalization, and more. Apple's website still says the first vehicles with support for the next-generation CarPlay experience will be announced in "late 2023," but it has not shared...
iOS 17

iOS 17.1.2 Update for iPhone Likely to Be Released This Week

Monday November 27, 2023 8:24 am PST by
Apple will likely release iOS 17.1.2 this week, based on mounting evidence of the software in our website's analytics logs in recent days. As a minor update, iOS 17.1.2 should be focused on bug fixes, but it's unclear exactly which issues might be addressed. Some users have continued to experience Wi-Fi issues on iOS 17.1.1, so perhaps iOS 17.1.2 will include the same fix for Wi-Fi...
Apple 5G Modem Feature Triad

Apple to Discontinue Custom 5G Modem Development, Claim Reports

Wednesday November 29, 2023 4:19 am PST by
Apple is discontinuing in-house modem development after several unsuccessful attempts to perfect its own custom 5G modem chip, according to unconfirmed reports coming out of Asia. According to the operator of news aggregator account "yeux1122" on the Naver blog, supply chain sources related to Apple's 5G modem departments claim that the company's attempts to develop its own modem have...
Apple Logo

Apple Discontinued These 5 Products This Year

Monday November 27, 2023 7:03 am PST by
As the end of 2023 nears, now is a good opportunity to look back at some of the devices and accessories that Apple discontinued throughout the year. Apple products discontinued in 2023 include the iPhone 13 mini, 13-inch MacBook Pro, MagSafe Battery Pack, MagSafe Duo Charger, and leather accessories. Also check out our lists of Apple products discontinued in 2022 and 2021. iPhone Mini ...
Google Drive

Some Google Drive Users' Files Have Mysteriously Vanished

Tuesday November 28, 2023 3:55 am PST by
Google Drive users have been warned not to disconnect their account within the Google Drive for desktop app, after a spate of reports of files going missing from the cloud service. Alarm bells began ringing last week on Google's community support site when some users reported files mysteriously disappearing from Google Drive, with some posters claiming six or more months of data had...