Apple TV+ is an American subscription streaming service owned and operated by Apple Inc. Launched on November 1, 2019, it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service was announced during the Apple Special Event of March 2019, where entertainers from Apple TV+ projects appeared on-stage, among them Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg.
The service can be accessed through Apple's website and through the Apple TV app, which has gradually become available for many Apple devices and some major competing digital media players, including some smart TV models and video-game consoles. Apple plans to expand the services' availability, and there are workarounds for subscribers whose device is not presently supported. Access is included as part of the Apple One subscription. Most of the content is available in Dolby Vision profile 5 and Dolby Atmos.
Upon its debut, Apple TV+ was available in about 100 countries, fewer than the reported target of 150. A number of countries were excluded from service despite other Apple products being available. Commentators noted that the fairly wide initial reach of the service offered Apple an advantage over other recently launched services such as Disney+, and that because Apple distributes its own content through the service instead of distributing licensed third-party content (as, for example, Hulu does) it will not be limited by licensing issues during its expansion.
By early 2020, Apple TV+ had poor growth and low subscriber numbers relative to competing services. In the middle of that year, Apple began to license older television programs and films, attempting to stay competitive with other services, attract and retain a viewership for its original content, and convert into subscribers users who were trialling the service.
The service has become the home to critically acclaimed content: between September 2021 and March 2022, Apple TV+ netted a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series with Ted Lasso and the Academy Award for Best Picture with CODA, whose win marked the first Best Picture win for a film distributed by a streaming service.
Apple TV+ (along with the simultaneously announced a-la-carte premium-video subscription aggregation service Apple TV app) is part of a concerted effort by Apple to expand its service revenues.
History
Origins
Apple had long been rumored to have an interest in beginning a streaming television service, and in 2015 entered into negotiations with various television studios and programmers to aggregate their content for a live-television streaming bundle. Negotiations fell apart over differing views on how to value the content, lack of transparency on details, and the personality of Apple's chief negotiator, Eddy Cue.
In October 2016, Apple CEO Tim Cook was reported as saying that television is "of intense interest to me and other people here." He added that Apple has "started focusing on some original content" which he called "a great opportunity for us both from a creation point of view and an ownership point of view. So it's an area we're focused on."
Staffing
In June 2017, Apple began to take the first major steps in forming its new television unit by hiring the co-presidents of Sony Pictures Television, Jamie Elricht and Zack Van Amburg, to oversee all aspects of worldwide video programming. A few months later, in August 2017, Matt Cherniss was hired as Head of Domestic Creative Development, reporting directly to Van Amburg and Erlicht. For the rest of 2017, Apple continued to fill out its executive team for Apple TV+, with Kim Rozenfeld joining as Head of Current Programming and Unscripted, Jay Hunt joining as Creative Director for Europe, Morgan Wandell joining as Head of International Creative Development, Tara Sorensen joining as Head of Kids Programming, and Max Aronson, Ali Woodruff, Carina Walker, and Michelle Lee joining as development and creative executives.
Throughout 2019, Apple continued to build out its unscripted content team, with Molly Thompson being hired as Head of Documentaries in April 2019. Several months later, in November 2019, Kim Rozenfeld stepped down as Head of Current Programming and Unscripted to focus on producing content again with a first-look content production deal with Apple under his Half Full Productions. Cherniss took over Rozenfeld's duties overseeing current scripted programming.