ITV warns Apple not to brand smart television ‘iTV’
ITV has written to Apple to warn the Silicon Valley technology giant off using its three-letter name for its long-awaited, “iTV” smart television. — ITV insiders fear Apple may ignore past assurances that it would not muscle into its territory with its new smart television.
Context & Ripple Effects
ITV had already consulted lawyers over earlier Apple TV renaming rumours in 2010. The renewed warning turns a long-running naming concern into a direct constraint on how Apple could present a television product.
The dispute sits alongside broadcasters’ concerns that television was approaching an “iTunes moment”: technology companies could reshape the viewer relationship while established media brands defend their position.
First-order effects
- Apple faces an immediate branding constraint around “iTV,” while ITV puts Apple on notice that use of the name would challenge its established identity.
Second-order effects
- Any Apple television marketing using a similar name would make brand distinction, rather than product features alone, part of the competitive conversation between Apple and ITV.
Third-order effects
- If technology companies continue extending consumer brands into television, legacy broadcasters will increasingly treat names and trademarks as strategic assets for defending their place in the viewer relationship.
The trend: Television is becoming a contested platform market in which technology entrants and broadcasters compete for both consumer attention and brand ownership.