Apple releases iOS 12.3 with an overhauled TV app that includes the new Channels service, curated collections, and personalized recommendations
which makes the Apple TV app the first (and right now only) place HBO subs can download movies and shows such as “Game of Thrones” for offline viewing. https://variety.com/... via @variety David Pierce / @pierce : There are many weird things about Apple TV, but “I can't watch videos in landscape when I enabled the setting that prevents my phone from going into landscape” is bananas. I see people ALL THE TIME watching video in portrait, stupid letterboxes and all https://www.theverge.com/... Todd Spangler / @xpangler : here's list of US streaming services in Apple TV app's new channels store: HBO/Cinemax, Showtime, Starz, Smithsonian Channel, Epix, Tastemade, MTV Hits, PBS Living, Acorn TV, Sundance Now, Lifetime Movie Club, UMC, CuriosityStream, Comedy Central Now https://variety.com/... Chaim Gartenberg / @cgartenberg : So, Apple updated the Apple TV app today. https://www.theverge.com/... AND IT STILL CAN'T DO LANDSCAPE VIDEO RIGHT SERIOUSLY THIS IS 2019 HOW IS THIS STILL AN ISSUE HAS ANY HUMAN BEING ACTUALLY USED THIS APP https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/... Aaron Pressman / @ampressman : Shhh - Apple's new TV app is still terrible for actually watching TV on iPhones https://www.theverge.com/... Kitze / @thekitze : I love the fact that after reading a headline about a OS update you can go in settings and update it right away without waiting for 4 other companies to get their shit together and deliver the update 3 years later https://twitter.com/... See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
The March reporting that Apple's TV service would be a storefront for other streaming services has now shipped: iOS 12.3 turns the Apple TV app into a channels store carrying fourteen services, from HBO and Showtime down to niche players like Acorn TV and CuriosityStream, with Apple hosting the streams. The launch is also a reversal of the dynamic from 2016, when Apple's assertive negotiating style alienated cable providers and networks and stalled its TV ambitions — this time the networks are lining up to be sold through Apple rather than against it.
First-order effects
- HBO subscribers get a concrete exclusive on day one: the Apple TV app is currently the only place they can download shows like Game of Thrones for offline viewing, giving Apple a retention hook no rival storefront can match.
- Fourteen subscription services — including Starz, Epix, Smithsonian Channel, and Comedy Central Now — are immediately dependent on Apple's checkout and hosting infrastructure for their Apple-device customers.
Second-order effects
- Rival platforms that run their own channel stores must now compete against an Apple storefront that bundles exclusive offline-download rights and personalized recommendations, pressuring them to sweeten rev-share or exclusivity terms to keep networks from going all-in on Apple.
- The Samsung deal bringing iTunes content and AirPlay 2 to non-Apple TVs extends the same playbook beyond Apple hardware, widening the storefront's reach while deepening rivals' reliance on Apple's distribution.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, streaming consolidates around platform-owned aggregation layers where the customer relationship, billing, and discovery belong to Apple rather than the network — echoing the 2016 critique that Apple's app lacked integration, but resolved on Apple's terms as middleman instead of bundle-maker.
- Networks trading direct subscriber relationships for storefront placement accelerates the industry split between content owners and distribution gatekeepers, with regulatory scrutiny of app-store economics a plausible downstream consequence.
The trend: Streaming video is re-aggregating inside platform-owned storefronts, with hardware makers converting distribution reach into recurring cuts of third-party subscriptions.