Sources: Apple is planning to roll out Apple TV+, its subscription service, by November and is considering $9.99/month pricing after a free trial

- Company builds array of new services to augment hardware sales — Apple Inc. plans to roll out the Apple TV+ movie and TV subscription service …

Bloomberg 2019-08-20

Context & Ripple Effects

In March 2019, reporting showed Apple planning to resell HBO, Showtime, and Starz at $9.99/month each inside its TV app while also monetizing its own originals. This Bloomberg scoop completes that picture: a November rollout target for Apple TV+ and internal deliberation over $9.99/month after a free trial, all part of a stated push to build services that augment hardware sales.

Hindsight makes the deliberated number the destination: Apple ultimately launched TV+ at $4.99/month with a device-tied free year, then rode increases across its services lineup until TV+ hit $9.99 in the 2023 price round — the exact figure being weighed here.

First-order effects

A $9.99 TV+ price would have put Apple's own service at parity with the premium networks it resells in the TV app, making the storefront owner a direct competitor to its channel suppliers.
The free-trial structure ties subscription acquisition to hardware purchases, turning every new iPhone or Apple TV sale into a subscriber funnel.

Second-order effects

Once TV+ reached the $9.99 mark Apple was already considering in 2019, distribution followed scale: Amazon now carries TV+ as a $9.99 add-on in Prime Video Channels alongside 100+ rival services.
Launching low and stepping prices up — $4.99 to $6.99 to $9.99 — let Apple grow revenue per subscriber without re-litigating the entry price, a playbook applied simultaneously to News+, Arcade, and Apple One.

Third-order effects

Services priced independently of hardware become a durable margin layer for Apple: once content spending is amortized over an installed base acquired via device bundles, recurring raises across the whole services portfolio follow.
Streaming distribution consolidates around platform intermediaries — Apple's TV app and Amazon's Channels — where the same $9.99 title competes regardless of which studio produced it.

The trend: Apple built Apple TV+ into a services pillar using hardware-bundled trials and a low entry price, converging over five years on the $9.99 price it weighed before launch.

Discussion

@markgurman Mark Gurman on x
Apple's initial slate of shows will include “The Morning Show,” Steven Spielberg's “Amazing Stories,” “See” with Jason Momoa, “Truth Be Told” with Octavia Spencer, and a documentary series about extravagant houses called “Home.” https://twitter.com/...
@davechensky David Chen on x
Hey Siri, what's an untenable price for a new streaming service that's launching with like 5 shows https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@sherman4949 Alex Sherman on x
If Apple does go with $9.99 a month, that immediately seems like too much on a relative value proposition. https://twitter.com/...
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
Apple reprising its HomePod strategy for its TV service — overcharge people for the weakest offering in the market https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@dhh @dhh on x
Not thrilled about another walled subscription garden by Apple, but escaping the sewer that is the ad-infested, in-app payments corrupted slot machines that they call mobile gaming these days might just be worth it. https://9to5mac.com/...
@reckless Nilay Patel on x
I would happily pay a monthly fee that included my phone, iCloud, all these content services, etc. But pricing all these things piecemeal and letting them get crushed by Netflix and Disney? I don't get it https://www.theverge.com/...
@markgurman Mark Gurman on x
Of course, those will be the highlights, but there are likely to be other shows at launch as well, but still an overall limited selection compared to established players. $9.99 price is one of multiple prices/launch strategies being considered, but would align with Music, News.
@dylanbyers Dylan Byers on x
Re: Apple original content spend: Based on my own reporting, which will be in tomorrow's newsletter, I'd heed this @markgurman / @anoushasakoui / @Lucas_Shaw report more than the @FT report — the FT's $6 billion # may not be entirely correct >> https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
If Apple has ‘committed’ $6bn to TV, that won't all be in one year, so for comparison purposes it's a lower number. Meanwhile Netflix will apparently spend $15bn this year and has over $20bn of content on the balance sheet. Not quite play money but not a full-on attack on Netflix
@mattgarrahan Matthew Garrahan on x
SCOOP: Apple is spending $6bn on content for its new streaming service in its race to catch Netflix - much more than its stated figure of $1bn. Its new Jennifer Aniston/Reece Witherspoon series has surpassed Game of Thrones as the most expensive ever made https://www.ft.com/...
@getfandom Fandom on x
Report: Apple's new streaming series ‘The Morning Show’ cost most per episode than Game of Thrones. #GoT reportedly cost $15M per episode during Season 8 (via @FinancialTimes | https://www.ft.com/...) https://twitter.com/...
@stevekopack Steve Kopack on x
Apple is boosting its streaming content budget to $6B, sources tell the @FT, up from its initial plan of $1B. Also: Apple is spending more per episode of @TheMorningShow than HBO's $15M per episode of Game of Thrones. https://www.ft.com/...
@tim Tim Bradshaw on x
Apple has so far committed to spend a total of more than $6bn on original TV & movies, even before a single customer has signed up for TV+. “Morning Show” alone is costing hundreds of millions. TV+ likely to beat Disney+ to market. Scoops w @annaknicolaou https://www.ft.com/...
@loudmouthjulia Julia Alexander on x
Okay to put this in additional context: Apple is reportedly spending $6 billlon on content. Disney, according to analysts, is spending $24 billion on content. The difference: Apple is streaming only. That is 25 percent of Disney's budget for just streaming. https://twitter.com/..…
@annaknicolaou Anna Nicolaou on x
apple is spending more than $6bn on content for its upcoming streaming service (up from an initial $1bn commitment). they've spent more per episode on The Morning Show than Game of Thrones. scoop w/ @tim (we are both good at being on vacation) https://www.ft.com/...
@tierrapartners Tierra Partners on x
This is not about margins but defending the moat ten years out. All megatechs are facing sharply higher SG&A, lower margins & slower growth. When investors will realize this is anybody's guess... https://twitter.com/...

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