Mediaboss Marketing

This afternoon we get a mysteriously sourced report that Apple is in talks with three major movie studios to stream their offerings on a future device (Apple TV, right?). Reuters' Ronald Groverreports, via unnamed sources, that Apple has opened discussions with Epix, a company backed by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, MGM, and Viacom's Paramount Pictures. We accept this news with the biggest grain of the strongest salt the bartender's got, because of that whole anonymous source thing and this little nugget of uncertainty: "Talks with EPIX are in the preliminary stages and no agreement is considered near, the source said." We also knowApple TV is the new iPhone 5 of rumors, with lots ofunsubstantiatedinformation coming out all over the place. But say it is true. That's something to get excited about.

For Apple to revolutionize the television industry, as Steve Jobs kind of sort of maybe said it would, Apple will need to pull an iTunes, scoring content deals that would create a whole new media viewing ecosystem. That's what we're all waiting for in the TV world. (No more boxes, please!) Few of the would-be revolutions in that industry have yet to go beyond that, however, providing new technology over old technology (cable) that we don't want. Apple, though, has done this sort of thing before. And this little rumor gives a dreamer a teeny-tiny smidgen of hope.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at rgreenfield at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

Continued here:
Apple Might Be Making Apple TV Content Deals