Apple Puts Live TV Streaming Deal on Hold

Apple is reportedly pausing their efforts at becoming a live television service provider.

There have been countless back and forth conversations about when Apple was going to launch its own live streaming functionality, likely baked right into the Apple TV ecosystem. According to CBS CEO Les Moonves, these plans have been placed on indefinite hiatus.

Business Insider is reporting that while Apple made progress in trying to develop such a program, the past few months have proven incredibly difficult when it came to negotiating deals with hundreds of local affiliate networks. In other words, live television at scale is incredibly difficult.

Moonves said money has been a major sticking point, as Apple wants to unbundle complicated cable packages, that often include hundreds of channels all at different prices, cheapened in bulk. The CBS chief stated that he’s still incredibly interested in working with Apple, but the timing doesn’t appear right at this time.

Back in August we reported that Apple TV would be delaying this offering, despite their attempts to ship the offering on their latest Apple TV devices.

There’s no doubt that digital television, especially modular options, such as simply choosing NBC, CBS and Comedy Central as the only channels one pays for, is coming. But this still might be a ways off, as these deals, proven above, are just extremely complicated.