Apple Keynote Hints That HBO, Showtime, & STARZ Won’t Be Discounted on Apple TV Channels
During yesterday’s keynote, Apple announced their highly anticipated Amazon Prime Video Channels competitor called Apple TV Channels coming via a software update this May. Users can access 25+ premium partners including: HBO, Showtime, Starz, EPIX, Cinemax, CBS All Access, Comedy Central Now, Sundance Now, PBS Living, Curiosity Stream, Tastemade, Lifetime Movie Club, Acorn TV, Britbox, Noggin, MTV Hits, and Shudder.
Over the weekend, there was much speculation that Apple had negotiated exclusive discounts on premium channels like HBO and Showtime, that would discount them to just $9.99 a month. While there was no official pricing announced during the keynote, Apple during a demo, briefly displayed the pricing of Showtime as $10.99 — the same price that it’s available everywhere.
While it’s possible this could change ahead of the May launch, as of right now it looks like the pricing will be the same for premium channels through Apple TV Channels as it is on other services like Amazon Prime Video Channels, The Roku Channel, vMVPDs like Sling TV and PlayStation Vue, and cable companies.
| DTV STREAM | Fubo | Hulu | Philo | Sling TV | YouTube | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Free Trial | Free Trial | Free Trial | Get 50% Off | Sign Up | |||
| $79.99 | $91.99 | $76.99 | $25 | $40 | $40 | $72.99 | ||
| HBO | + $15 | - | + $15 | - | - | - | + $16 | |
| Parmount+ with SHOWTIME | + $11 | + $11 | + $11 | - | + $10 | + $10 | + $11 | |
| Starz | + $11 | + $10 | + $9 | + $9 | + $9 | + $9 | + $9 | |
Another possibility is that the discounted pricing will only come as part of a premium bundle. For instance, if you subscribe to HBO, Showtime, and STARZ — it would only be $29.99 (as opposed to $35). This is a common practice from cable companies where if you buy multiple premium channels, you get a discount.