New Streaming Video Services Are Ready to Launch

Although some details remain a bit sketchy, Apple has announced that its new Apple TV+ subscription streaming service will cost just $5 a month when it debuts on Nov. 1.

That means the service, which will be home to Apple’s original content, will be even cheaper than the Disney+ service, which launches Nov. 12 at $7 a month.

It’s also considerably cheaper than Netflix’s most popular Standard plan, which costs $13 a month, and about one-third of the expected introductory price of HBO Max, the new service from AT&T’s WarnerMedia division that’s slated to hit early next year.

In addition, the company will have a subscription option, called Apple TV Channels, for Apple TV users. It will make it easy for them to subscribe to channels such as HBO and Showtime from a single app.

The company will also offer a game-subscription service, called Apple Arcade, for about the same price.

The Apple TV+ service will have a variety of original TV shows, movies, and documentaries featuring high-profile directors and stars. Among them are a reboot of Steven Spielberg’s 1980s series “Amazing Stories;” a drama about a morning talk show, starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston; “Little Voice,” about an up-and-coming singer, from the director J.J. Abrams and the songwriter Sara Bareilles; an untitled series from Damien Chazelle, director of “La La Land”; and “Servant,” a thriller from the director M. Night Shyamalan. Oprah Winfrey will be creating a series of documentaries.

Apple has earmarked $6 billion for video content, according to a report from The Financial Times. The company already owns a few original shows, including “Planet of the Apps” and James Cordon’s “Carpool Karaoke: The Series,” which are currently available as part of an Apple Music subscription.

Beyond the new streaming service, perhaps the biggest news is that for the first time you won’t need an Apple TV device to get Apple content on your TV.

In addition to being installed on Apple hardware, the Apple TV app is also available on select Samsung smart TVs now and will come to Amazon Fire TV, LG, Roku, Sony, and Vizio sets in the near future. The app will provide access to the new TV+ service once it launches.

AT&T TV—basically a streaming version of the company’s DirecTV satellite offering—is now available in 10 markets: Orange County and Riverside, Calif.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; Topeka and Wichita, Kan.; St. Louis and Springfield, Mo.; and Corpus Christi, El Paso, and Odessa, Texas.

Additional metro areas are expected to be added this year, with a national rollout in early 2020.

AT&T TV is a separate offering from the company’s DirecTV Now cable-style streaming service, which has been rebranded as AT&T TV Now.

Given the announced pricing—AT&T TV starts at $60 a month for cheapest plan with about 70 channels, but then jumps to $93 a month during the second year of a 24-month contract—it’s unlikely to have much appeal to those looking to save a lot of money compared with a traditional TV plan. AT&T TV Now costs $50 a month for about 45 channels.

Three additional step-up plans, with more channels, are also available, ranging from $65 to $80 per month during the first year. But you’ll pay as much as $135 per month during the second year of your contract. Some plans require that you pay a $20 activation fee and $8.50 extra each month to get regional sports networks. You can check out the plans and pricing—and see what locals channels are available in your area—on the AT&T TV website.

Cinemax, HBO, Showtime, and Starz are included free for three months but will auto-renew at $48 per month if you don’t call to change or cancel.

Compared with the AT&T TV Now service, one big difference with AT&T TV is that you need to rent or buy an Android-based set-top box provided by AT&T. (With AT&T Now, it’s simply an app you access from a smart TV or third-party streaming player, such as Apple TV and Roku.) The system supports 4K videos where available and includes 500 hours of DVR storage. Recordings are saved for up to 90 days.

One set-top box is included free, but additional ones cost $10 a month, or $120 if you want to buy them outright. AT&T says that one box will support up to three streams at a time.

Based on information on the AT&T TV website, it appears that once you have the box, you should be able to use an app to stream content on a smartphone or tablet. The included AT&T TV remote has the Google Assistant voice-powered digital assistant built in, so you can search for shows, change channels, and get weather and news updates on your TV using  voice commands.

AT&T has said that the reason it’s launching AT&T TV is that it can provide comprehensive pay TV packages at a lower price than a regular satellite TV service. That’s because it’s a streaming service that doesn’t require a satellite dish and can be self-installed so that the company doesn’t have to send technicians out.

AT&T TV is the latest in a growing number of TV options from the company. AT&T still offers the DirecTV satellite TV service, as well as AT&T U-verse, an IP-based fiber-optic pay-TV service, though both continue to shed subscribers.

For cord cutters, it has the low-priced AT&T Watch service in addition to AT&T Now. And a new one, called HBO Max (see below) from its WarnerMedia division, is slated to launch early next year.