Is this one of the products that Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised will wow consumers and investors this year? The electronics company is negotiating with the No. 2 cable operator and others who can feed content to a video decoder Apple wants to introduce in April, and begin to sell by the Christmas holiday season, Bloomberg reports citing “people with knowledge of the matter.”
The device would be similar to the current Apple TV, which supplies Web-delivered video to TV sets. If negotiations pan out, then this would be the first time it would also include conventional pay TV. To offer that, it would have to be able to determine whether the user is a subscriber, unencrypt the scrambled signals for those who are, and provide two-way communications with the distributor for VOD and other services. The report says that Apple plans to pack its set top box with a faster processor than it now uses for Apple TV, as well as an interface that will help users to easily sort through TV shows, movies and online content. Up to now, cable and satellite companies have been reluctant to give outsiders the capability to come between them and their customers.
The device would be similar to the current Apple TV, which supplies Web-delivered video to TV sets. If negotiations pan out, then this would be the first time it would also include conventional pay TV. To offer that, it would have to be able to determine whether the user is a subscriber, unencrypt the scrambled signals for those who are, and provide two-way communications with the distributor for VOD and other services. The report says that Apple plans to pack its set top box with a faster processor than it now uses for Apple TV, as well as an interface that will help users to easily sort through TV shows, movies and online content. Up to now, cable and satellite companies have been reluctant to give outsiders the capability to come between them and their customers.
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