Apple TV (streaming service)
Apple TV, formerly known as Apple TV+, is a subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. Its programming arm is Apple Studios.
The service was announced during the Apple Special Event of March 2019. It can be accessed through Apple's website and through the Apple TV app. Apple TV has over 45 million paid memberships. The service was rebranded in late 2025, removing the + from "Apple TV".
Apple plans to expand the services' availability, and there are workarounds for subscribers whose device is not presently supported. Access is included as part of the Apple One subscription. Most of the content is available in Dolby Vision profile 5 and Dolby Atmos. Upon its debut, Apple TV+ was available in about 100 countries, fewer than the reported target of 150. Several countries were excluded from service despite other Apple products being available. Commentators noted that the fairly wide initial reach of the service offered Apple an advantage over other recently launched services such as Disney+, and that because Apple distributes its own content through the service instead of distributing licensed third-party content it will not be limited by licensing issues during its expansion.
Apple TV+ initially experienced poor growth and low subscriber numbers relative to other competing services during its first full year in 2020. In the middle of that year, Apple began to license older television programs and films, attempting to stay competitive with other services, attract and retain a viewership for its original content, and convert into subscribers users who were trialing the service. Since then, the service has become the home to more critically acclaimed content: between September 2021 and March 2022, Apple TV+ netted a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series with Ted Lasso and the Academy Award for Best Picture with CODA, the first Best Picture win for a film distributed by a streaming service. Natalie Portman, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston have all signed a multi year look deal with Apple TV+ to develop more television projects under their production companies. Apple TV+ is part of a concerted effort by Apple to expand its service revenues.
History
Origins
Apple had long been rumored to have an interest in beginning a streaming television service, and in 2015 entered into negotiations with various television studios and programmers to aggregate their content for a live-television streaming bundle. Negotiations fell apart over differing views on how to value the content, lack of transparency on details, and the personality of Apple's chief negotiator, Eddy Cue.In October 2016, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that television is "of intense interest to me and other people here", and added that Apple has "started focusing on some original content", which he called "a great opportunity for us both from a creation point of view and an ownership point of view. So it's an area we're focused on."
Staffing
In June 2017, Apple began to take the first major steps to form its new television unit by hiring the co-presidents of Sony Pictures Television, Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, to oversee all aspects of worldwide video programming. In August, Matt Cherniss was hired as Head of Domestic Creative Development, reporting directly to Van Amburg and Erlicht. For the rest of 2017, Apple continued to fill out its executive team for Apple TV+, with Kim Rozenfeld joining as Head of Current Programming and Unscripted, Jay Hunt joining as Creative Director for Europe, Morgan Wandell joining as Head of International Creative Development, Tara Sorensen joining as Head of Kids Programming, and Max Aronson, Ali Woodruff, Carina Walker, and Michelle Lee joining as development and creative executives.Throughout 2019, Apple continued to build out its unscripted content team, with Molly Thompson hired as Head of Documentaries in April. In November, Rozenfeld stepped down as Head of Current Programming and Unscripted to focus on producing content again with a first-look content production deal with Apple under his Half Full Productions. Cherniss took over Rozenfeld's duties overseeing current scripted programming.
Development news reports
In May 2018, it was reported that Apple was expected to start a sister project to its original content service, and begin selling subscriptions to certain video services directly via its Apple TV app application on iOS and tvOS, rather than asking Apple device owners to subscribe to those services through applications individually downloaded from Apple's App Store.In October 2018, it was reported that Apple would distribute its future original content through a still-in-development digital video service within its TV application that is pre-installed in all iOS and tvOS devices. The service was expected to feature both original content, free to owners of Apple devices, as well as subscription "channels" from legacy media companies such as HBO and Starz, which would allow customers to sign up for online-only services. Later that month, it was reported that Apple intended to roll out the service in the U.S. during the first half of 2019 and that it would expand its availability to around 100 countries in the months after its launch.
Announcement event details
On March 25, 2019, Apple held a press event to announce Apple TV+. At the event, Apple showed a teaser of its upcoming original content and formally announced some of it, with actors and producers attached to the content appearing on stage, including Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey, and Steven Spielberg. The announced content included Helpsters, the first series from Sesame Workshop, the producer of Sesame Street, and Oprah Winfrey's first projects for Apple TV+, including a documentary under the working title Toxic Labor about workplace sexual harassment, a documentary series about mental health, and a revival of Oprah's Book Club as a standalone television series.On September 10, 2019, Apple announced that Apple TV+ would launch on November 1 at $4.99 per month for an account that can be shared with up to six family members. Apple also announced that it would be giving away a year of Apple TV+ to anyone who bought a new Apple TV, Mac, iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch beginning that day. Student subscribers to the monthly Apple Music service at a discounted rate also had Apple TV+ bundled in at no additional cost for the time being.
Free subscription extensions
From the start of Apple TV+ on November 1, 2019, Apple offered a free one-year subscription to anyone buying certain of its hardware products. Apple initially extended the free year that was due to end on November 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, but then announced in mid-January 2021 that it would extend it a second time to July 31, 2021.In mid-June 2021, Apple added a note to its website advising customers that new users subscribing after June 30, 2021, would receive only three months of free subscription instead of a year.
Subscription pricing increases
On October 24, 2022, Apple announced it was to increase pricing of Apple TV+ subscriptions in many regions. The monthly plan increased $2 to $6.99, and the annual plan increased $20 to $69.Rebranding
In October 2025, to coincide with the release of F1 on the service, Apple announced that Apple TV+ would be rebranded as simply "Apple TV". Variety noted that this marked the platform's first name change since its launch, while The Verge mused that "the change is likely to cause some confusion" due to the shared branding among the streaming service, set-top box, and software application. Explaining the name change, Apple executive Eddy Cue reasoned that the service had already been commonly known as "Apple TV" for some time, dismissing concerns of potential confusion.As part of the rebrand, Apple TV also changed their famous introduction "Piano" sound to a more modern version created by Finneas, and switched to a new "Rainbow" multicolored logo created through real glass and practical effects.
The rebrand was widely visible on devices updated to Apple's OS 26.1 variant, as well as on the Apple TV app.
Programming
During the announcement of Apple TV+, Apple announced a number of prominent writers, directors, and stars who would be featured in the service. The signing of high-profile talent was intended to attract viewers to the service., five of the upcoming series had completed production, with six more well into filming. On September 10, 2019, Apple announced that Apple TV+ would have eight original series and one original documentary available at launch, with plans to launch new original content every month thereafter. Most series were expected to launch with three episodes, with a new episode released weekly thereafter, although Apple said that not all series would follow that model and that some series might instead launch all at once.
Early critical reaction to the bulk of the service's programming was mixed to poor, but commentators predicted that Apple would have time to grow into its new role as a content provider and to produce well-regarded content, especially as the free year of the service provided with many Apple product purchases enticed users to continue watching, and for some to eventually pay for a subscription, as new series are released.
COVID-19 pandemic effects
On March 13, 2020, Apple suspended all active filming on Apple TV+ shows due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and all production on series was postponed for an indeterminate period.Apple's decision in mid-2020 to license large swaths of existing older content for the Apple TV+ service was viewed, in part, as buying time for its original content production during the pandemic by keeping users engaged and in a habit of visiting the service regularly, so that a viewer base would be in place by the time new Apple original content was released.
In addition, Apple TV+ endeavored to gain new high-profile content, taking advantage of the pandemic's disruption of theatrical film releases. Among these acquisitions were the 2020 feature film Greyhound starring Tom Hanks, which was purchased from Sony Pictures for $70 million. In July 2020, the service won a heated bidding war for Emancipation, a slavery-based action-thriller starring Will Smith and directed by Antoine Fuqua. Apple paid a record $105 million for the rights. Apple also reportedly considered a $350 to $400 million offer for the rights to stream the James Bond film No Time to Die, which was far short of the $650 to $800 million studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was willing to accept.