Remember the free Apple TV deal AT&T introduced at the launch of its DirecTV NOW service? That move was designed to lure in new customers, offering them the latest Apple TV hardware in exchange for prepaying a certain number of months of service. That deal is back, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the website. AT&T is being a bit tricky with this latest deal, and you can't get it online.
Home TVs are bigger than ever and here to take full advantage of the size is ESPN's new Apple TV app. Though the ESPN app for tvOS itself isn't new, this latest update brings a feature called MultiCast. Users can now stream up to four live games at the same time on the same display, doing so in various arrangements such as two side-by-side games or four with one in each corner.
The 4K Apple TV with HDR has apparently been unofficially confirmed, as the inadvertently-released HomePod firmware proves to be the gift that keeps on giving. Accidentally released to developers at large, rather than just early testers for the Siri-powered streaming speaker, the iOS 11.0.2 build has already been responsible for revealing plenty of iPhone 8 secrets. Now, it's spilling Apple TV tidbits too.
If you were quick to jump on the 4K and HDR television set bandwagon and are now looking for streaming devices like the Apple TV to start offering content to match, your wait may soon be over. New details have surfaced that iTunes could be preparing to make movies available in 4K and HDR, indicating that a new Apple TV model capable of supporting the higher resolution is on the way.
Apple TV may have gone from hobby to Apple's barely-better-than-hobby, but the Cupertino firm has ambitious plans for homegrown content after co-opting a pair of Hollywood execs from Sony. The move comes after rival tech firms like Amazon and Netflix, each with their own streaming TV products, have seen great success with their own, self-funded content.
As the rumors foretold, it seems that Apple and Amazon have buried the hatchet. Tim Cook just took the stage at WWDC 2017, and his first announcement was that Amazon Prime Video will soon be coming to Apple TV and the TV app. This means that Amazon Prime Video will be joining the now more than 50 channels that are included in the TV app, giving Prime customers access to their Prime Video content through Apple's TV box at long last.
If you were reading through the news last week, you might have heard that Apple and Amazon are rumored to have buried the hatchet in their content competition. This could mean a number of things, and chief among them is the idea that Apple could finally allow an Amazon Prime Video app on Apple TV. Originally, we heard that Amazon Prime Video could appear on Apple TV in the third quarter of this year, but new rumors say that it might get a reveal before that.
Currently, there isn't really an easy way to watch content from Amazon Prime on your Apple TV without resorting to using AirPlay with another Apple device. Amazon's Prime Video app is notably not available for Apple TV, which is a casualty of both companies' desires to be the go-to video streaming service for customers. A new rumor claims that this could be changing soon, as Apple and Amazon have apparently put their differences aside.
Following its unveiling last year, Sling TV launched its new Cloud DVR add-on feature for Roku and Android devices in mid-April. Now the company has expanded that availability, bringing its DVR feature to the Apple TV, as previously promised. With the feature, Sling TV subscribers who pay an extra fee will be able to save movies and TV shows for viewing after the show has finished airing.
With all the focus on smart speakers like Amazon Echo, Google Home, and soon Harman Kardon "Invoke", the original smart appliance has seemingly been pushed out of the picture. Either that or smart TVs and set-top boxes have become so common that they're no longer exciting. Apple, however, isn't done giving its Apple TV some love and apparently has some treats prepared for faithful users of this smart but non-portable device. tvOS 11, whose release date is still unknown, is tipped to get multi-user support as well as picture-in-picture videos.
ESPN has announced the arrival of a redesigned Apple TV app, a version that includes a better and simpler user interface, among other things. The new WatchESPN app is now simply called the ESPN App, and it includes livestreaming auto-play for users who have already authenticated the service, as well as a new curated collection of ESPN VOD (video on-demand) content said to include hundreds of hours of footage.
If at first you don't succeed, try Plan B. Apple doesn't seem to be having any luck in getting anywhere near its long-rumored TV service, so it might be settling for the next best thing instead. According to the usual sources familiar with the matter, Cupertino is planning on offering HBO, Showtime, and Starz in a single-price bundle, instead of the piecemeal channels it already has available. Whether or not this plan will pan out, however, largely depends on whether Apple is finally able to convince TV networks to do what it wants this time.