Apple has unveiled the new TV app, offering a unified experience for discovering and accessing TV shows and movies from multiple apps on Apple TV, iPhone and iPad. It is just called TV.
The TV app provides one place to access TV shows and movies, as well as a place to discover new content to watch. It acts as a TV guide to all available content, which it aggregates from both live and on-demand, in four sections: Watch Now, Library, Store and Search.
Apple also introduced a new Siri feature for Apple TV that lets viewers tune in directly to live news and sporting events across their apps. All devices will always stay in sync so that when users begin watching on one device they can easily continue where they left off on their Apple devices.
At the moment, there are 8,000 apps available for Apple, including 2,000 games and 1,600 video apps, across categories such as sports, news, fitness, education, kids, lifestyle and more. These apps include ESPN Play, HBO Now, CBS News, Hulu, Showtime, and more. However, at least for now, Netflix and Amazon are not part of the mix (but Netflix is available on Apple TV4). Also, only iTunes content is available, not from third party stores such as Google Play, Amazon or Vudu.
The app will become available in December as free software updates for Apple TV (4th generation), iPhone and iPad customers in the US. No details as yet about international launches.
“Using apps on Apple TV, iPhone and iPad has become the primary way for so many of us to watch television,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s SVP of internet software and services.
“The TV app shows you what to watch next and easily discover TV shows and movies from many apps in a single place.”
Customers in the US can use single sign-on. Starting in December, subscribers to DrecTV, Dish Network and more will just sign in once on Apple TV, iPhone and iPad to enjoy immediate access to apps that are part of their pay-TV subscription.
