Customers Should Be Able to 'Buy Whatever They Want, However They Want' (Eddy Cue)

Apple executive Eddy Cue sat down with CNN senior correspondent Brian Stelter last week for a two-part interview about the new Apple TV, describing the fourth-generation device as an "add-on for most people," since content providers such as ABC, CNN and WatchESPN still require authenticating with a cable or satellite TV subscription.


CNNMoney has now shared a few additional comments Cue made about Apple's rumored streaming TV service. Specifically, Cue said the new Apple TV could support whole cable packages from content providers such as Comcast, but he refused to elaborate much further, beyond alluding that Apple wants customers to be "able to buy whatever they want, however they want."

But what about buying a whole cable package, including CBS, right through the TV?

"If Comcast or any other provider wants to do that, they'll be able to do that with the current Apple TV," Cue said.

When I asked directly if Apple wants to get to the point that Moonves has been describing, an Apple-branded TV package, Cue said, "We want to get to the point where customers are able to buy whatever they want, however they want. We're not fixed into 'There's only one way to buy it.' Just like we've done with the App Store, where there have been things that have been free; things that you subscribe to; things that you pay for; things that are in-app. All of those capabilities will be here and we want that market to be able to develop."

Apple's rumored streaming TV service is expected to deliver a lightweight package of about 25 channels for around $40 per month, anchored by popular networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX, and could launch in 2016 following multiple delays in negotiations between Apple and content providers.

The new Apple TV launched last Friday and features an App Store, Siri, tvOS and more.