Word on the street is that Apple’s finally going to launch its original content initiative, beyond Carpool Karaoke: The Series and Planet of the Apps, in the early stages of 2019.
Which means we will finally see that morning show drama starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston (and now Steve Carell!), along with a variety of other projects that Apple has picked up over the last year. We recently heard that Apple is planning on providing their original content for free to Apple device owners, and that the company will also be offering up packages for premium channels through its TV app at some point in the future as well.
Now, a new report from The Information echoes most of those talking points, but also adds another aspect: International distribution. According to the report, Apple is planning on distributing its original content to over 100 countries, but that the rollout will be a slow one and it certainly won’t happen all at once. The initial launch, unsurprisingly, will take place in the United States, but expand to more markets at some point after that.
The report states that the original content will launch in “the first half 2019”, with the global distribution beginning sometime “in the following months”. The report also states that Apple is currently holding negotiations with programmers to hammer out costs for international distribution. It’s also likely that the subscription packages that Apple plans to offer for premium channels will be available in a per-market basis, so not every channel will be available in every market.
We still don’t have an exact launch date for any of this, but as 2018 starts winding down, it certainly feels like we’re getting close to seeing some of this potentially great content actually come to life on our screens.