Apple Officially Unveils its TV Service, Apple TV+
At a splashy event at its campus in Cupertino, California on Monday, Apple finally unveiled its standalone TV service, including the official name and several of the big projects it will house. Along with those answers, though, there remained some key questions.
During the event, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that the service will be called Apple TV+, and it will launch sometime this fall (an exact debut date is TBA). The subscription service will be available to all -- and is not exclusive to Apple devices -- in more than 100 countries; it will be ad-free, and most of its content will be downloadable.
No pricing structure has been revealed yet.
Many major stars were on hand to introduce their projects for the service, including Steven Spielberg (who's producing a revival anthology of "Amazing Stories"); Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, and Steve Carell (who are starring in a morning TV drama that now has an official title: "The Morning Show"); Jason Momoa and Alfre Woodard (starring in sci-fi series "See," about a world in which sight no longer exists); and Kumail Nanjiani ("Little America," which tells true stories of immigrants from across the world who move to the United States).
Even Big Bird made an appearance, introducing "Helpsters," from the makers of "Sesame Street," which will teach preschoolers about coding skills. And J.J. Abrams and Sara Bareilles were on hand to tout "Little Voice" (Bareilles performed the titular theme song), a series about a young woman finding her voice through music.
Apple saved the biggest surprise for last, bringing out Oprah to announce that she's reviving her immensely popular Book Club as a new series for the service. She's also filming two documentaries for Apple TV+, one about sexual assault and one about mental health.
One of the biggest gaps in the presentation, however, was the lack of clips -- or even key art -- from any of the announced projects, aside from a quick sneak peek package that spliced together a few seconds from each series. Instead, Apple offered a slick video introducing the service, featuring talking heads from several of the above creators, as well as collaborators including Sofia Coppola, M. Night Shyamalan, Ron Howard, Octavia Spencer, Hailee Steinfeld, Damien Chazelle.
Stay tuned for additional Apple TV+ details as Apple unveils them.