Apple TV+ to Launch First Discounted Video Content Bundle

(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. plans to bundle access to CBS All Access and Showtime content at a discounted price for subscribers to its TV+ video service, according to people familiar with the plans.

This is Apple’s first discounted bundle offering for video content with the TV+ service. Currently, users must subscribe to different content providers in the TV app on an à la carte basis.

Starting as early as Monday, Apple TV+ subscribers will be able to access both the CBS and Showtime channels in Apple’s TV app for $9.99 per month combined. CBS All Access and Showtime normally cost $9.99 and $10.99 per month respectively, so the deal would be a significant savings.

ViacomCBS Inc., which owns both content providers, has offered discounted CBS All Access and Showtime bundles in the past on their own website. ViacomCBS shares rose on the news.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

The move is designed to spur interest in the Cupertino, California-based company’s latest video services. The discount bundle rate could boost usage of Apple TV Channels, a service that lets customers subscribe to third-party content via the company’s devices. The requirement for a TV+ subscription also makes the $4.99 per month service more valuable and could potentially attract more subscribers.

While Apple TV+ has had some well-received content, including “The Morning Show” and Tom Hanks’s “Greyhound,” the service still lags behind Netflix Inc. and Amazon Prime Video in terms of content and subscribers. Without a large catalog of older movies and TV shows, Apple is relying on the Channels service to make up for a still-limited array of original content.

Later this year, the company plans to launch a push into services bundles for all of its major offerings with an offering dubbed “Apple One,” Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.