DirecTV's Chairman Not Worried About Apple HDTV

While recent rumors about the new Apple HDTV have led many tech journalists to discuss how a novel business tactic could help shape the industry, DirectTV chairman, Michael White, has declared that he is not concerned about the competition coming from Apple.

According to Variety magazine, Michael White does not think Apple will try to convince programmers to offer their channels on a free choice basis, which would enable the potential viewer to select each and every channel they want to see. By contrast, DirectTV offer their programs in bundles that the viewer can choose from, resulting in overall higher monthly fees.

Rumors that Apple plans to offer greater freedom of choice for the client the client has led some segments of the press to speculate that this kind of approach will likely upset the status quo of the industry. The bundle approach, however, provides all the channels a viewer wants to have, but it may also include channels the viewer does not care about. While eliminating those extra channels may seem like the right idea to many viewers, Michael White believes it is not a profitable business strategy in the long run.

The DirectTV chairman is convinced that programmers will seek to protect the interest of pay TV service providers and that the bundle concept will always generate more profit. He argues that if programmers abandoned the bundle approach, they would essentially be harming both pay TV service providers and Apple. However, proponents of the free choice approach believe that Apple stands to gain more as more people are willing to turn to their services and pay extra for channels they really want to see.

While present at a recent investor's conference, in New York, White explained why he is confident that the free choice approach cannot be supported economically. ìTypically with technology, it smashes the cost structure in some new way, but with content costs, rights fees and the cost of spectrum, it's hard to see it obsoleting our technologyî, he declared, according to Variety magazine.

With rumors abounding, some industry specialists expect Apple to emerge with an Apple-branded TV set. At a Strategic Decisions conference, Michael White added that Apple is to planning to launch something big, which will likely be revealed sometime during the coming weeks.