Apple suspends effort to develop online TV service: Report

Apple has suspended plans to offer a live Internet-based television service and is instead focusing on being a platform for media companies to sell directly to customers through its App Store, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. Apple’s plan to sell a package of about 14 channels for $30 to $40 a month has run into resistance from media companies that want more money for their programing, Bloomberg reported, citing a person with knowledge of the matter. Apple was in discussions with broadcasters such as CBS Corp and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc to license programing. But a lack of content led Apple to scrap plans to announce the service at a Sept. 9 event, Bloomberg reported earlier. Bloomberg said Apple had not given up entirely on releasing an Internet TV service, which has slowly been pulling viewers away from traditional television service providers. An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the report. Reuters