@Steve Todd
But the problem with that is, it doesn’t really differentiate them from cable or satellite, yeah at the moment they have packages, and you can’t pick what channels you want (not all countries, some allow you to make your own package up and add specific channels). But if apple did it on a per channel basis, a cable or satellite company could do the same, offer deep discounts, and that’s it, apples out. Also, why would apple need to be in negotiations with these providers, they say they would like their channel, and they can give it to them for a fee / % of their revenue, or not. If they wanted to do a subscription based upon shows that would be more user friendly. Better than the per channel, as it would be, ok show A is on channel 1, show B is on channel 12, Show C is on channel 44. Before you know it you have 20 channels, and might as well have gone with a cable or satellite provider and paid a few £ more and got 300 channels.
If Apple did a per show subscription, it would be better, but it would also compete with themselves, you could go to I-tunes, and buy a season of a show for £20, or pay £2 / month, per show, or £15 / month for 10 shows, something like that. But would Apple want to do that, would it bring in more money than the per episode basis of itunes, would they then show it at a specific time, or be on demand, would you be able to move it to you ipod/iphone, would that cost extra? This is the only way that they could differentiate themselves from any other provider. Apart from of course, them being apple, so it must be good, no matter what it is, or that it’s been done before.