Does Apple TV+ Need to Be Good?

With Apple ’s annual September event this year , we finally have answers around what its Netflix cyclosis contender will look like at launch : sparse in offering and fantastically cheap — if notaltogether gratis . But before we indite it off entirely , Apple ’s TV+ foray into cyclosis may be smarter than it reads at first flush . In fact , this may be one of the rarefied occasions that Apple is being realistic about what it can practicably pull off as it muscles its way into the streaming fray .

To review : Apple TV+ will become available November 1 for a mere $ 5 , making its subscription price point one of the gloomy in the biz . Apple ’s stream religious service will be advertizement - free and will comprise all original content . But unlike Netflix , according to Apple exec Eddy Cue , Apple is focusedon “ creating the good ” content rather than the most . And being that Apple is just now introducing a competition to streaming giants that have been around for years , that entail Apple has some catching up to do .

But that ’s a tricky posture to be in , by Apple ’s own standard . Apple is launching with just a handful of originals when it officially releases in less than two month . Apple TV+ will offer a seven - day spare trial before charging $ 5 per month for a relatively unembellished - bones lineup of perchance good , but also potentially meh series — at least if those “ expensive NBC ” rumor areto be believed .

Photo: Tony Avelar (AP)

But Apple also has thestar powerand the good deal of money to fuddle at this thing to make it substantially over clip ( throwing money at the content trouble has been Netflix ’s result for the last few years too ) . So , then — assuming it will be worth that $ 5 at launch or sometime thereafter — convincing people to sign on on is really its biggest vault .

in the end , it ’s elusive to say whether its very , very minuscule card of series at launch will excuse a monthly subscription fee this betimes on . Plus , the service has beendogged by rumorsthat it ’s flavorless , neuter , and inoffensive for virtually a year now . But , at the same time , most users give double or even triple that price for a subscription to Netflix , which is not precisely killing it on the originals front .

Given the fact that it be the price of a latte at present , and study many of us will likely be getting a yr of it for free anyway , maybe it ’s deserving seeing what Apple TV+ can do . God knows we all pay to consume all the other trash anyway .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.