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Apple TV + show time
If you’ve previously dismissed Apple TV+ , it might be time to take another look…
WRITTEN BY CHARLOTTE HENRY
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Back
in
March
2019,
Apple
CEO
Tim
Cook
announced
that,
after
years
of
speculation,
the
company
was
finally
going
to
launch
a
streaming
TV
service
later
that
year. That September, he confirmed that Apple TV+ was to go live on November. The service costs £4.99 a month, although Apple offers a year free with the purchase of a new Mac, iPhone, iPad or Apple TV. Disappointingly, there was no new Apple TV hardware in the run-up to Christmas 2020, as had been rumoured. Those who signed up originally for a free year back in November 2019 have had that free year extended until February 2021. Paymonthly customers were also refunded for November 2020, December 2020 and January 2021.
Apple TV+, with exceptions for Peanuts and the return of Fraggle Rock, only offers original programming. Its arrival was greeted with scepticism, even after Apple wheeled out a host of big-name actors and directors at glamorous events and premieres. Furthermore, initial reviews of the first batch of releases were not encouraging.
However, just over a year after its launch, a year in which we’ve all come to rely on streaming services to an extent that we never could have quite imagined, Apple TV+ is now starting to win some fans.
Award-winning
The service has started to win awards too. Most notably, it was nominated 18 times at the 2020 Emmys, with Billy Crudup named Best Supporting Actor for his performance in TheMorning Show. (For reference, Netflix received 160 nominations at the 2020 Emmys, so Apple TV+ still has some way to go.)