The Financial Times is reporting today that Apple has negotiated with content providers to sell standard definition TV shows for $1 an episode, 50 percent cheaper than usual, when the iPad launches.
High definition media will likely remain the same price, although that is still unclear.
It is also unclear what shows will cost $1, and how widespread the availability of the episodes are.
Additionally, the same report is saying that Apple has so far not given up on the idea of an iTunes subscription model, which would cost $30-a-month for unlimited TV episodes.
Result for: subscription model
According to an interview with IGN, Sony senior VP of marketing Peter Dille says the company is on the fast track to passing the Xbox 360 in sales soon, also saying that the PS3 will still be around in 10 years, and the 360 will not.
“We can be passionate fans, but I don’t think they’ll be around in 10 years so I’m very confident we’ll pass them within that time frame,” says Dille. “I mean, we’ve got 31 million [units sold] worldwide right now - they’ve got 39 million [units sold]. I don’t even need to go out 10 years. I’m not going to make any predictions for your interview today other than we’ll pass them, but you look at where we are today and where they are today, and they had an opportunity to sprint as far ahead of us as possible when they had the head start. Well, we’re breathing down their necks and they can see us in the rearview mirror and it’s not going to take too long to pass them.”
Additionally, Dille confirmed that the company would begin adding subscription models to PSN, although gaming would remain completely free.
Result for: subscription model
According to Sony Computer Entertainment executive VP and CTO Masayuki Chatani, the company is mulling monthly subscription fees for the PlayStation Network.
“We would face difficulties if our business depended solely on the sell-and-forget model. After we sell the hardware, though, we continue to sell products such as content and services,” said Chatani, via GI.biz.”We can also accept payment in a growing number of ways. In addition to single-payment packaged software, there are also schemes like monthly fees or per-item charges.”
Now it is of course possible that Chatani was only speaking about monthly fees for multiplayer online games or unlimited content subscriptions, but it remains unclear.
Sony has repeatedly denied that it will turn the PSN into an Xbox Live-style subscription model but has hinted at upcoming “premium”
