Apple TV+ exclusive movies might soon be available on other platforms

The Apple TV+ streaming service has proven itself a reliable stop for top-notch exclusive films and TV shows, including cinema hits like Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon, and series such as Severance and Ted Lasso.

But the service is yet to turn into a big money spinner for Apple, and so it’s now preparing to licence out some of its productions to other companies and platforms.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is specifically looking to its exclusive film catalogue to do the heavy lifting, looking to “increase sales from its film business and improve the visibility of its content.” It hired former Disney and NBCUniversal executive Maria Ines Rodriguez to help improve its content distribution beyond its own streaming platform.

The Hollywood approach

From a Hollywood perspective, it’s not that unusual — you’ll see a film hit cinemas, and a few months or years later it’ll air on Sky, or BBC, or some other TV provider. There will be Blu-ray editions, special edition physical releases, and more, all designed to drive up revenues from costly productions.

So far, Apple and its streaming competitors like Netflix and Amazon have rarely followed suit. But Apple CEO Tim Cook and Eddy Cue, the VP in charge of services, want to see more notes in the Apple war chest, not just five star reviews, and will be pursuing such action as a result.

What you almost certainly won’t see is Apple licensing out these movies to its direct streaming rivals, like Netflix and Amazon (though you can subscribe to Apple TV+ as a channel through the Amazon Prime Video platform). Instead, we’d expect terrestrial broadcast, digital sales and rental platforms to make up the lion’s share of any new content distribution plan.

And as for its hit shows Ted Lasso, For All Mankind and Severance? They’ll almost certainly remain exclusive to Apple TV+ — it’s ongoing programming that keeps subscribers ticking along with their monthly payments as they wait for new episodes to drop. “One-and-done” movies on the other hand? Ripe for resale.

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