Apple TV, a digital media player introduced in 2007, offers users access to iTunes movies on the larger screen of a television as well as streaming video from Netflix, Hulu and other online services. However, Apple TV's appeal to consumers as an alternative TV device has been limited by a paucity of live television offerings. Over the past years Apple has made efforts to make a stronger presence in living room entertainment. The new Apple TV has a chance to be the best cable TV + Internet salesman. As Horace Dediu of Asymco explains,”the iPhone is primarily hired as a premium network service salesman. It receives a “commission” for selling a premium service in the form of a premium price. In other words, cable companies are investing in Apple as a network (cable) service salesman.  Take the recent deal with DirecTV, offer a standalone subscription to its popular NFL Sunday Ticket package for the first time, meaning cord-cutting football fans can follow the action this fall on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac without mounting a dish to their roof. It's only a matter a time before similar deals like this is being made. In 2012, the Journal reported that Apple was talking with cable operators like Time Warner Cable about a set-top box and was approaching media companies to gain rights for an ambitious Internet-based digital-video-recording service through the box. At the time, it was looking to offer full seasons of current shows, as well as live programming. Last year, it approached media companies with a proposal to pay extra for ad-free programming.  With unfinished deals in progress, it's only a matter of time before Apple find the right actions for certain inevitable takeovers. But as it stands, Programmers resisted the idea of ad-free TV, and Time Warner Cable balked at some of Apple's early proposals, which included Apple essentially taking over the cable operator's video-on-demand service.  

Even though cable companies have local monopolies and are making money hand over fist, they are keenly aware of what’s coming down the road. Younger people today are going without expensive cable tv and some are ditching home internet too. The secret, a la carte. Just as I explain in an earlier posting, people love variety, but they cherish even more the power of choice. Internet streaming is "On Demand" programming. It is this concept alone that drives "cutting the cord" awareness.