Apple has been well known for taking a 30% cut of anything sold through the Apple TV including subscription services such as Netflix. This has been the main reason many services have stayed away from the Apple TV.
Recently Amazon’s CEO said that unless Apple changes the policy Amazon Video would not come to the Apple TV. Digital sales of $1.99 episodes do not leave a lot of profit margin after the costs to stream it and pay the content owner. This is even more important to subscription services that have even smaller profit margins.
Some services, such as Spotify, have charged extra if you sign up through an iOS device, and others have decided to just skip the Apple TV altogether.
Now Apple seems to be reaching out to service providers by offering a new plan. For the first year Apple will still take 30% of what the subscription sold on the Apple TV. After the first year, the rate will drop to 15% of sales. Now if at any time someone unsubscribes and signs up again Apple will view that as a new customer and once again take 30% of the subscription fee. (From our reading of this announcement sales of individual episodes and movies will still be 30% even after the first year.)
There is no way to know how service providers will respond. Some may be interested in the new deal and bring their service over to the Apple TV. Others may still not be willing to bring their service to the Apple TV even under the new rules.
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