Today Apple updated the Apple TV and added several new channels to the line up including HBO Go, Crunchyroll, Qello, Watch ESPN and Sky News . With both HBO Go and Watch ESPN you must have an account with an authorized cable or satellite provider. Plus you also have to have a subscription to HBO for HBO Go to work. Also when you set up the services, some ask for your id and password and others like Watch ESPN and HBO Go have you input a code into a web site. It would be nice if you could do everything on the Apple TV.
Clearly this is not for the cord cutters, however hopefully it is a step down that road. I do see this as the next step in the development of the Apple TV. People talk constantly about Apple producing a TV I always thought this was bunk, it made no sense to me. The problem has never been the physical TV, the problem has been the content and how it is presented. Unfortunately, neither Apple or any other tech company has control of the content. Those who do the control the content, like cable and satellite providers along with the content creators and the traditional TV corporations all have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Hopefully overtime Apple and other companies like Roku, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix and Google will be able to break through this stranglehold and we will be able to easily get the content how, where and when we want it. The current Apple TV or an updated version of it would be a good platform to handle this without Apple getting into the actual business of building TVs