To not get the point of Apple TV

[autienotnaughti]

I've just signed up for 3 month's free of Apple TV . Apart from a handful of tv shows such as hijack, it most seems to be pay for content? Or a piggyback to other viewing platforms like ITV hub which is free anyway? And it doesn't even get rid of the ads. Do people really pay £7 a month to watch a small handful of American tv shows?

It’s mainly (very good) original content - Ted Lasso, Shrinking, Severance, loads of others.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/best-shows-to-watch-on-apple-tv-hijack-silo-b2376395.html

There's loads of good stuff on there: Severance, Bad Sisters, Blackbird, Silo, Five Days at Memorial, Ted Lasso (DH liked this more than me), The Big Door Prize, The Essex Serpent... We didn't have to pay any extra for those. I would say Apple TV and Sky Atlantic are my go to places for good dramas.

Lots of excellent shows and movies on Apple. Have never come across anything I have to pay extra for or ads.

I haven't seen ads on Apple TV shows. Obviously if you watch the ITVX app you will see them as you have to pay ITVx to get rid of them. AppleTV is much better value than the £10.99 that Netflix costs

I don't get ads either

I think you are looking at the general access content. Filter by ‘apple originals’ and have a look. Very few misses on original content and a lot of hits. I love apple content. in addition to @tulippa’s list I’d Recommend:
Severance
defending jacob
servant
physical
shrinking
shining girls
wecrashed
Tehran
for all mankind
suspicion
the last thing he told me
liaison
the morning show
slow horses

Apple + has some wonderful series and has been one of my most watched services.

Apple TV in general is also really useful as a way of finding out where I can watch something, as it will direct me to whichever service currently has what I’m looking for (which may be paid for or might be a free one).

The other point about subscription services is that you don’t have to stay subscribed to them. It is really easy to pay for a month or two, and if you feel you have watched what you want to watch, you cancel for a bit. I use Apple+, Disney +, Netflix, Now, Amazon Prime (along with the free to air services), but I don’t usually have them all at the same time.

Apple is my favourite app - so much good stuff on their included

The Patient - Steve Carrell/Domnhall Gleeson is fantastic!

The Crowded Room - amazing ! Just finished watching that

Silo - loved this SO much - can't wait for next season

I think it is designed so it doesn’t just have to be an app but it IS your TV. So that is why it includes content from other platforms. In theory it is the only app you need to use.

They do make an Apple TV box as well which is like an Amazon fire stick. It connects to the internet if your TV doesn’t do that for you. So you must get the same app whichever way you use it.

Thank you

I see what you mean

As others have said, some amazing shows on Apple TV. What I do is switch what subscriptions I have every so often, once I’ve watched everything I want to, then go back to it a year or so later when new series/content is out. Better than paying for several subscriptions all at once.

Thanks for the reply's everyone. I want to watch hijack. I might try a couple of other shows if I get chance.

The films I looked at - The Meg, Where the crawdads sing, little mermaid, sing, were all pay for.

I think I was expecting something like Netflix or Disney where the content is all free within the subscription fee.

I had Apple TV free for a year and rarely watched it. One or two shows were good like The Morning Show, but the rest didn't engage enough to pay for it after the year. However I have heard Ted Lasso is amazing.

I had the same problem with Apple TV. Like, what am I paying a subscription for, because you have to pay for everything on there? It’s especially upsetting for the kids who don’t understand why they can’t watch a show that’s come up on the screen. I prefer Netflix and Disney where you pay one fee and everything is included.

It's similar to Sky where it shows things that are within your subscription but also shows things you can pay for. The Apple Originals are the ones that are free.

Apple does have fewer shows than other subscription services, but what it has is far better. Give Shmigadoon a try.

I also really like Apple, but I agree that almost all subscription services have now massively increased their 'pay extra for' films and shows.

We have Netflix, Apple, Prime & Now.

Across all platforms, I reckon we just pay about £50+ per month now, with all the £3.49, £7.99 etc to rent various films.

We do watch a lot of telly though!

Ted Lasso worth a years subscription on its own 😃

No need to like football to enjoy it - when we were watching Shrinking kept seeing trailers for it - really didn’t think it would be my kind of thing but boy was I wrong !

Apple does two different things. I had an Apple TV box for years, which I use as the entry point for everything I watch. That’s like my home screen, and it has apps for all the other services I use. If I search for something, Apple will tell me the options I have for watching it - which might be through another service I pay for or it might tell me it is on a service I don’t currently pay for (or that I can go and buy it individually on iTunes if I want to own it). I didn’t pay Apple for anything other than the box itself.

Separately from that, much later I started subscribing to Apple TV +, and that meant I also got access to Apple Original shows. That is what the subscription pays for. Not good for films, but as others have said there are some great tv series on there.

As people have said, Apple+ doesn't have a lot but what they do have is generally excellent. My favourite of the ones we've watched are - Severance, Trying, Shrinking, Slow Horses, The Afterparty, The Morning Show, Silo, Coda (this is a film rather than series), Still (documentary about Michael J Fox

Agree with @Drivingmisspotty, I bought a new smart tv, (Samsung) and hated the operating system so plugged in my Apple TV box.

I have to say, I had a 3 month trial for free for Apple TV+ and I didn't watch anything else, cancelled my other services.

I have watched these brilliant shows:

Ted lasso
Physical
Silo
Defending Jacob
Slow horses
The crowded room
Platonic
Shrinking
Drops of god
Loot
The big door prize

Apple TV acts like the master app, it will have their own shows in one menu, then other content which is available on other streaming apps, I think you can set up which ones you have so it only shows you those.

It also has a space to 'rent' new movies, and also has anything you previously'purchased' from the Olsen days of iTunes - I found my old seasons of Friday night lights hiding in there 😂

I think (like most things in life) it's really just down to personal preference. For me, if there's a show I really want to watch, then I don't mind shelling out £6.99 even if that's the only show I'm going to watch that month, because £6.99 doesn't feel like a huge amount to pay for at least eight hours of solid entertainment that I couldn't watch anywhere else. I actually signed up solely to watch one specific show (Slow Horses) with a view to cancelling after I'd watched it, but I ended up keeping it because I wanted to watch some other stuff on there too.

However, obviously if you're not that bothered about the shows available, you won't get your money's worth.

The Apple TV box is more reliable than the apps on the TV which sometimes don't work, I don't really use the TV apps and just use either Apple TV box or Sky box to watch things. I got 5 months free Apple TV+ with Barclaycard and 6 months with Sky before that I got abuot 18 months free with an iPhone. I just paid about £70 for a years worth as I think I have exhausted all the freebies now and there is another season of The morning show coming up and For all Mankind must be back soon. £70 isn't much more than we pay only for a month of Sky, Telly costs a lot nowadays 😬