General · EdgepediaSeptember 17, 20266 min read

Apple TV+

Apple TV+ is Apple's video streaming subscription service of original shows, movies, and documentaries, launched on November 1, 2019 and renamed simply Apple TV in October 2025. It opened in over 100 countries and regions at $4.99 per month with a seven-day free trial, available on the Apple TV app and at tv.apple.com¹.

Key fact	Detail
Launch	November 1, 2019, in over 100 countries and regions¹
Launch price	$4.99 per month (US) with a seven-day free trial¹
Price history	$6.99/month in late 2023²; $9.99 in January 2025³; $12.99 at the October 2025 rebrand⁴
Catalog model	Original Apple content only; the subscription does not include third-party branded services or rental and purchase content in the Apple TV app⁵
Live sports	Friday Night Baseball, every Major League Soccer match, and, from March 2026, every Formula 1 race exclusively in the United States under a five-year agreement⁶
Awards	672 award wins and 3,085 nominations to date⁶
Current name	Apple TV, since October 2025⁷

Launch and original strategy

Apple announced the service in March 2019, when Tim Cook said Apple TV+ would launch in over 100 countries and that the company had signed major talent including Oprah Winfrey, J.J. Abrams, Reese Witherspoon, and Steven Spielberg to make shows and films⁸. At the September 2019 announcement Apple called it the first all-original video subscription service, opening with "The Morning Show," "Dickinson," "See," "For All Mankind," and the documentary film "The Elephant Queen." At launch, most series premiered with three episodes followed by one new episode each week, and content was subtitled or dubbed in nearly 40 languages with audio descriptions in eight¹.

Unlike competitors that drew on large back catalogs built by their owners over decades, the service began with a modest library of exclusive originals from renowned creators⁹. Reviewers describe the result as a small but strong library: "Severance," "The Morning Show," "Ted Lasso," "Slow Horses," and "The Studio" have made it a destination for prestige television, but there are relatively few movies and older shows, so it works better as a complement to a larger service than as a viewer's only subscription¹⁰. "Ted Lasso," which premiered in 2020, was for a time the main reason people signed up for the then-new service¹¹.

Naming: the service, the app, and the box

The name long caused confusion because Apple applies it to three distinct things: the physical streaming box, the Apple TV app for navigating content and buying or renting titles, and the subscription service⁴. After the October 2025 rebrand dropped the "Plus," all three share the identical name, so "F1 The Movie" could be both available now on Apple TV (the digital video store) and coming soon to Apple TV (the subscription)⁴.

The dropped Plus. Apple announced in a press release that "Apple TV+ is now simply Apple TV, with a vibrant new identity"¹². Apple's senior vice president of Services, Eddy Cue, explained the change by pointing to Apple's naming history for paid tiers: iCloud+ and News+ use "Plus" to distinguish a paid tier from a related free service, while the TV subscription had matured from launch into a service people recognize without extra hints¹³.

Pricing and subscription details

The price has risen repeatedly: $4.99 at launch¹, $6.99 in late 2023², $9.99 by January 2025³, and $12.99 around the October 2025 rebrand⁴.

The subscription sits inside the broader Apple TV app, which also hosts third-party channels and the Apple TV Store for rentals and purchases; the Apple TV subscription itself covers only Apple's originals and its live sports rights⁵. From the start, up to six family members could share one subscription through Family Sharing¹. In January 2025 the service ran a two-day free weekend promotion to draw viewers into the catalog, with the US price then at $9.99 a month³. Eddy Cue has stated Apple has no plans to introduce advertising to the service¹⁴, though industry speculation about an ad-based tier followed the rebrand¹².

Sports rights

Live sports have grown into a major part of the offer. "Friday Night Baseball" returned for its fifth season in March 2026¹⁵, and all Major League Soccer matches stream for subscribers at no additional cost⁶. Beginning in March 2026, a new five-year agreement brings every Formula 1 race exclusively to Apple TV in the United States, following the global success of "F1 The Movie"⁶.

Performance and market position

Apple reported a record 2025: total viewing hours in December 2025 rose 36 percent year over year, setting a monthly engagement record, driven by audience growth in Europe and Latin America and the streaming debuts of "F1," "Pluribus," and "The Family Plan 2"⁶. At the 2025 Emmy Awards, "The Studio" became the most Emmy-winning freshman comedy ever, "Severance" was the most-awarded drama, and "Slow Horses" won a Best Directing honor; to date the service counts 672 award wins and 3,085 nominations⁶.

In market terms, a Q2 2024 estimate placed Apple TV+ and Paramount+ at 9 percent each of the US video streaming market, behind Netflix and Amazon Prime at 22 percent each, HBO Max at 14 percent, Disney+ at 11 percent, and Hulu at 10 percent¹⁶. At the end of 2019, Apple had notably declined to release subscription numbers for the new service, which launched to mixed reviews¹⁷.

References

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026