Apple TV app comes to Nvidia Shield

Apple’s streaming TV app is coming to another platform today: Nvidia’s Shield. Shield owners will now be able to access Apple TV Plus, rent movies through Apple’s store, and access subscriptions to premium channels like Showtime and Starz that were set up through Apple.

The biggest hook is finally getting access to Apple TV Plus. Apple needs the streaming service to be accessible in as many places as possible in order to expand viewership. And viewers need to be able to access the service on whatever device is hooked up to their TV, if Apple wants to make sure people use it and stay signed up.

Apple TV Plus is already available through many of the most popular streaming devices. It’s offered through Roku and Fire TV streaming devices, available on recent PlayStations and Xboxes, and supported on many Vizio, Sony, Samsung, and LG TVs. The app came to Google’s latest Chromecast in February, and it was supposed to expand to other Android TV devices — like the Shield — sometime after that. The service will support Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos on Shield devices.

The timing is good for Apple. Free trials for Apple TV are about to lapse for the service’s earliest users. And the second season of the service’s biggest (and pretty much only) hit, Ted Lasso, debuts July 23rd. The more places Apple TV Plus can be accessed, the better odds Apple has of getting some actual paying subscribers.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.