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Apple plans March 25 event for rumored Netflix-like service

Apple's long-rumored streaming service might be revealed.

Mike Sorrentino Senior Editor
Mike Sorrentino is a Senior Editor for Mobile, covering phones, texting apps and smartwatches -- obsessing about how we can make the most of them. Mike also keeps an eye out on the movie and toy industry, and outside of work enjoys biking and pizza making.
Expertise Phones, texting apps, iOS, Android, smartwatches, fitness trackers, mobile accessories, gaming phones, budget phones, toys, Star Wars, Marvel, Power Rangers, DC, mobile accessibility, iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, RCS
Mike Sorrentino
2 min read
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Apple

Apple is throwing its next product event on March 25, offering this tease: "It's show time."

The event will take place in the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California, the company said in the invitation, sent Monday.

Apple

A graphic in the invitation offers an intriguing hint of what to expect. It counts down "4... 3.... 2..." as you might traditionally have seen at the  start of a film Apple  has been heavily rumored to be planning the launch of a streaming service.

In recent months, Apple has made a string of content deals, including those tied to the creation of shows. Some of these shows, such as Carpool Karaoke, are already available through Apple Music . Others that aren't yet available appear to be coming from deals Apple has made with stars such as Oprah WinfreyReese WitherspoonM. Night Shyamalan and Steven Spielberg.

There are also rumblings that Apple may be set to reveal a news service, which would line up with its acquisition of news subscription aggregator Texture. So that's another possibility for the March 25 event.

If Apple does throw itself into the streaming business, it will join a number of new or impending Netflix competitors. The list includes Disney's upcoming Disney+ service, Amazon's continued expansion of its Prime Video service, the DC Universe service that launched last year, an upcoming Criterion Channel film service featuring Criterion Collection movies, and the Star Trek-filled CBS All Access. (Editors' note: CBS is CNET's parent company.)

First published March 11, 2019 at 12:30 p.m. PT.
Update 12:55 p.m. PT: Added background and context.
Correction March 12, 8:05 a.m. PT: Clarifies the ownership of Criterion Collection, which is a privately held company, and its Criterion Channel. 

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