Apple Announces Multi-Year TV Partnership with Oprah Winfrey

Apple has signed a multi-year production deal with Oprah Winfrey, who will create original TV content for an upcoming video subscription service, the tech giant announced in a press release.

The deal is described as a “unique, multi-year content partnership,” with Winfrey — who is well-known for her work as a producer, talk show host, actress and philanthropist, among other ventures.

Neither Apple nor Winfrey elaborated on the type of content that would be produced. Apple’s press release only says that the original TV programs will embrace Winfrey’s “incomparable ability to connect with audiences around the world.

The partnership with Winfrey is only one part of an aggressive push into the original content market.

That push has resulted in an already impressive slate of planned TV content, featuring Hollywood heavy-hitters like Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Kristen Wiig and La La Land’s Damien Chazelle. The stable of shows ranges from dramas to comedies, and sci-fi series to documentary shows.

But it’s apparently not just TV content that Apple is after. Just yesterday, Apple was rumored to be in advanced negotiations with animation studio Cartoon Saloon for the rights to a feature-length animated film.

It’s not currently clear how Apple will distribute its TV and film content, though it has recently made some of its existing original shows available on its TV app. Distribution through Apple Music is also possible — and yesterday’s report concerning the Cartoon Saloon film suggested Apple could push for a theatrical release.

On the other hand, The Wall Street Journal, in a story about the Winfrey partnership, reported that Apple was putting together its own streaming video service to deliver content. That could suggest a platform that would more directly rival competitors like Netflix and Amazon Video.

As far as a timeline, Bloomberg previously reported that Apple could debut the first lineup of TV content as early as 2019.