Here's Why Cord Cutters Won't See an Apple Streaming TV Service Next Week

As you may have heard, Apple will host an event next week where it's widely expected to debut the iPhone 6s and a much improved version of its Apple TV streaming video device. What you're unlikely to see at the event, however, is a Sling TV-like service that lets you stream live television over the internet to your TV or iPhone or iPad. And for that you can blame your local broadcast television affiliate.

According to the Wall Street Journal, these local TV affiliates have so far played hardball in negotiating the rights to rebroadcast their signal over the internet on Apple's streaming video service. (Note that Apple has never officially confirmed that it's developing such a service, but reports suggesting as much have been floating around for the past few years. These types of negotiations tend to trickle out to the press.) The crux of the issue is that these affiliates want to deal with Apple directly, while their parent networks (think ABC and CBS) instead insist that Apple instead negotiate with them.

Close watchers of the streaming video business could have seen this impasse coming: this is the same reason why Sling TV, which has been generally well-received since its launch earlier this year, doesn't offer any broadcast television content, and why Sony's PlayStation Vue service is only available in a handful of cities. Streaming video is still a tangled mess of competing interests, but it's only a matter of time until the inexorable rate of cord cutting forces everyone to play nice, ultimately benefitting everyday consumers.