John Paczkowski, writing for BuzzFeed News, had the chance to interview Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior VP of Internet Software and Services.

On the rise in apps for the Apple TV platform:

“We’re seeing tremendous developer interest,” Cue told BuzzFeed News. “Already we have over 2,000 apps live in the store. And on the customer side, things are going great. What we’ve found is that a little over half of transactions are coming from people upgrading from the last Apple TV and just about the other half are coming from new customers that are buying their first Apple TV.”

On the Apple TV as a gaming platform:

“When we first announced the iPhone, we didn’t tout it as a gaming device. But games became a huge part of iPhone, because it turns out that a lot more people than just hardcore gamers love games. We expanded the market. I think the vast majority of people around the world probably aren’t looking to buy an Xbox or PlayStation. But that doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy playing games. I think Apple TV expands the gaming market to those people.”

And the part I found most compelling:

And what of Apple’s ambitions to launch that long-in-the-offing subscription TV service? Cue wouldn’t say much, only that we can all expect to see “a lot more content creators and providers going direct to consumers next year.” He did say that he sees a big opening on Apple TV for election season programming, as there’s clearly a vast and eager audience of cord-cutters interested in finding such stuff easily.

This feels like a shot across the bow of the networks with whom Eddy Cue is now negotiating. Who needs to go hat in hand to the networks (or the cable companies) when you can build your own Apple TV app to bring your content directly to the people?