M.G. Siegler, in this Medium post:

No less than Steve Jobs himself said to Walter Isaacson in interviews for his biography that Apple had “finally cracked it” with regard to what they wanted to do in television.

That was six years ago. We’re still waiting to see the fruits of that labor. It’s starting to feel like we may never see them.

And:

We’re now seeing what Apple thinks it must do: compete with Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc. Apple spent a bunch of time suggesting they would not take this approach. Their original content was all about promoting Apple Music or whatnot. But you don’t hire these two guys if you’re not going all-in on content.

And by “these two guys”, M.G. is referring to Apple’s hiring of former Sony Executives Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg (the production team behind mega-hits such as Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and The Crown which, in my mind, is about as original as TV content gets).

More from M.G.:

If Apple can build a viable Netflix competitor, they’ll have decidedly more leverage. But they also run the risk of alienating the powers-that-be in Hollywood, just as Netflix turned from friend (licensing their old content) to foe (bidding for the first-run premium content).

Part of the challenge for Apple is putting up an ecosystem fence around Apple TV. They’ve been unable to negotiate the kind of terms that allowed iTunes to flip the music industry on its head. And Apple does not own a critical mass of content to pursue a Netflix-like strategy. Will “these two guys” be the start of the next generation Apple TV original content?

I like the play, looking forward to watching what emerges.