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Apple has a $1bn budget to find the next Game of Thrones

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By Lisa Lacy, n/a

August 16, 2017 | 2 min read

Apple is going to Hollywood with $1bn to spend on original programming over the next year.

Game of Thrones

Apple has a $1bn budget for original programming.

That’s according to the Wall Street Journal, which also reports this budget could cover as many as ten or more TV shows – and Senior Vice President Eddy Cue wants content on par with HBO’s Game of Thrones.

TechCrunch noted Apple’s budget is about half that of HBO, and, Bloomberg said, this is significantly less than Netflix, which will spend $6bn this year, and Amazon, which will spend about $4.5bn.

In addition, Bloomberg said Apple has installed a new team in Southern California, including former Sony executives Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg. Apple’s original content team also includes former WGN America president Matt Cherniss and, Bloomberg said, Apple is still “hiring aggressively.”

The move comes as Apple seeks to not only compete with Amazon and Netflix, but also double revenue from its services business, which includes Apple Music and the App Store. It debuted reality shows Planet of the Apps and Carpool Karaoke earlier this year, but TechCrunch noted they were not well-received.

Meanwhile, Disney recently announced it is pulling its content from Netflix in order to roll out a streaming platform of its own.

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