Apple Pay Launches in UK, Company Moves Forward on Broadcast Streaming

According to the Apple UK website, American Express (AXP) First Direct, HSBC (HSBC), Nationwide, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Banco Santander (SAN) and Ulster Banks are on board with the UK Apple Pay system. It will allow people in the UK to pay for things online, at certain grocery stores and even pay for London’s tube and rail system. Apple will not be storing users’ credit card info or users’ purchase history on its servers and is instead allowing Apple Pay users to maintain privacy between them and their respective banks. In other news, Apple, who has been working on its streaming broadcasting service for a number of months, is making serious headway in its negotiations with big broadcasters ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC. According to an article by the New York Post, the recent development in the ‘cable-killing app’ is that cable companies have acquired the broadcasting rights of the networks local affiliates at the request of Apple CEO Tim Cook. With the acquired rights, the big broadcasters and Apple can negotiate broadcasting local content on Apple’s streaming service rather than Apple negotiating smaller deals all over the country. Apple was said to be trying to launch the programming in September and has not yet put a price on what the service will cost.