DISH Network Executive Explains Why Apple Was Unlikely To Release A TV

Apple Inc. AAPL might have quietly abandoned any and all plans to release a TV set, but activist investor Carl Icahn still believes a television is in development. He might be alone in that belief.

Famed Apple analyst Gene Munster is among those that have backed away from the Apple television bandwagon. Now Roger Lynch, CEO of Sling TV (a subsidiary of DISH Network Corp DISH), has shared his thoughts about this illusive product.

"I've always been wondering how Apple really innovates on a TV set," Lynch told Benzinga. "They have Apple TV, obviously, but when you think about most devices Apple makes, people replace them every year or two. TVs, people don't tend to replace every year or two -- they tend to keep them six, seven years."

Sling TV (which is already on iOS and Android devices) announced this week that it is now available on Android TV. The service can also be accessed via Macs, Windows PCs, Xbox One, Roku and both versions of the Fire TV.

Related Link: DISH Network Exec: Here's Why A La Carte TV May Be An Apple Fanboy's Dream

Low-Margin Devices

Lynch noted that TV manufacturing is an industry that has "extremely low margins."

"That's not something that Apple usually has to worry about," he said. Apple's latest product, the Apple Watch, has some of the best margins ever seen by the Cupertino, California-based tech giant.

"I've been watching with curiosity to see if they really were able to figure out a way to do something really innovative enough on a TV set that would warrant spending the premium that people would have to spend for an Apple TV," Lynch added. "Honestly I'm not that surprised [about the rumored cancellation] because I think that was a tough challenge to figure out how to create something that innovative and high margin that people were willing to spend the amount of money they'd have to for it."

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.