Oprah Waves Goodbye To AppleTV+: Is It A Big Loss For The Streamer?

Technology giant Apple Inc. AAPL is ending a content deal with talk show host and producer Oprah Winfrey. Even though Winfrey is one of the most respected names in entertainment, the news might not be a major blow to the Cupertino, California-based company's streaming service, AppleTV+.

What Happened?

Apple and Winfrey's multi-year content deal began in 2018. The deal saw Winfrey and Apple collaborate on several projects that aired on AppleTV+, including the documentary “Sidney,” about the late actor Sidney Poitier, as well as “Oprah’s Book Club.”

Yet, Winfrey's deal with Apple was nonexclusive, which allowed her to continue making content for the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), a joint venture between Winfrey’s Harpo Studios and Warner Bros. Discovery WBD, as well as CBS, a unit of Paramount Global PARAPARAA, which aired her interviews with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Apple and Winfrey were also supposed to release the documentary “On the Record,” but the film was pulled with little notice or explanation, which could have potentially caused some friction between the streaming company and the entertainment mogul.

Related Link: Oprah’s Key To Success - ‘My Focus Has Never, Ever For One Minute Been Money’

Without Winfrey

Apple has had plenty of success without Winfrey, including:

• Deals with Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer
• Front runner status along with Amazon.com Inc. AMZN to land content from the National Football League
• “Ted Lasso,” an Emmy award-winning comedy series
• "Severance," an Emmy-award-winning science fiction series
• A multi-year deal with Tom Hanks
• Streaming rights to the Martin Scorsese film “Killers of the Flower Moon," which Apple produced
• Harrison Ford’s first-ever television series
• And it became the first streaming company to win a Best Picture Academy Award for "CODA."

With numerous deals signed with famous actors and directors as well as the streaming rights to several major professional sports leagues, Apple has made its presence known.

Winfrey and AppleTV+ will still collaborate on a “project-by-project basis,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. But the non-exclusive nature may have made the previous collaboration a smaller focus for the entertainment mogul.

AAPL Price Action: Apple shares are up 2% to $154.49 on Tuesday versus a 52-week range of $129.04 to $182.94.