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ITV has reportedly written a letter to Apple, asking the company not to call its much-rumoured telly ‘iTV’, according to reports in the Telegraph.
The paper reports that ITV (or ‘Channel Three’ if you were born before about 1975) boss Adam Crozier raised the issue with Apple in 2010 when he assumed control of the channel, and at the time received assurances that the iPhone maker wouldn’t be muscling in on ITV’s name. In summer of that year we reported that the broadcaster had vowed to defend its branding.
We can see why the Lorraine-powered broadcaster would be worried — rumours Apple is about to craft a TV set have been hotting up, with reports suggesting that Canadian telecom companies are already testing what could be Apple’s biggest gadget to date.
Steve Jobs’ biography also hinted that the company was beavering away on making a TV set, rocking “the simplest user interface you could imagine”.
The Cupertino company’s post-iPod naming convention suggests that if the rumoured telly turns out to be real, Apple will stick a lower case i in front of ‘TV’ and leave it at that. It already has a product called ‘Apple TV‘ after all.
Here in the UK the term ‘ITV’ may be synonymous with the broadcaster, but that’s obviously not true elsewhere in the world. If the two companies do find themselves at odds name-wise, perhaps Apple could just buy the Downton Abbey-broadcasting ITV.
It’s certainly got enough cash to do so, and if Apple wants to start making TVs, owning a broadcaster couldn’t hurt. We’re imagining The Only Way is Essex, but everyone has iPads.
Apart from the biography hint mentioned above, Apple hasn’t breathed a word about its TV plans, maintaining its usual tight-lipped stance. But if the rumours prove true, what would you like to see from an Apple-branded TV set? Tell us in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.
