Apple Plans News Event For March 25

The company is expected to show off a long-rumored news subscription service. It may debut a stand-alone video streaming service as well.

Apple has settled on a date for its first big product announcement of 2019. Sources tell BuzzFeed News that the company plans to hold a special event on March 25 at the Steve Jobs Theater on its Apple Park campus. Headlining the gathering: that subscription news service that has been all over the news today. Unlikely to make an appearance: next-generation AirPods, or that rumored new iPad Mini.

Sources described the event as subscription-services focused, but declined to say anything about Apple’s stand-alone video streaming service, which is also rumored to debut in 2019. Earlier this year, the Information reported that Apple had told studios and networks to be prepared for an April launch.

Apple has long held product events in late March, so it's hardly a surprise it has planned another one for 2019. That said, sources said there is a small chance the final date could shift a bit given the level of publisher pushback the company is getting over the revenue-sharing terms of the so-called Netflix for news service it hopes to debut.

Apple reportedly plans to claim half the proceeds of a $10 monthly subscription fee, divvying up the other half among participating publishers according to how many people read their stories. Publishers are, in the words of one executive, "pissed" at the terms, which they argue are not at all standard for these types of agreements.

Apple declined comment.

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