Comcast Gets In on Apple TV Rumors

A new Apple TV has been rumored for quite some time, but Comcast has re-enforced these rumors by referencing the “development of an Apple set-top box” in a blog post about the Comcast/Time Warner merger on the company’s corporate blog.

While discussing what the competition is doing in the television market, Comcast mentions that “Apple offers an online video service, Apple TV, and explores development of an Apple set-top box.”

Does Comcast know something that we don’t? We’re not sure if this affirms recent rumors about Apple TV discussions with Comcast, or if the company is simply just going along with what the rumor mill has been churning out lately. Rumors about a new Apple TV are far from ending, as we’ve been treated with a number of them over the last couple of months.

The Apple TV is essentially a set-top box and it’s called that by most consumers, so it’s a bit confusing that Comcast addresses the “Apple TV” and an “Apple set-top box” as two different things, but it could just mean that Comcast thinks Apple will launch an actual cable set-top box with a TV tuner built in and everything — something that’s quite different than what the current Apple TV is.

The mention of a new Apple TV in development by Comcast pretty much all but confirms that Apple and Comcast have been certainly talking to each other, possibly conjuring up a deal that would offer Apple TV users live television streaming on the next-generation Apple TV, so the next version of the Apple TV that we might see could possibly be a full-blown cable box. In fact, it’s been rumored in the past that a built-in TV tuner could come equipped in the new Apple TV.

At this point, though, we’re taking Apple TV rumors with a grain of salt, especially considering that several rumors we’ve heard turned out to be a false alarm, including a report that said we’d see a new Apple TV by March. Until we get official word from Apple, take a look at our Apple TV rumor roundup for the latest on what we could see Apple do in the television sector.