TV that doesn't pick up broadcast TV = huge market failure.
It's not that hard, you only need a couple of different options ( https://www.dvb.org/news/worldwide ) which could be implemented on a daughterboard PCB as wireless often is.
It's not that hard, you only need a couple of different options ( https://www.dvb.org/news/worldwide ) which could be implemented on a daughterboard PCB as wireless often is.
Don't get me wrong, Apple could do this if they wanted to but it is the sort of hard gruntwork boring, almost pointless tweaking to globalise products that I think they wouldn't do. They would just give you a TV that could access sufficient IP services to be valuable rather than dilute the experience by handling broadcast.
Many people already do not connect their TV to a broadcast signal, especially in the US but in many other areas where STB based pay TV is common. It might not be as much of a showstopper as you think and if anyone can get away with it Apple can.
I agree that it's hard, but they've shown the willingness to do hard and boring things before and take their time, launching in markets when they're ready (look at how long it took them to launch on Verizon).
However, the cable and sattelite providers also have a huge interest in pushing their own set-top boxes loaded with their streaming services etc. So I think the real issue isn't just software, it's politics and contract negotiations.
I don't think Apple is going to be happy with a situation where customer spend 90% of their time pushing buttons on a non-Apple remote control. So they probably won't be relying on set-top boxes unless they think they have such a compelling story on the content side that most people won't bother with the set-top box.
TVs aren't as bad as phones were when the iPhone launched. Browsers were rubbish, data cost pounds per Megabyte and screens were small. The iPhone was disruptive. An Apple TV which did not come with enough content available to ignore broadcast/STBs would be competitive at the high end but not disruptive. And the vast bulk of the market is low end (well under $1000). I could be wrong but I don't see the room for Apple blockbuster in that market.