Apple TV+ could soon get the enormous content boost it needs to beat Netflix

Apple TV+ has firmly established itself as a streaming service for top quality, original TV shows. It has also carved itself a niche as the top platform for sci-fi.

However, it severely lacks in one area when compared with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ – its content library is much smaller.

That's thanks to the service's main selling point, that it focuses on premium exclusive programming that Apple commissions and makes itself. It has largely paid off, with series like Ted Lasso, For All Mankind, Severance, Slow Horses, and The Morning Show, garnering multiple awards and becoming part of the everyday zeitgeist.

But to progress it needs more. That's perhaps why it is rumoured to be in talks with Hollywood studios to greatly expand its catalogue through movie licensing.

The film offering on Apple TV+ is, like its TV lineup, of a high quality – with the likes of  Napoleon, Killers of the Flower Moon and Oscar-winner Coda backed up by lesser-known but equally worthwhile full-length features, such as Argylle, Tetris, and the underrated sci-fi flick Finch, starring Tom Hanks.

But it's just not enough.

By securing a deal with studios, Apple can add hundreds of movies to bolster the service and make it an everyday platform rather than an occasional destination for when the new season of a favourite arrives.

It has already dipped a toe into the water by offering a collection of around 50 films to stream at no extra cost by US subscribers earlier this year, but that was for a limited time only.

Hopefully, this latest venture proves to be permanent and global.

Bloomberg reports that the negotiations could even include non-Apple TV programming too, putting the service firmly in the same space as its main rivals. It writes that "people familiar with the matter" have revealed the discussions could result in expanded Apple TV+ libraries "both in the US and abroad".

That would make Apple TV a must-have service for many, who can access it across multiple streaming devices, Smart TVs, mobiles (bar Android, at present), and games consoles.