[crazygringo]

> Don't tell me they didn't know what all the costs of this was going to be.

They... didn't. You think, back in 2017 when they were planning the service, they knew how much programming they'd producing six years in the future and at what price point?

Corporations aren't nearly as smart as you think they are. Budgets are changed on a year-by-year basis according to how consumer behavior is different from what they predicted, and how the competition and overall market is different as well from what they predicted.

> They get deals by committing to prices for a number of years.

No idea what you're talking about. What deals? Committing to what prices? Apple TV+ isn't purchasing existing shows. They're making Apple TV originals. The budget for each season of a TV show is set shortly after that show gets ordered/renewed for a first/subsequent season, and it changes based on how successful the show is.

They're not "going into it blind", but predictions for anything -- viewership, costs, competitor prices -- are very often off by a factor of 2 within a year or two in the corporate world. Apple isn't made of oracles, just regular business analysts.