The news of Apple’s standalone streaming service is getting hotter hour by hour. As The Wall Street Journal now reports, Discovery and Viacom are currently in talks with Apple to bring their channels to the service as well.

The Discovery group owns The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and TLC while Viacom rules over MTV, Comedy Central, TV Land, WH1, CMT and Nickelodeon. And if the reported talks turn around as we hope them to, these popular channels will become a part of the 25+ channels already lining up for the Apple Web TV.

As we reported earlier, Apple is developing a $30-$40 streaming package which lets you select a set of channels to view on the Apple TV. The service is expected to include a “skinny bundle” of channels with the likes of Fox, Disney, ESPN and more, and will launch in September this year.

According to WSJ:

Adding additional channels would also make Apple’s service more likely to succeed. Currently, Sling TV offers live streaming of 17 networks at $20 per month, while Apple is supposedly going to offer 25 networks at $30 to $40 each month. The math just doesn’t add up for the service to be double the cost of Sling TV but only offer eight additional channels.

It is worth noting that HBO NOW streaming service is coming to the Apple TV next month and that NBC is bringing a standalone channel later this year. And with the new pricing of just $69 (or just $67.87 on Amazon), there has never been a better time to cut the cord and get an Apple TV.

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According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple is planning to launch its own online television service that would include about 25 channels from broadcasters such as ABC, CBS and Fox and would be available on Apple TV as well as on iPhone and iPad.

The idea is to offer consumers a “skinny” bundle with well-known channels like CBS, ESPN and FX, while leaving out the many smaller networks in the standard cable TV package.

Some media executives said they believed Apple was aiming to price the service at about $30 to $40 a month. The company is aiming to announce its new service in June and launch it in September, according to people familiar with the matter.

WSJ reports that Apple is in talks with Walt Disney Co., CBS Corp., and 21st Century Fox Inc., among other media companies.

Last week Apple announced that the new HBO NOW streaming service is coming exclusively to Apple TV in April. According to WSJ, “that deal was designed as a kind of appetizer for the main meal plans to be served later this year.”

Apple has also dropped the price of Apple TV to $69 (and it’s now just $67.87 on Amazon), which 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman thinks is a sign that the company is making room for “a groundbreaking new set-top box.”

9to5Mac reported that Apple is working on a new, slimmer Apple TV model with a more capable and tactile remote control and a redesigned OS bundled with an App Store.

We shouldn’t be surprised if the new Apple TV launches in September, along with Apple’s online TV service.

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9to5Mac’s Senior Editor, Mark Gurman is riding a high tide now, as most of his predictions regarding the Apple Watch and the new ultra-thin MacBook were proven right. In an interview given to CNBC, Gurman shares his views on where Apple TV is going and the possibility of an Apple television set.

Along with other Apple stuff, the CNBC reporter asked Gurman about his thoughts on the $30 price cut for Apple TV 3 and the 3 month exclusivity of HBO NOW for Apple TV. This is what he had to say:

I think this $69 price point ($30 price drop) is a big deal because it indicates that they try to make room for something. They are trying to sell a lot of these Apple TVs. They are trying to use it as a marketing tool to really allow for customer discovery of these living room solutions. So I think it is a big deal in getting the Apple TV out there.[..]

Even bigger is the HBO exclusivity deal because it represents that the Apple TV with the cable networks and show providers have the technology to do a subscription service without the cable box. And I think HBO is just the first of many.

And I think the overall solution Apple has in the works is just a bunch of different programs and apps, that are not on a pay-per-view subscription but like perhaps a weekly, monthly or yearly plans.

Gurman was also asked about the possibility of a standalone Apple TV set:

I don’t think [Apple TV set] is currently in the works or is currently the plan. I think the plan is to make a groundbreaking new set-top box that really changes the model path of how people get TV. I think more services-backed model is where they are headed instead of screen-based hardware.

I think the next version of Apple TV, in terms of appearance, will look really a lot like the current one. It probably will be thinner, have a larger more tactile remote control. But in terms of a screen-based set, I don’t think that is happening in the near future.

You can catch the whole 5 minute interview here.

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