Apple has always been known for its high-tech, high-energy announcements when they roll out new products, and while the tech giant’s highly-anticipated event today at its Cupertino, CA headquarters is expected to showcase a shift in the company’s focus from products to services, the events themselves still have that trademark Apple flair for the dramatic.

Apple was expected to announce today that it's launching a video service that could compete with Netflix, Amazon and cable TV itself. That service will be called “Apple TV+,” CEO Tim Cook told the audience at the Steve Jobs Theatre. In addition to a preview montage of interviews with some of the major figures who worked with Apple on exclusive content for the platform, Apple also had some of the content creators themselves make appearances, including Steven Spielberg, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Kumail Nanjiani and even Sesame Street’s Big Bird. The new video service is expected to have original TV shows and movies that reportedly cost Apple more than $1 billion - far less than Netflix and HBO spend every year.

Monday’s event was not all about streaming TV, either. Apple also used the platform to announce several other services that will soon be available, including a gaming subscription service for Mac, iOS and Apple TV called “Apple Arcade” that will include exclusive games available only to subscribers as well as a news subscription service called “Apple News Plus” that it says will add more than 300 magazines to the Apple News app.

With files from the Associated Press.

Guests:

Eric Deggans, TV critic for NPR; he tweets @Deggans

Ryan Faughnder, film business reporter for The Los Angeles Times; he tweets @RFaughnder

Ken Doctor, media analyst who focuses on the transformation of consumer media in the digital age; author of “Newsonomics: Twelve New Trends That Will Shape the News You Get” (St. Martin’s Press, 2010)