Published on August 22nd, 2018 | by Brad Gibson

Apple acquires New York Times ‘Losing Earth’ climate change series

Apple has landed the rights to a project based on Nathaniel Rich’s New York Times Magazine story, Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change and the forthcoming book of the same name.

The series (subscription required to view) tells the story of the 10-year period in the 80s when “humanity settled the science of climate change and came surprisingly close to finding a solution” but failed to act due to various political forces.

The story was published this month in the New York Times Magazine and the publishing company confirmed the agreement Monday in an online story. A book based on the article is set to be published next year. The New York Times said that at least a half-dozen media companies were aiming to acquire rights to the nonfiction project, which Apple plans to turn into a TV documentary.

A source close to the New York Times has confirmed to BESTAppleTV that Netflix and HBO had both bid for the rights to the series.

Rich is an editor at large at the New York Times Magazine, and the author of the novels King Zeno, Odds Against Tomorrow, and The Mayor’s Tongue.

The deal for Losing Earth continues the torrid pace of development for new projects at Apple’s video entertainment division. Earlier this month, Apple ordered a new comedy from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” co-creators Charlie Day and Rob McElhenney and set a deal to develop Min Jin Lee’s novel ‘Pachinko,’ which chronicles four generations of a Korean immigrant family, as a series.

The Losing Earth series is just one of over 15 original television shows Apple has authorized. Apple has yet to explain how it plans to distribute its content, but has given the impression it is leaning toward launching a new streaming video service that might be bundled with other media content including music, magazines, and news.

Tags: Apple, apple tv, Losing earth, Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change, new york times, NYT

About the Author

Brad Gibson Brad is co-founder and editor-in-chief of BESTAppleTV.com. He has been a technology reporter since the late 1980s having previously worked for MacUser, MacFormat, and iCreate magazines, as well as MacNN.com, MacObserver.com, MacCentral.com, MacMinute.com, and Macworld.com. He hosted and produced the MacFormat This Week podcast for three years. He was also a reporter, editor, and producer for the Associated Press and United Press International.