As the streaming wars begin to heat up, Apple has picked up its third TV show in two months.
The latest is a space drama from Ronald D. Moore, the executive producer behind audience favorites like the rebooted “Battlestar Galactica” and “Outlander.”
Last month, Apple secured the highly sought-after rights to a project about a morning TV show starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. For its first acquisition, in October, it ordered up a revival of Steven Spielberg’s 1980s anthology series, “Amazing Stories.”
It will probably be at least a year before any of these shows are available to be viewed, and it is still not clear how they will be distributed to customers. But the eagerness of Apple to add shows to its developing slate is further proof of how intense the competition for content has become.
On Thursday, Disney announced that it was acquiring 21st Century Fox in an effort to bolster its own ambitious streaming plan. Netflix, the leader of the streaming pack, has said it plans to spend up to $8 billion on content next year. Apple has roughly $1 billion to spend on original programming.
There is no title for Mr. Moore’s project, but he has a strong track record. His “Battlestar Galactica” was a critically acclaimed reboot of the schlocky 1970s show, and “Outlander” has been a consistent hit for the cable network Starz. Mr. Moore cut his teeth as a producer on series like “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.”
The show will be produced by Sony and Mr. Moore’s production company, Tall Ship Productions. The leaders of Apple’s TV unit, Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, arrived at the tech company from Sony.
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