Apple’s Plans To Star Dr. Dre In An Original TV Show

By Samir Ghanmi | Feb 16, 2016 05:50 AM EST

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The co-founder of Beats Music Dr. Dre is working with Apple on an original television show.

According to an anonymous source reported by The Hollywood Reporter, legendary rapper and music producer will be the executive producer of the show that could be Apple's first big television venture.

He would be starring in a semi-autobiographical drama miniseries that Apple is paying to produce currently under the show title "Vital Signs".

The project will likely be released through Apple TV, the company's streaming video device.

Apple bought Beats Electronics for $3 billion less than two years ago that was co-founded by Dr. Dre and music producer Jimmy Iovine as an audio product and music streaming service, this was right before the company's streaming technology integrated into its own streaming platform that was launched last summer by Apple Music.

Dre apparently made a bundle of money selling Beats to Apple, then took a senior role at Apple where he now hosts a radio show on Apple music's Beat 1 station. Dre made an initial release of his album in 16 years through exclusive preview in iTunes and Apple Music last year. According to Billboard, since the album Compton released, it made 25 million stream the first week, then sold more than 500,000 copies.

Apple's move to establish Vital Signs constitutes the tech giant's first effort into original video content, and one that could put the company in a rival position against other streaming services, such as Amazon, Hulu and Netflix that already have award-winning original shows.

Apple's senior vice president for internet, software and services Eddie Cue has been working on putting together Apple TV's own television shows that might be a bit smaller than what cable companies normally offer. The company is still finding its way to film and television, where executives are proposing to finance through Apple TV to exclusively offer their own original programs.

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