In an "Adweek" interview (http://macte.ch/Hqb4p), famed investor Mark Cuban said the idea that Apple would invest its bundles of cash in trying to "blow up cable companies" with its own deals with programmers is nonsense.

"I think there is zero chance of that happening. Apple tries to do everything on commission," he says. "It’s not big on upfront deals, and I don’t see that changing. Apple has always been about leveraging content to sell hardware and software. In order to get a return on a pay-up-front-for-content deal, they would have to sell a lot of high-margin products that have yet to be introduced."

Cuban tells "AdWeek" that he thinks the "smart approach" for Apple is "having a set-top box that uses a TV-ready version of iOS that changes the paradigm for user interfaces." He says this would create a platform from which Apple could sell content and integrate new options.

"I don’t think there is any doubt that if Apple released a set-top box that supported authentication for multichannel video programming distributors (like cable and satellite companies), it would be a huge success," Cuban tells "AdWeek."