Apple announces Apple TV (formerly 'iTV')

Does Apple have plans to provide the same updated functionality to play iTunes TV shows in Front Row that they are giving people who drop another $300 to buy Apple TV? I already have a Mini (I'm a PC-switcher too!) so it would be nice to reward me as a current customer and not make me spend more money!

NOBODY BUY THIS. its not that i dont like apple or that endorse another media center like thing (like the ps3).
just dont buy it so theyll also make it a bd player or dvr or at the very least a dvd player. But then apple prolly wont do that because you have to BUY movies and tv shows from itunes and being able to buy dvds or record the shows is counterproductive.

At 299 Euros (or slightly more), I'd definitely get a refurbished Core Solo mac mini. Somehow running Democracy player (download torrents over RSS) has become a must.

So. When the hell will Apple make a deal with the tv/movie distribution rights holders in Canada? No TV/Movies in itunes, very little chance we'll be buying one of these units. Until those deals happen, I'll fly the bit torrent flag.

I'd gladly pay for content, if I had the opportunity to do so. Please help me send you my $ per show, Apple.

Dangit... What use is this for my whole house? I run a media box (like a mythTV minus the PC portion) and I can hook up the composite part to my wireless video connector and play that sucker out to every TV that has a reciever. Not with this puppy. ugh. I want one, but I can't afford one for every TV in the house. Anyone know where I can find a component wireless video signal system that uses RF?

Interesting how Apple's focus for this is on playing purchased content. But you can import other video into iTunes - including movies made with iMovieHD and ripped content from DVDs you already own. So, as long as the video is in a format supported by Apple TV you should be able to stream this other content too. To me that's much more interesting than being stuck with what's on offer through the iTunes store.

My question, before I jump in - does it function as an airport base station as well?

Owain, Edge is a tech to speed up GPRS, it is like a 2.5G, not 3G which was around a couple of years ago in the UK. New phones now have HSDPA here which is like 3.5G and is very fast for web browsing and runs around 1.5mb on my mobile.

I was so wanting one of these but I can't replace my mini as I use it as a dvd player too and the apple tv has no dvd player. Oh bummer.

I'm actually a bit disappointed that it's only 10/100 ethernet on the back. When remodeling my new house last year, I ran dual cat6 lines in anticipation of any future connectivity and currently use a gigabit switch. Seems like a step backwards (even though most people will probably be going the wireless route). I currently have a Roku Soundbridge connected to the home stereo and have planned since the announcement last fall to replace it with the iTV. I probably still will, but more for the music sharing than video. It also sucks that this device will be another authorized "computer" for the several iTunes accounts I and my family have (but at least it can play protected content unlike the otherwise awesome Soundbrige). Since I don't buy TV or Movies from iTunes (price too much/features not rich enough compared to DVD), I'll probably just drop any content I want into iSquint or some other such program for the proper conversion into iPod/AppleTV format (like I do now for my 5G ipod.