Crowded TV marketplace gets ready for Apple, Google & Facebook

Scripted television is enormously expensive, so any commitment to it must be sincere

Apple has more than $1-billion budgeted for original programming, Facebook wants its own version of “Scandal” and Google is ready to spend up to $3 million per episode on a drama.

The three digital giants have signalled to Hollywood that they are serious about entering a television landscape that Netflix and Amazon shook up just a few years ago. Their arrival will make an already hypercompetitive industry even more ferocious. This year, there are expected to be more than 500 scripted TV shows, more than double the number six years ago.

Although there have been some signs that the industry’s output may