Apple is expected to unveil a renewed push into news and video services on March 25, after inviting reporters to an event at its Cupertino headquarters.

The email invitations, sent out on Monday morning in California, showed a cinematic countdown animation and carried the tagline: “It’s show time.”

Apple first signalled its latest attempt to break into the TV industry in June 2017 when it hired Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, two well-known executives from Sony Pictures Television. Under services chief Eddy Cue, the pair have built a team of media veterans at Apple’s growing Los Angeles offices in Culver City.

In the past 18 months, Apple has invested upwards of $1bn to build a slate of programming that will feature several big-name Hollywood actors, producers and directors, including Oprah Winfrey, JJ Abrams, Reese Witherspoon and Steven Spielberg. That could mean this month’s event, held on Apple’s new campus at the Steve Jobs Theater, is its most star-studded yet.

At the same time as unveiling a new video streaming service that will compete with the likes of Netflix and Hulu on March 25, Apple is also expected to bring additional news and magazine subscriptions to its News app. Apple bought Texture, a magazine aggregator backed by publishers including Hearst and Condé Nast, a year ago.

The anticipated product launch comes as Apple is looking to boost its services revenues, after iPhone sales declined in the final months of 2018.