He's stirring the pot, so to speak. He's attempting to influence key people into having conversations they may not have otherwise had.
If gaming really all goes to Hell, I'll start hitting the flea markets and load up on original NES titles. Super Mario Bros. alone won't get me through it, and my light gun won't work with a Smart TV, so Duck Hunt is out.
Apple probably looks at Smart TVs basically running Android and providing all kinds of services and apps directly on the television, and is hurting to not have it all for themselves. I don't use a lot of features, but there's internet-on-demand type shows that are basically microtransactions for working out, etc. Somebody must be buying it if its there in the first place.
The Smart TV as it stands now, could run a Steam app and handle the Store aspect, picture slideshows/videos of the products, and social side. Probably everything except the actual playing of games.
Apple's missing revenue from markets its not in yet. Valve wants more companies, like Apple, in every market so they can capitalize on the increased exposure to the public, and find more customers... and Apple customers have plenty of money to burn.