One aspect that Apple TV+ and Apple streaming media has lacked during the past couple of years is live sports media.
Well, now it appears as though Apple is going out of its way to make a dent in the NFL streaming world.
Front Office Sports has reported that Apple is looking to acquire and secure the streaming rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket and NFL Media. The deal is looking somewhere to be in the billion-dollar stage, in terms of the eventual cost of these streaming rights.
Previously, the NFL Sunday Ticket has only been available through DirecTV. What the Sunday Ticket allows is for viewers to pay a monthly fee to watch games without having to worry about blackouts or regional coverage restrictions. This has been available through a DirecTV box or its app, and the NFL’s carriage deal with DirecTV will expire after the end of the 2022 season.
Sources have said Apple is looking to make this deal some sort of packaged deal with its customers. If a deal were to be put in place, it could make Apple a one-stop shop for streaming NFL games.
One company standing in Apple’s way is Amazon, which just locked up exclusive streaming rights to Thursday Night Football that will only be available through Prime Video, whereas the past few years it has been broadcast on network TV channels like FOX, CBS and NBC.
Apple has previously looked into being a streaming partner for the MLB to livestream select MLB games in the future, with predictions that the company could get into streaming live sporting events in college athletics, NASCAR and the NBA.
Other streaming services that have broadcast live NFL games have been Paramount+, which streams live NFL games based on the user’s local CBS station, Sunday Night Football on Peacock which is a simulcast of the NBC broadcast, the Yahoo Sports website, as well as select games that have been available to stream through ESPN+.
What are your thoughts on the idea of the NFL Sunday Ticket possibly coming to Apple and the Apple TV app? Comment below or let us know on Twitter at @appleosophy.
