Update: In an interview with The Daily Mail, Apple SVP Eddy Cue downplayed the suggestion that Apple would bid for British football rights, indicating he is only interested in sports deals with global scope that can apply to a significant majority of its worldwide customer base. Original story from March follows below …
Following initial rumored interest, Apple is again rumored to be looking at bidding for English Premier League football streaming. This morning, Bloomberg reports that Apple is considering rights to stream Premier League and lower league matches in the UK.
This follows the debut of MLS Season Pass this past February, MLB Friday Night Baseball, and many rumors of other Apple sports streaming initiatives in development including negotiations with the Pac-12.
In the UK, Premier League matches are currently broadcast by companies including Sky, BT Sport, and Amazon. In the US, Premier League games are streamed through Peacock.
Apple has approached sports streaming from several directions. For instance, MLS Season Pass is a separate subscription package, priced at $14.99 per month, including streaming and on-demand access to all Major League Soccer games without blackouts.
Whereas, MLB Friday Night Baseball is a smaller fare — with Apple showing two exclusive baseball games a week — and simply included as a perk of a standard Apple TV+ subscription.
It is unlikely that Apple would be able to attain all-inclusive Premier League streaming rights. An Apple Premier League package would probably be closer to the Friday Night Baseball arrangement, similar to existing deals the Premier League has struck with Amazon.
Of course, not all rumors come to fruition. Apple was aggressively pursuing rights to NFL Sunday Ticket for much of last year, before finally dropping out of the negotiations over contract terms. That deal landed at YouTube TV.
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