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Apple in Talks With NFL for Sunday Ticket Streaming

The larger question when it comes to Apple is the synergy. Disney/ESPN and even Amazon have a huge advantage here.

ESPN could integrate into Fantasy Football and show fantasy stats for your team as the game is unfolding.

Amazon could use AI to recognize uniforms and other apparel during the game and have those links popover the stream to buy on Amazon with 1 tap.

Not to mention both ESPN+ and Prime Video are platform agnostic. AppleTV+ doesn't have an Android App, which I'd imagine is a huge deal for the NFL. They would not want platform/device limitations.

All this to say - Apple has the cash, but it's a risky play for the NFL to make.
 
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After AT&T completely destroyed Directv this would be great. But please add a seasonal package for individual teams. Having my fav NFL team package and RedZone that would be great. I have been a subscriber for the Sunday Ticket streaming service the past 3 years and it has been great. Just tired of paying for games I do not watch.
 
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Apple could offer this for free (for subscribers) on atv+ and it’d be the best marketing spent. The key for apple is selling channels and getting people to use the app. This only helps make it relevant.
 
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CWallace said:
DirecTV does offer a full streaming version of their service. And I imagine it is only a matter of time before NFL Sunday Ticket becomes part of the AT&T TV streaming service should they end up renewing their contract.
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Indeed they do. I’ve been paying $70 something a month to stream it for several years now. I was born and raised in Michigan and grew up a Lions fan (my father tried to warn me about the agony but I didn’t listen) and there is only so much garbage, sorry excuse for an NFL football team that I can take so I finally paid up to watch real NFL football on Sundays.

So if it’s Apple’s intention to buy the rights and include it with Apple TV+ to get more subscribers I’m all in. Even if they charge extra for the package I doubt they’ll charge what AT&T does. I was a paying subscriber to Apple TV+ until I bought the iPhone 12 and got the free year long subscription. Once that expires I’ll go with an AppleOne package. Right now I pay a few bucks less than the lower tier thanks to the free Apple TV+ subscription but once that expires it’ll be cheaper to go with AppleOne and it would be so much sweater if the Sunday Ticket came bundled. One less crappy app to run on my Apple TV.
 
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blairh said:
Remove it from Direct TV. Needs to be on a streaming service.
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could not agree more
CWallace said:
DirecTV does offer a full streaming version of their service. And I imagine it is only a matter of time before NFL Sunday Ticket becomes part of the AT&T TV streaming service should they end up renewing their contract.
Click to expand...
you can only stream NFL Sunday ticket if you are a college student or if you live in a location where you cannot get direcTV. It needs to be on a true streaming service where you can just add Sunday ticket. I'll take AppleTV for $4.99 + the Sunday ticket price or Prime + Sunday ticket price.

from their website:

NFLSUNDAYTICKET.TV is currently available to:

  • Residents of multi-unit buildings (Apartments, condos, high-rise buildings, etc.) that do not get DIRECTV satellite service
  • Residents in select areas within various metropolitan cities
  • Students currently enrolled or previously enrolled within the past 18 months in a U.S. college or university
  • People who live in a residence that is unable to receive DIRECTV satellite service due to housing restrictions or obstructions blocking access to satellite signals
 
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cardfan said:
Apple could offer this for free (for subscribers) on atv+ and it’d be the best marketing spent. The key for apple is selling channels and getting people to use the app. This only helps make it relevant.
Click to expand...

For one time fee of a billion apple could buy a catalog to enhance viewership over a multiple year span. That at least has a profit possibility in sight.

ATV+ already costs Apple, probably, in the neighborhood of half a billion a year. Add the billions the NFL would add to ATV+ cost of doing business and that requires a huge subscriber number just to break even.
Consider that Netflix is up WELL north of 100 million subscribers. Yet it's cash burn rate is in the red.
 
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IIGS User said:
It’s my understanding that NFL ratings have been steadily decreasing the past few years.
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That's not exactly true. Ratings were down last year during the pandemic (along with pretty much all other content on tv). But it was actually up the previous 2 seasons. DirecTV has never made money with this package. It was used as a way to acquire new customers. But these days DirecTV is on its last legs and AT&T doesn't really have much choice but to let their deal expire.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
I like my football but, I am not going to pay a potential $300 or $400 a year to stream games in addition to the standard price of AppleTV.
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But hundreds of thousands of people will. This is a potential mega-deal for Apple and a genuine opportunity to add customers to their product line that would not otherwise come. There's no huge market for people buying AppleTV+ because of their original programming, but people WILL come for NFL Sunday Ticket. Would Apple gain 7.5M subscribers? I doubt it. But, they will certainly gain massive numbers; and, long term, that's a benefit. $3B per year is not out of the realm of possibility for NFL streaming rights, and I think Apple should be willing to spend for it. People would pay $400 per year if they could stream out of market NFL games. They are much less inclined to pay $400 per year, plus the minimum monthly cost of $40 for DirecTV, plus be locked into a 2-year contract (with no guarantee of what the second year will cost), plus being forced into installing one of those stupid dishes on your roof. A streaming-only package from Apple or another player does away with those negatives.

In my mind, Apple should open their wallet and pay whatever is necessary to boost their viability as a true streaming service. That said, I felt the same way about the MGM sale that they passed on.
 
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Used to love NFL football before the days of instant replay challenges. When every other play gets reviewed, it takes 5 hours to watch a stupid 1 hour game! Besides, you have to have a team of lawyers in your living room to understand all the ridiculous rules now a days… I wouldn’t pay a wooden nickel to watch NFL these days. If its broadcast OTA, I might watch a little, but that is it…
 
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kingfish78 said:
But hundreds of thousands of people will. This is a potential mega-deal for Apple and a genuine opportunity to add customers to their product line that would not otherwise come. There's no huge market for people buying AppleTV+ because of their original programming, but people WILL come for NFL Sunday Ticket. Would Apple gain 7.5M subscribers? I doubt it. But, they will certainly gain massive numbers; and, long term, that's a benefit. $3B per year is not out of the realm of possibility for NFL streaming rights, and I think Apple should be willing to spend for it. People would pay $400 per year if they could stream out of market NFL games. They are much less inclined to pay $400 per year, plus the minimum monthly cost of $40 for DirecTV, plus be locked into a 2-year contract (with no guarantee of what the second year will cost), plus being forced into installing one of those stupid dishes on your roof. A streaming-only package from Apple or another player does away with those negatives.

In my mind, Apple should open their wallet and pay whatever is necessary to boost their viability as a true streaming service. That said, I felt the same way about the MGM sale that they passed on.
Click to expand...
I agree that this will be huge for Apple if a deal can be reached. I agree that a lot of people will pay the price. And if the price is less than $300, I will consider it depending on the terms.
 
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w5jck said:
Used to love NFL football before the days of instant replay challenges. When every other play gets reviewed, it takes 5 hours to watch a stupid 1 hour game! Besides, you have to have a team of lawyers in your living room to understand all the ridiculous rules now a days… I wouldn’t pay a wooden nickel to watch NFL these days. If its broadcast OTA, I might watch a little, but that is it…
Click to expand...

Mostly agree

I still watch, as I'm a sucker for the sport, but I mostly start watching 30-45 min behind live which allows me to very liberally skip right through all the timeouts and challenges and other delays and end up close to "live" mid-way through the 4th Q usually.

It's perfect.

It's a pattern I've migrated over to other sports now.
I can. not. stand. watching ADs for pizza, beer, pharmaceuticals and insurance over and over and over again.
 
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CWallace said:
I expect Disney (ESPN) and Amazon to bid hard for this, so Apple might feel that if the "going price" is, say, $3 billion it might not be worth it compared to spending that $3 billion on additional original programming.
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I don't think the price alone is what would make Apple walk away from the table. There probably other reasons for why they will not end up being in control of Sunday Ticket. One thing to their advantage is that the NFL doesn't like getting overly connected with one broadcaster. Amazon and Apple may be more legitimate contenders than we think simply because the NFL has no interest in giving Disney so much of their product.
 
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bozzykid said:
That's not exactly true. Ratings were down last year during the pandemic (along with pretty much all other content on tv). But it was actually up the previous 2 seasons. DirecTV has never made money with this package. It was used as a way to acquire new customers. But these days DirecTV is on its last legs and AT&T doesn't really have much choice but to let their deal expire.
Click to expand...

It's true. Yes, you will see ups and downs from year to year but the it is a downward trend. Reasons could be many but it is downward trend is certain. (fyi, the NFL is still a ratings powerhouse because it brings in a big number of 18 to 35 year olds that can't skip commercials. This is the demo that makes the vast lion's sale of ad money despite it being a distinct minority of viewers. The demo number may be less but compared to other content delivery, it still brings in the best number).

www.statista.com

Infographic: NFL Viewership Has Taken a Hit

This chart shows television viewership of the NFL regular season from 2010 to 2017 in millions of viewers.
www.statista.com www.statista.com
www.statista.com

NFL average TV viewership per game 2024| Statista

How many people watch the NFL regular season on TV? The average television viewership of a regular season NFL game in 2024 was calculated to be 17.5 million.
www.statista.com www.statista.com
 
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