Apple in Talks With NFL for Sunday Ticket Streaming

[cuestakid]

ESPN recently got the NHL national tv rights along with Turner (TBS TNT). I mention because the NHL version of Sunday ticket is being sunsetted and merged into ESPN+.

I mention because I don’t see what Apple can offer to the NFL. ESPN already has Monday Night Football which is a massive property. I know Apple can throw all the money on the planet but a better bet would be to get Red Zone.

THAT would be a game changer.

 

[lostom]

It's unlikely to impact base prices in a significant way. I'm almost certain it would be sold as a premium tier on any streaming service. The key being you have to subscribe to the basic service in order to buy the premium tier.

This has happened exactly as you mentioned, here in Australia.e have streaming channel called Stan (which is basically a Netflix / Amazon movie/ TV/ Original, service) they have just introduced Stan Sport, sub on top of sub.

 

[lostom]

Why can't we give money to the NFL directly... and watch streams of any game from them?

Why does it have to be associated with a DirecTV or an Apple or some other extra company?

I'd love this for F1 as well, I'm guessing it's because the host channel/ network has this tied up so tight, they get the exclusive rights and there is no other option.

Which to be fair , is probably the right thing as they are paying a fortune for it, I just wish there was "another way"?

 

[lostom]

Why can't we give money to the NFL directly... and watch streams of any game from them?

Why does it have to be associated with a DirecTV or an Apple or some other extra company?

It's called exclusivity, the companies pay big money, so they are the only place to watch it.

 

[Marbles1]

If Apple wants to go for future growth and really be omnipresent, it should go for the kind of football played across the world (soccer). Go after the rights in every country. Do for football what they did for Music - change the model, have a universal service, provide the facility for a fan to follow a club regardless of where they are in the world.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

I'd love this for F1 as well, I'm guessing it's because the host channel/ network has this tied up so tight, they get the exclusive rights and there is no other option.

Which to be fair , is probably the right thing as they are paying a fortune for it, I just wish there was "another way"?

It looks like you're in Australia so in your case it's correct, this is a licensing issue in your region. Elsewhere, we get F1TV Pro and already pay F1 directly and to be honest, the service is almost universally panned. I'd much rather Apple (or anyone really) get that streaming license and fix the offering.

Until this season, they had no ability to cast to a TV, which is needed because they also only support TV viewing via Roku, no apps for Apple TV, Google TV, Fire TV, etc. The web interface has no support for keyboard shortcuts for FF/RW or pause. Playback can stop in the middle of a live stream and won't resume unless you manually scrub. Etc, etc.

All that to say, one big reason to have streaming companies like Apple or Amazon is the sports companies don't have the tech or infrastructure to handle it.

 

[Michael Scrip]

It's called exclusivity, the companies pay big money, so they are the only place to watch it.

Yeah I guess it's easier for the NFL to get a quick billion from DirecTV or whatever... than to service its football fans directly.

I dunno... I just wish I had an app called "NFL" on my TV and devices where I could watch any of the 17 games a week whenever they are... Thursday, Sunday or Monday.

Even though most NFL games are on Sunday... it seems weird to have a service that just has the Sunday games...

Didn't Amazon have certain games? And the rest were somewhere else?

Damn... even football is fragmented!

 

[lostom]

It looks like you're in Australia so in your case it's correct, this is a licensing issue in your region. Elsewhere, we get F1TV Pro and already pay F1 directly and to be honest, the service is almost universally panned. I'd much rather Apple (or anyone really) get that streaming license and fix the offering.

Until this season, they had no ability to cast to a TV, which is needed because they also only support TV viewing via Roku, no apps for Apple TV, Google TV, Fire TV, etc. The web interface has no support for keyboard shortcuts for FF/RW or pause. Playback can stop in the middle of a live stream and won't resume unless you manually scrub. Etc, etc.

All that to say, one big reason to have streaming companies like Apple or Amazon is the sports companies don't have the tech or infrastructure to handle it.

That's amazing, F1 is probably the most high tech sport in the world, I would have thought they would have the most incredible app and features anybody could dream of.

We get F1 via Skysport (Europe I guess) through Fox Sports, it's pretty good to be fair because I watch a lot of various sports my subscription is worth it to me, I have mates that hardly watch any sports (dead beats lol) but do want to watch F1, so a full streaming sports subscription is not worth to them.

 

[lostom]

Yeah I guess it's easier for the NFL to get a quick billion from DirecTV or whatever... than to service its football fans directly.

I dunno... I just wish I had an app called "NFL" on my TV and devices where I could watch any of the 17 games a week whenever they are... Thursday, Sunday or Monday.

Even though most NFL games are on Sunday... it seems weird to have a service that just has the Sunday games...

Didn't Amazon have certain games? And the rest were somewhere else?

Damn... even football is fragmented!

I guess the US market is very fragmented because of your size and so many teams coast to coast.

In Aus, we can watch exactly what you described on Fox Sports or Kayo streaming, I pay $25 per month and get every game of football live (2 different codes, Rugby League and Australian Football) all live with no adds during live play, Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun.

These work on devices as well, so we can watch live football wherever we are.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

That's amazing, F1 is probably the most high tech sport in the world, I would have thought they would have the most incredible app and features anybody could dream of.

We get F1 via Skysport (Europe I guess) through Fox Sports, it's pretty good to be fair because I watch a lot of various sports my subscription is worth it to me, I have mates that hardly watch any sports (dead beats lol) but do want to watch F1, so a full streaming sports subscription is not worth to them.

We (US) also have the option of getting F1 via ESPN but that would require a minimum of around $40 a month as it's a traditional TV channel that happens to have streaming.

I think F1 originally outsourced the streaming infrastructure to Tata and if you've ever heard of them, the results are exactly on par. That said, they've added some pretty unique capabilities, including being able to select a driver and watch their race from start to finish or the pit lane channel which has separate commentary. So it's not all terrible and shows some promise as they're getting creative with the content. Maybe as Bernie's contracts expire more regions will get to subscribe.

 

[Starflyer]

“My sources say it’s Apple’s to lose, at this point. (One source told me this weekend that the deal is actually done and is being kept quiet at Apple’s request, which I haven’t confirmed…),”

Rupert’s Age, Apple/NFL, and the Bomb of the Pandemic