Apple Interested in Bidding for English Premier League Streaming Rights?

[Jaffa Cake]

When you can pummel opposing players without a red card, then it is a sport.

Leeds fan, I take it?

I'd just like to make another post though to say that even IF this is true, and apple are interested, which I don't believe, I don't think there is ANY way sky would let it completely go. There is no way apple would end up with rights to all of the games, probably not even half of them.

Losing a lot of the games that they currently have would be a very bad thing for sky, and losing all of them would be a complete and utter disaster.

For anyone in the US who doesn't know, sky is THE satellite TV company in the UK. It has the majority share and probably only has one real competitor in the country. They are obviously a huge player in that market and so there is no way I can see them giving in to losing the TV rights.

Although at the moment it's the streaming rights that Apple are reckoned to be looking into rather than TV, things are set up so that – in the UK at least – no single broadcaster has sole broadcasting rights to the Premier League. The TV companies essentially bid for blocks of matches, Sky has the lion's share but games are also currently shown live on ESPN here (and previously on Setanta before that went tits up).

Incidentally, if any big media companies want to pay me billions for exclusive coverage rights to the MacRumors Fantasy Football League I'm open to offers.

 

[wonkothesane258]

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If Apple is actually making a full fledged TV with strong Internet capabilities then could it be that this actually blurs the line between streaming and "real" TV (e.g. Cable)?
At the end as a customer you don't really care where the pictures shown are coming from.
So if they can't get the TV rights they could happily buy the streaming rights alone. Or am I missing something here?

 

[ggt]

can't see this happening to be honest, apple would have to take a big chunk out of their $80b cash reserve to take the rights off Sky.

Also, bearing in mind i can get all Sky Sports channels and therefore a lot of EPL games on Sky Go (an iPad/iPhone app) I cant see what else apple can offer?

Not really, Sky paid £1.6 Billion for their current rights according to the article. Pocket change for Apple.

 

[Cloysterpeteuk]

If Apple does get streaming rights, us EPL fans in the US better get access.

Being English I've never heard the Premier league being called the EPL before.

Do you guys have your own premier league in another sport so you stick an E for English in front of it?.

 

[adztaylor]

If apple truly plans to 'crack' television, they would need to solve the issue of sports. It's a pretty big reason why people can't cut the cord with their cable companies. This is intriguing.

Absolutely agree, this has always been the inroads that Apple has needed to make to crack television. They need live premium sports.

Apple are going to need to come up with some serious dough (which they have) to dislodge some of Sky's dominance on the EPL. Some people who have a subscription to Sky is just because they have the EPL. They would lose a lot of customers if they lost it.

There is no way Sky will give it up without a fight. It does require an expensive subscription but Sky are the best when it comes to broadcasting HD and 3D footage. So Apple are going to have to come up with an extremely attractive proposition to get this one. If they do pull it off however, it will be a great way to get customers flocking over to this new service.

 

[RobQuads]

I think this would be very interesting. While Sky only show a fraction of the matches.

If Apple could get streaming rights to the 3pm matches that would be a killer (or to the non TV broadcast matches)

It would not make me buy a Apple TV Set but it sure would tip me to buying an Apple TV (set top box)

 

[OllyW]

Not really, Sky paid £1.6 Billion for their current rights according to the article. Pocket change for Apple.

I'm sure Sky would aggressively up their bid if another company tried to muscle them out as they would struggle to survive without their Sky Sports subscribers.

I'm not sure it would be worth it for Apple to pay over £2 billion just for the UK rights. Also, Apple is currently just a content distributor. Buying the rights would mean they would have to set themselves up as a content producer or partner with another TV company to produce the actual live coverage.

Anyway, it's from the Daily Mail so I'm not taking it very seriously.

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If Apple could get streaming rights to the 3pm matches that would be a killer

That's never going to happen. Match attendances would plummet (and not just those in the Premier League).

 

[reefoid]

I think this would be very interesting. While Sky only show a fraction of the matches.

If Apple could get streaming rights to the 3pm matches that would be a killer (or to the non TV broadcast matches)

It would not make me buy a Apple TV Set but it sure would tip me to buying an Apple TV (set top box)

They could only get rights to 3pm matches for foreign broadcast rights, no-one is allowed to show live Saturday 3pm games as the PL believe this would impact stadium attendances.

 

[mozumder]

Yep. Like I said. Apple is going to be a network.

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=14029781#post14029781

 

[Tacitus]

Surprised nobody has mentioned the (Derby) Rams, particularly as they used to play at the Baseball ground.

For the benefit of those in the US 'the Rams' are one of the Championship division soccer teams and is based in Derby where they make the Rolls Royce jet engines. From around 1895 they played at the Baseball ground, which funnily enough, was originally used by the Derby County Baseball Club. There were complaints of the number of American players the club used and the club was forced out of the UK Baseball League which existed around the late 1800s.

The ground was taken over by the Soccer club and they played there until 2003 when they moved to their present home at Pride Park.

 

[onetoescape]

First off the EPL for generating cash for the clubs are smart. They are aware of the streaming issue for matches which for my money is getting worse. When I got my cable upgraded to 100mb the first thing the guy said to me was going to streaming more matches now! The EPL need to fight back against this and the European Ruling as well. I would think Apple would go for the streaming rights. If they could get this this would be major if they could show all the matches live. Not all the matches are shown live say a maximum of 6 over the weekend but more often than not 4. That leaves so many matches not shown but still available to stream.

There is a massive opportunity for someone to come in and take the streaming option. However there are risks. Does apple want to have to police the internet for illegal streams? The pricing needs to be right. Its about balance. If Apple was to go for this its using it as the shop window to ship more of there digital products. I will say this if apple were able to get the streaming rights through the Apple TV my cable tv package would be cancelled allowing me to cut the cord completely.

 

[nick_elt]

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Why not, no one of any fortitude else cares about this "sport" called football / soccer that was designed by British Colonials intended to avoid teaching effective combat skills to pacify the local population. Get it on the cheap. When you have an optional laugh track when players fake injuries to red card an opposition player, it could be worth it. If Apple could afford Howard Stern to insult the sport as play by play, that is entertainment. When you can pummel opposing players without a red card, then it is a sport.

Yet it's the most popular sport worldwide, Do people outside the US even care about 'American Football'

Yet if an american team wins their league they call them "world champions" WTF???? do they realise the world is bigger than the states?

 

[adamtj11]

I don't think some Americans who are saying that the Premier League has a small viewing figure, and it wouldn't be worth Apple's time understand that it is watched far more around the world than any other League be that American or wherever else. Something like half a billion people watched Manchester United vs Liverpool last year I remember.

However if Apple where to get the rights I could only see it being a deal that didn't intrude on Sky, as Sky base their entire Cable TV package on the Premier League, perhaps taking ESPN UK current 5pm saturday matches.

Hope not cause I get ESPN for free in Ireland, Sky think we are poor

 

[nick_elt]

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Not really, Sky paid £1.6 Billion for their current rights according to the article. Pocket change for Apple.

I'm sure Sky would aggressively up their bid if another company tried to muscle them out as they would struggle to survive without their Sky Sports subscribers.

I'm not sure it would be worth it for Apple to pay over £2 billion just for the UK rights. Also, Apple is currently just a content distributor. Buying the rights would mean they would have to set themselves up as a content producer or partner with another TV company to produce the actual live coverage.

Anyway, it's from the Daily Mail so I'm not taking it very seriously.

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If Apple could get streaming rights to the 3pm matches that would be a killer

That's never going to happen. Match attendances would plummet (and not just those in the Premier League).

When they realise that they make more money from showing the 3pm matches than not it will happen. Wake up, its 2012

 

[Jaffa Cake]

When they realise that they make more money from showing the 3pm matches than not it will happen. Wake up, its 2012

The '3pm on a Saturday' thing isn't by the choice of the Premier League or Sky - it's a condition forced upon them in their broadcast agreements to help protect lower league clubs, whose attendances would likely suffer.

If they could show matches at 3pm, they certainly would do with no qualms whatsoever.

 

[kyjaotkb]

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera already took the French Ligue 1 TV rights to historical rightholder Canal Plus... Those guys have cash and they want to settle in Europe... Apple will have a hard time beating em

 

[arbitter]

I love Apple, but seriously, football? A sport full of way overpaid dickwads?

Nobody should invest in ***** like that.

 

[Nordichund]

I don't know why some people think Sky would do a better job than Apple. Sky only has the UK rights. If Apple came along and offered the WORLD the chance to watch live EPL football games online I am sure the EPL would be interested in selling the rights. At the moment Sky only shows 2 or 3 games live on a Saturday afternoon. With streaming rights that would mean EVERY EPL game would be available to watch live, so fans could watch their own team play wherever they are.

However those who think it would cost about 10 dollars a month think again. It would probably cost at least 20 dollars a game. The advantage Apple have over the rest of the competitors is that they have both the technology and the finances to do this.

Most people don't seem to realize that the tv channel as we know it is past its sell by date. All viewers need to do is go online and stream whatever program they want, when they want. Companies like BSkyB etc should be very worried indeed.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

I don't know why some people think Sky would do a better job than Apple.

If Apple want to get sole rights to ten Premier League matches per weekend, they'd also better buy a lot of cameras, a lot of broadcasting equipment and employ a lot of staff to film and produce everything. Sky have those resources, and it's their pictures that we see on a matchday – Apple would have to start from scratch. If they do go for streaming rights we may see them buddying up with Sky to use their footage, a partnership rather than a rivalry.

Mind, Apple – a word of warning. If a couple of chaps called Keys and Gray tip up and say they'll front things for you, I'd look elsewhere if I were you.

 

[onetoescape]

If Apple want to get sole rights to ten Premier League matches per weekend, they'd also better buy a lot of cameras, a lot of broadcasting equipment and employ a lot of staff to film and produce everything. Sky have those resources, and it's their pictures that we see on a matchday – Apple would have to start from scratch. If they do go for streaming rights, we may see them buddying up with Sky to use their footage, a partnership rather than a rivalry.

Mind, Apple – a word of warning. If a couple of chaps called Keys and Gray tip up and say they'll front things for you, I'd look elsewhere if I were you.

As far as I know the EPL supply them all thats how the rights to the to the other games get shown around the world. Sky I think brings extra cameras to there games

 

[anim8or]

If Apple want to get sole rights to ten Premier League matches per weekend, they'd also better buy a lot of cameras, a lot of broadcasting equipment and employ a lot of staff to film and produce everything. Sky have those resources, and it's their pictures that we see on a matchday – Apple would have to start from scratch. If they do go for streaming rights we may see them buddying up with Sky to use their footage, a partnership rather than a rivalry.

I work for a broadcaster and we piggy back on every match that sky broadcasts, as they do from us, as do other local broadcasters... thats how its done. The pictures are fed via satellite to the BT tower in london and those who have the right to record/broadcast it route to the feed from BT tower and voila football on TV....

This is exactly how apple would do it, thats what they are buying when they buy the Online Streaming rights... its then up to them how they convert that feed and relay it to its users.

That big cloud data centre is looking a lot more useful now isn't it!

 

[OllyW]

This is exactly how apple would do it, thats what they are buying when they buy the Online Streaming rights... its then up to them how they convert that feed and relay it to its users.

There's no mention of online streaming rights in the original article, that seems to have been added to the story by MacRumors. The original article is discussing the TV broadcast rights for the UK.

 

[Confuzzzed]

As others have said, there are various bundles available so I doubt if Apple will on the outset be interested in one or two of those. As guide, look at what happened in 2009 when the last round of bidding took place.

BSkyB, part of News Corporation, paid a reported £1.6bn to show 4 packages of 23 games + another bundle of 26 games each for three seasons.

Setanta, meanwhile, spent £159m for the last bundles of 26 matches - handing the Premier League a total income of very nearly £1.8bn for live domestic rights over those three years.

The BBC on the other hand retained in 2009 the rights to broadcast Premier League highlights up to the end of the 2012-13 season

Of course since then Setanta has gone bust so ESPN picked up one of those bundles. Effectively from last season, Sky Sports showed 115 games, with the remaining 23 live games on ESPN.

Another element of this forthcoming auction is the EU commission recommendations on competition so I am sure the EPL will be forced to welcome new bidders.

Apple will do a great job (for those with Apple TV) and as a long-standing Liverpool Football Club season ticket holder as well as an Apple share holder, I would welcome the link-up.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

I work for a broadcaster...

Thanks for clarifying that – I thought that was likely the situation but wasn't 100% sure.

What that means is that Apple wading in and knocking Sky out of the frame with its financial clout – as some are suggesting – isn't going to happen, as Apple would need Sky to provide the content.

 

[flynndean]

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I think most of us are missing the point here.

The EPL is THE MOST WATCHED SPORTING LEAGUE IN THE WORLD.

Make no mistake about it. If Apple bring us a compelling route to access content like the EPL, we're talking the slow-death of traditional television. They don't need full broadcast rights (bringing them into direct competition with Sky). What they need to do is have Jonathan Ive design a shiny rectangular screen with an Apple Logo on it & build an infrastructure that will reliably deliver HD/3D Live content that is indistinguishable from current cable/satellite broadcasts.

Imagine something that looked like a TV & allowed you to consume live content like a TV, but only charged you for what you actually wanted to watch. I'm fairly certain that Apple could provide a cheaper "opt-in" service that allowed me to choose exactly what content I want access to (instead of paying a catch-all subscription that includes hundreds of channels I will NEVER watch)

Even more compelling is the attraction of a true web-based TV Service to advertisers. Does anybody know how they compile viewing figures at the moment? It's archaic process & highly unintelligent. Imagine what advertisers would do with powerful information that suggested that "such and such a programme is exceedingly popular with cash-rich males of a certain age". We're talking ultra-specific advertising opportunities that have precise figures & viewership breakdowns.

I'm seeing history repeat itself. I'll confess...prior to iTunes, I was so frustrated at Record Company's refusal to move with the times & offer web-based content delivery that allowed the consumer the power to download a single or obscure album track as easily as the entire LP. Right now I pay through the nose to pay for a bunch of channels I don't want and specifically for Live Broadcasts of EPL games I have little interest in. TV MUST move the way Music did 10years ago. And Apple is the company to overthrow the Satellite/Cable companies & make it happen.