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Apple 'Ready to Spend Billions' on Live Sports Content Over Next Four Years
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Over 100M watched the last episode of MASH, 83M watched the who shot JR episode of Dallas, 76M watched the final episode of Seinfeld. All this tells me is CBS, ABC, NBC and FOX have terrible original programming right now plus cord cutting and on demand streaming make live sports and news programming the only thing people watch at the same time anymore.
Not sure how fast Apple will get there, as it requires an astronomical amount of consideration, testing, and certainty to flip a switch that immediately effects millions of users. They tend to move slow - understandably so. But technically, once the goggles land, all of the capabilities, from capture to distribution to consumption would be in place. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. But it is 100% coming. At some point.
I second this. Couldn’t care less about American sports. I want a Siri that actually works and maps street view pretty much everywhere.
In U.S.? Yes, it's the most watched sport.
Worldwide? Not even close to the number of people who watch soccer, basketball, cricket, tennis, hockey, volleyball, or even table tennis.
I don't understand why people buy the Sunday ticket, unless you live in the boonies or not in your teams town?
If you live in an NFL town you can get all your home teams games for $0.00 over-the-air. All our over-the-air games are broadcast in 1080p and look great on our 75 inch TV. Our market area is over 30th, so we are not a big town. We also record all of the games in case we miss one. Total cost = $25 per year for electronic access to the channel guide.
I'd rather football was all just on the BBC: no ads anyway, and free (at least if you have a TV licence, which seems better value than ATV+).
If Apple bought premier league stuff I'd have just thought more people will hate them as then they need to buy yet another subscription to yet another TV service they currently probably don't pay for.
Ah yes, very familiar with the “I don’t want it therefore it’s stupid” argument. I saw it a lot in 4th grade. Fortunately for this American company American sports are a lucrative market. Your suggestion that Apple must choose between sports programming and further Apple Maps development is also noted.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Many people are fans of a team that is not the (geographically) local one. People move from home town to some distant town but don't shift their team loyalties. NFL Sunday Ticket lets them watch all games of "their" team.
Sportsball at an ALL TIME LOW these days.
What calculations is Apple doing thinking these numbers are magically going to go up? Once you're done with this Bread and Circus stuff there is no going back.
What calculations is Apple doing thinking these numbers are magically going to go up? Once you're done with this Bread and Circus stuff there is no going back.
I will give you soccer, but the rest of those? haha. Come on now. Unless you're being cheeky. I would of added Jai Lai and Curling for an extra kick.
The M*A*S*H, Who Shot J.R., (both from the early 1980s) and Seinfeld finale (1998) numbers are more a reflection of the far fewer viewing choices that were available at those times compared to today. It's not that today's networks have "terrible original programing", it's that people these days have far more entertainment choices and therefore viewership is spread over many more shows/sources.
Today, you have hundreds of television channels, dozens of streaming services, the internet with YouTube, TikTok, etc. It simply wasn't that way back then.
Apple getting Sunday Ticket would be a dream, especially if they just rolled it into AppleTV+. NBC paid like 2.5b for the Premiere League, and the Sunday Ticket rights are expected to go for around 2.5-3b. The NFL is a better investment, as far as US broadcast rights go. Plus, the Premiere League deal runs through 2028. DirecTV's Sunday Ticket deal ends after next year.
Of course, Apple could go for broadcast rights of the EPL, Serie A, Ligue 1 etc in other markets, but that seems less splashy.
I'm happy with Red Zone plus my local broadcasts, but I would be curious to see what Apple would charge for ST. Right now Red Zone is included in my Spectrum package for $5 a month. And any deal Apple makes with MLB better not screw up the T-Mobile MLB.TV deal they offer every spring. For me, it's the best perk T-Mobile offers.
If you don't believe me, look it up yourself. Of the top 10 most watched sports around the world, football is near the bottom of the list... if it even makes the top 10 list.
People here are talking about them getting the rights to NFL or soccer games, will be highly disappointed when Apple announces their exclusive deal with the International Quidditch Association.
