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Ha good luck dealing with NFL broadcast rights. And Apple thought cellular network operators were difficult to deal with. And this time they don’t have their not so secret negotiating weapon. Not that I think he would have been particularly interested in spending his time pursuing this.
 
Never understood why the NFL doesn’t just have their own full streaming app, a la MLB and NBA, where it isn’t tied to any one particular provider. NFL+ is a truncated, half-assed thing.

Oh that would be because they don’t understand the internet just like most streaming companies.

Even companies like Netflix and Hulu clearly don’t care what users want or they wouldn’t make a game of three card monty out of trying to find out how to just continue the show you were just watching.

They’re still in the stage of figuring out how to milk it for maximum profit and don’t really understand or care about the experience.

The people who actually understand what people want and are capable of making a good app are unfortunately paid by people for whom neither of those things are a priority.
 
Yep... the NFL gets tons of money from broadcasting, too.

So that's two sources of revenue for the NFL... DirecTV Sunday Ticket... and the other broadcast channels.

I don't see why the NFL couldn't switch from DirecTV to Apple if Apple is willing to pay. Money is money.

The issue seems to be Apple wanting more flexibility: all games everywhere.

Currently... NFL Sunday Ticket is only for out-of-market games. So if you live in a certain market you won't be able to watch your home team on NFL Sunday ticket.

That's probably what Apple is trying to fix. And the NFL isn't happy.
I’m confused because why would someone want to watch their home region’s team on DirecTV? can’t they just tune into the channel it’s on? Fox, NBC, CBS etc.?

also, can you watch Sunday Ticket on the go? like from your iPhone or iPad while traveling?
 
Cue said the lack of contractual restrictions will allow its partnership with the MLS to thrive.
Wow, Apples "partners" in manufacfure should take this quote and use it during negotiations. Apple clearly belives that contractual restrictions stifle business. 🙄🤦‍♂️
 
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Never understood why the NFL doesn’t just have their own full streaming app, a la MLB and NBA, where it isn’t tied to any one particular provider. NFL+ is a truncated, half-assed thing.
Cable rights. They sell those rights to the cable companies for more than what they could make off a streaming service.
 
Haven’t watched NFL in years. Not sure why they want them.
I still watch NFL games on occasion but I now prefer the NBA and that gets most of my interest. The NFL is trending towards decline and that is based on research that the group aged between 18-35 now prefer the NBA over the NFL.

So I agree with you that it’s rather curious why Apple would want the NFL when DirectTV wants no part of the NFL anymore.
 
i pay for nba league pass and haven't watched nfl for a long time. i don't think it's worth the asking price for the sunday ticket rights and i doubt nfl will want to negotiate too much.
they would be better to target a different tier of sports. not college sports imo as that has its own issues (profitting off unpaid athletes.) mls is a good fit. not sure what other leagues they could work with. honestly minor league baseball or d league basketball could be fun to follow with good production quality but then perhaps the money isn't there.
i think live sports can drive apple tv subscriptions (i just stopped mine) but paying $2b to watch football isn't it, at least not yet.
 
The NFL is my favorite sport. Right now if I want to watch every game I need a cable package with the NFL Network (London games and Saturdays), ESPN for Monday Night Football, Amazon Prime for Thursday Night Football, and Sunday Ticket if I want to watch games outside of my regional broadcast.

It’s a mess and makes it difficult and unappealing to be a fan. All sports should look into a digital streaming service as a catch all. I’d love if Apple gets the rights for this similar to their MLS agreement.
 
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I still watch NFL games on occasion but I now prefer the NBA and that gets most of my interest. The NFL is trending towards decline and that is based on research that the group aged between 18-35 now prefer the NBA over the NFL.

So I agree with you that it’s rather curious why Apple would want the NFL when DirectTV wants no part of the NFL anymore.
Directv is bleeding subscribers. They can’t afford it. There is a reason AT&T spun the company off.
 
The NFL wants to continue to be relevant. The Amazon deal shows the NFL clearly understands the “old model” of broadcast/Cable TV is quickly evolving (possibly dying), and that the future is moving to streaming. As more and more people “cut the cable” and grow accostomed to ad-free viewing, they are going to have to adjust their old model of Networks and traditional blackouts tied to over-air broadcasts in the team’s home market. The older generation is accustomed to it (and was confused on how to find the “Amazon channel” LOL). But the young market had already moved past NBC/CBS/ABC/ESPN, the same way they have for facebook.
 
I’m confused because why would someone want to watch their home region’s team on DirecTV? can’t they just tune into the channel it’s on? Fox, NBC, CBS etc.?

also, can you watch Sunday Ticket on the go? like from your iPhone or iPad while traveling?
I don’t know how it is in each possible situation with each individual station/sport, but I have noticed in the past that you often can’t stream from certain apps like FOX or CBS unless you log into your cable/satellite/streaming account. This can be particularly true for sports. Some of them offer free steaming of their station, but when I have tried to watch college basketball/football on network apps that offer free streams of their network, they tell you that the live event you want to watch isn’t available.


You can always watch your local stations with an antenna for free, but that is location dependent. If you aren’t near enough to the city that your local affiliates broadcast in, that isn’t necessarily an option.


On a related subject, I live in Connecticut, which is in the Jets/Patriots “home market” but have problems all the time due to blackouts and station availability. The Patriots and Jets will both play at 1pm on CBS… and the Patriots are the team that is shown. Yet a long time ago when I had Sunday Ticket, I couldn’t even watch the Jets, because I was in their home market even though CBS literally was showing the Patriots. They did fix that particular scenario years ago, but sometimes blackouts can be a pain in the ass. Same for the Knicks. I am in their home market, but YouTube TV doesn’t carry MSG. If they play on say MSG locally and NBATV nationally, I will be blacked out on NBATV, despite not having access to MSG…
 
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I don’t understand how Apple is gonna handle ads. They are anti-ad while NFL is pro ads.

People don’t like ads but they’ve become a Super Bowl tradition.
 
God please no. Apple screwed up MLB so badly they'll run the NFL into the ground
well MLB messed itself up. Much earlier apple. who watches MLB? Not me, not others that feel the game is so much worse than the way they promote players and the teams. 350 million players' contracts? MLB killed itself. someone has to pay these stupid prices. Apple is happy to help......as another amazon etc....... money doesn't go on trees....well in video or computer games it does but not in real life......
 
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Sports broadcasting is complicated, because there are a lot of fat old white cats inside. Glad I'm not really a major fan of any sports that I would need to subscribe specific premium services just to watch the games.
 
I really hope Apple gets it. YouTube TV as second option. I'm more than willing to pay, but DTV restrictions on using just the streaming app without the physical dish were so annoying I got sick of "finding" someone that would get it for me.

I hope they don't get it for selfish reasons, I can only watch sports with my Directv Genie DVR, thirty second skip button especially and relatively smooth fast forward, Apple TV might have a thirty second skip, not certain, but fast forward with that thumbnail box is inferior to full screen fast forward.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if Apple has some kind of AR/VR component to showcase its forthcoming headset -- if not in time for the 2023 game, then the 2023 season.

AR/VR, I'm still waiting for what I read in Popular Science magazine decades ago, the ability to be your own director and choose from multiple cameras, instead of dealing with ESPN showing the idiots in the crowd every ten seconds, you could keep your eyes on the actual game participants, but yeah, VR, ability to see what the QB sees, yeah, I know, no coach would allow it, but you could at least do VR from the field level seats at the 50 yard line.
 
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