It is said that Apple wants to get a Sunday ticket in the NFL

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In the quest to get people to pay monthly for video, owning the rights to broadcast sports, especially football, is key. Apple may finally play this game to beautify the Apple TV Plus: Information indicates that the trillion-dollar phone maker showed an early interest in securing the rights to the NFL’s Sunday Ticket package — a subscription that covers every game not streamed on local affiliates — to the service. the video.

The NFL is reportedly not in actual negotiations yet, according to Sports Business Journal’s John Orand, and Apple likely won’t be the only company competing. The Information writes that other streaming competitors, such as Disney’s ESPN Plus and Amazon’s Prime Video, will likely also try to secure more games for their platforms. DirecTV currently holds the Sunday Ticket, but its contract expires in 2022, which means there’s a chance to shop around for a more lucrative deal. DirecTV is also going through a transition of its own, as AT&T plans to expand the satellite company and other non-WarnerMedia video companies.

The Sunday Ticket was actually a condition of AT&T merging with DirecTV in the first place in 2014. The company gave itself away from its $48.5 billion deal at the time if DirecTV couldn’t reach an agreement with the NFL. It did eventually, but according to The Information, the service essentially lost money to DirecTV and AT&T heading into 2022:

AT&T said it will pay net losses on a Sunday ticket of up to $2.5 billion over the remainder of the contract.

There’s good reason to take Apple seriously, even if it’s ultimately not able to secure the case. The company stole Jim DeLorenzo, the former Amazon CEO responsible for spearheading the company’s athletic efforts, in 2020. It’s very likely that he’s scheduling lunch with NFL VIPs as I write this, although it’s not clear what it would look like The deal with Apple. Amazon has developed a successful relationship with the NFL over the years, and acquired exclusive rights to Thursday night soccer games earlier this year, so perhaps the core business that DeLorenzo has put in place will move there.

Either way, the heat is on, and with Apple trying to make TV Plus more attractive, it’s another hand trying to trade money for the most-watched sport on American TV.

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