Considering that Apple TV + was born with the idea of being a quality space for viewers, it is rare to hear that it can broadcast the NFL. Nevertheless. Apple has shown that it is a company committed to sports and health, so it is not surprising that can reach agreements in order to broadcast this content. We also have to say that the numbers don't lie and the streaming service needs a boost.
Again jump to the fore the ability for Apple to purchase the rights to broadcast sports events through its Apple TV + service. Although it is intended, for the moment, to series, films and documentaries both original and third-party but with a certain quality, has never been ruled out by analysts the possibility that it could broadcast sporting events.
What better sport than the king in the USA? Yes, we are talking about the NFL. A new report from Athletic, summarizes comments from leading media analysts on Apple TV + 's potential for aggregating NFL content. The league is about to have to renew "most, if not all, of its contracts with the media." While it appears that the Monday Night Football package is likely to remain with ESPN, there are other offers to consider, like NFL Sunday Ticket and Thursday Night Football.
It should be noted that, DirecTV currently has the rights to the NFL Sunday package off the market, but it is not expected to be renewed. The NFL is also under pressure to expand the NFL Sunday Ticket beyond satellite televisions. Former CBS Sports chief and media consultant Neal Pilson told Athletic that he believes that Sunday Ticket will go digitalbut "probably not in the hands of Amazon or Apple."
However, the analyst Lee Berke is not too quick to write off Apple. Berke believes that Apple TV + could be a viable Sunday Ticket distributor. In addition, having as a partner AT&T, which is apparently ready to start the transmission and that it becomes a platform prepared to handle the bandwidth and the required traffic. Another of the key arguments for not ruling out Apple TV + as the broadcaster of this content is the need for subscribers. Money is not a problem for the company, it is rather to move away from those standards that have marked the service from the beginning.
Daniel Cohen, Senior Vice President of Octagon's Global Media Rights Consulting Division, says that Thursday Night Football may go to Apple, But Apple is less likely to be solely responsible for production. This section is already available on ESPN +, Amazon. So it is very likely that Apple could do with it as well. It all depends a lot on whether the NFL decides to continue down the path of non-exclusivity.
This isn't the first time we've heard about Apple's potential interest in bringing NFL content to Apple TV +. A report last year made it clear that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Apple CEO Tim Cook were having conversations on the matter. Apple was also said to have been involved in negotiations with the NFL for Thursday Night Football in 2016. In the end, the NFL ended up reaching a deal with Amazon, which was renewed for two more seasons in 2018 for a whopping $ 130 million.
Apple should not miss this opportunity. The NFL is important enough that Apple must broadcast it through Apple TV +. You could say that it is almost a patriotic question. The number of subscribers outside the US may not increase much, but within, it sure does. It would also open the door so that in the future, perhaps we can also watch national sports from other countries through this service on the block.