Roger Fingas
The National Football League is considering Apple among several potential partners for streaming Thursday matches, a report said on Wednesday.
The league has reached out not just to Apple but to Amazon, Google, and Yahoo, according to SportsBusiness Daily. Companies agreeing to the idea would be streaming on a non-exclusive basis, and the NFL's tentative plans are said to call for a simulcast of TV productions, including identical advertising.
It's not clear what form an Apple deal would take, particularly since the company's plans for an over-the-top TV service have been put on hold. While Apple could conceivably build a specific streaming option into iTunes or an iOS or Apple TV update, the NFL will presumably want to direct traffic to apps of its own wherever possible.
The NFL has been gradually adopting a more digital-friendly strategy. Next year's Super Bowl, for instance, will be viewable for free online.
Sports are often thought to be one of the few things keeping people tethered to traditional cable and satellite packages, which can often cost $100 per month or more. Another issue though is bandwidth, since many American homes are either speed-limited or hampered by data caps from Internet providers like Comcast.
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10 Comments
Due to some unfortunate Cablecard issues I've recently watched some TV on my iPhone 6s Plus: not the worst experience. Which surprised me.
So I'm more open to the concept: and phones have the advantage that for in real time viewing, which is a real plus for sports, the phone is always available so when the game starts it's going to be right there. The same can't be said for the giant flat screen back home....
IIRC, Dish had an exclusive agreement for games outside of the Thursday games (that the NFL kept as an exclusive to sell the NFL channel.) and that are not offered via the traditional networks or cable deals. So Thursday games yes, but beyond that is speculative. I would be attracted to live sports on a PPV basis. $.99/game would be fair, and likely generate interest.
Pay TV in the form of cable and satellite has been declining for years. Viewers are switching to broadcast TV and streaming services. Earlier today, I learned that viewers streaming services now equal the number of cable and satellite subscribers.
The NFL has a very popular product that it wants to extract more money out of. If the NFL wants more money, then it must follow the money. The money is leaving satellite and cable. Whether it can exploit streaming services remain to be seen. However, streaming is the only new money game in town.
Streaming live sports on TVs over an open unmanaged data connection may look good on phones and tablets, but it will not offer users with 60 inch flat screens the kind of experience that would make them or the NFL happy, Have you ever watched Monday Night Football on Sling TV, my experience was awful! I would speculate this approach to offer TNF to the digital tech giants is a ploy by the NFL to drive up the price. At the end of the day over the air networks will still be the best choice to put a quality product on the consumers HD flat screens.