Rumor: Apple, Google may bid on English Premier League TV rights

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
A new report claims both Apple and Google are looking into placing bids for the TV rights to the next season of the English Premier League in order to bolster their respective Apple TV and Google TV platforms.



The Daily Mail claimed on Tuesday (via MacRumors) that Apple is "showing interest" in vying for the football league's live TV rights. Rival tech giant Google is also reportedly "expected to make similar soundings."



"The Premier League is seen as the type of premium content that will help establish Apple TV in the UK and boost iPad sales, while the iTunes subscription service infrastructure is already in place," wrote report author Charles Sale.



The report named Sky, ESPN and Al Jazeera as three "certain bidders" for the broadcast rights. Sky paid £1.6 billion for its current packages, while ESPN has voiced an intent to purchase more Premier League content.



Apple has steadily added live sports content to its $99 Apple TV set-top box since it was redesigned in the fall of 2010. The device now offers access to MLB, NBA and NHL content.



Tuesday's report comes on the heels of an analyst note that claimed Apple is looking into customized programming for an upcoming full-fledged television set. Sterne Agee's Shaw Wu noted last week that one of the company's most desired features for a television is customized channel lineups. Wu also said in October that he believes licensing deals, rather than hardware or software issues, are the main obstacle preventing Apple from releasing an HDTV.



Various reports have suggested that Apple has been negotiating with networks over a streaming television service. Apple is believed to have proposed a $30-per-month iTunes TV subscription plan to networks as early as 2009. CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves revealed in November that he had been approached by Apple about a streaming TV service, noting that he had rejected the offer because the network was only interested in licensing its content.



The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Apple executives, including Senior Vice President Eddy Cue, have met with media executives to discuss "their vision for the future of TV."







Though rumors of an Apple HDTV have persisted for several years now, they gained credence in October when it was revealed that company co-founder Steve Jobs believed he had "cracked" the secret for a connected TV interface. Apple is expected to make use of its own custom-built chips for the set. The long-awaited device is rumored to come in three sizes and could arrive as early as the end of this year, according to one report.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 39
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Apple is "showing interest" in vying for the football league's live TV rights.



    Ah, that should be good news for NFL fans who own Apple TVs. Please don't flog me for that.



    Fortunately even if this IS true, it's no more indicator of a physical television set than anything else. Apple already offers live streams of several sports on the Apple TV. And the more sports with live streams offered, the better, even if I don't watch or like sports myself.
  • Reply 2 of 39
    shevshev Posts: 84member
    Just a heads up. The Daily Mail is probably the worst newspaper in Britain if not the world. take everything they report with a pinch of salt.... then throw the salt away and ignore everything you've read.
  • Reply 3 of 39
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    That doesn't make any sense.
  • Reply 4 of 39
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    This would be huge!



    I'm not a soccer guy, but I can tell you for certain that getting this would be priceless to Apple. This would put Apple TV on the map over here.
  • Reply 5 of 39
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Ah, that should be good news for NFL fans who own Apple TVs. Please don't flog me for that.



    Fortunately even if this IS true, it's no more indicator of a physical television set than anything else. Apple already offers live streams of several sports on the Apple TV. And the more sports with live streams offered, the better, even if I don't watch or like sports myself.



    That couldn't be more obvious. "football" is soccer. Lol. Nfl has nothing to do with it. It's all good....
  • Reply 6 of 39
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Sports are what keep subscribers. This strategy worked great for DirectTV.
  • Reply 7 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    A new report claims both Apple and Google are looking into placing bids for the TV rights to the next season of the English Premier League in order to bolster their respective Apple TV and Google TV platforms ...



    To me, this is almost like the "beginning of the end" for Apple. Never in a million years would I ever have expected Apple to give a rat's behind about something as banal and useless as organised professional sports.



    It's hard to even imagine the words "Apple" and "sports" in the same sentence. Sports, especially football, and especially English football and everything it stands for, is almost the antithesis of Apple.



    bleh.
  • Reply 8 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    To me, this is almost like the "beginning of the end" for Apple. Never in a million years would I ever have expected Apple to give a rat's behind about something as banal and useless as organised professional sports.



    It's hard to even imagine the words "Apple" and "sports" in the same sentence. Sports, especially football, and especially English football and everything it stands for, is almost the antithesis of Apple.



    bleh.



    Seconded.
  • Reply 9 of 39
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    I'd rather watch La Liga. Real Madrid and Barcelona are better than any English team.
  • Reply 10 of 39
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    To me, this is almost like the "beginning of the end" for Apple. Never in a million years would I ever have expected Apple to give a rat's behind about something as banal and useless as organised professional sports.



    It's hard to even imagine the words "Apple" and "sports" in the same sentence. Sports, especially football, and especially English football and everything it stands for, is almost the antithesis of Apple.



    bleh.



    Need content for Apple TV and the rumored iTV.
  • Reply 11 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    To me, this is almost like the "beginning of the end" for Apple. Never in a million years would I ever have expected Apple to give a rat's behind about something as banal and useless as organised professional sports.



    It's hard to even imagine the words "Apple" and "sports" in the same sentence. Sports, especially football, and especially English football and everything it stands for, is almost the antithesis of Apple.



    bleh.



    Dear Professor,

    I normally find your comments to be usually well thought out, reasoned even. Is it really the beginning of the end????



    As for the EPL (English Premier League), you may have no interest in it at all, but why would you target it as a worse form of professional soccer, and professional soccer as a worse for of professional sports?

    How about WWWF for example?



    As for the antithesis - who would have thunked that my favorite computer company of yore would have embraced music - esp modern pop music, by its iTunes?
  • Reply 12 of 39
    stourquestourque Posts: 364member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    To me, this is almost like the "beginning of the end" for Apple. Never in a million years would I ever have expected Apple to give a rat's behind about something as banal and useless as organised professional sports.



    It's hard to even imagine the words "Apple" and "sports" in the same sentence. Sports, especially football, and especially English football and everything it stands for, is almost the antithesis of Apple.



    bleh.



    Unless you need an Apple device to watch the games. Apple has enough money, they could buy the rights to ALL professional sports. And then force people to buy one of their devices to watch. People would bitch and complain - as they wait in line to give Apple money.
  • Reply 13 of 39
    Even if this report is crap it may show a trend in the news for 2012... Apple TV vs. Google TV. At some point or other one of them will be beleaguered.
  • Reply 14 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dasanman69 View Post


    I'd rather watch La Liga. Real Madrid and Barcelona are better than any English team.



    Really - don't make this a stupid which is the best soccer team/ league rant. Plenty of other sites for that. Of course la-liga is always exciting, no one ever knows which 2 teams will be at the top eh? bit like the SPL
  • Reply 15 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Andysol View Post


    That couldn't be more obvious. "football" is soccer. Lol. Nfl has nothing to do with it. It's all good....



    Not Tallest Skil's fault. Calling soccer "football" on a US site was bound to cause confusion!
  • Reply 16 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Firefly7475 View Post


    Not Tallest Skil's fault. Calling soccer "football" on a US site was bound to cause confusion!



    So no one noticed the image or hidden text, then?
  • Reply 17 of 39
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    So no one noticed the image or hidden text, then?



    I did, but I think flogging's too good for the likes of you. You once snagged me with that trick.
  • Reply 18 of 39
    crimguycrimguy Posts: 124member
    I for one would love soccer on ATV. That way I could watch my Gunners choke in glorious 720p ;-D



    I might still be a bit bitter from yesterday. . .



    Now if they could wrestle the NFL from DirecTV (sp?). . .
  • Reply 19 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dasanman69 View Post


    I'd rather watch La Liga. Real Madrid and Barcelona are better than any English team.



    It's a two team league, largely because of the incredibly uneven distribution of broadcast revenues going to Barcelona and Real Madrid. Last year, league winner Manchester United only received £20 million more in broadcast revenues than the last place club. Outside the big two, I'd say La Liga has no advantage over the BPL.



    And yes, love sports or hate sports, they're a critical form of content that's holding back mass adoption of streaming video and keep people attached to cable / satellite subscriptions. I'd love to watch BPL matches on my AppleTV or iPad!
  • Reply 20 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    To me, this is almost like the "beginning of the end" for Apple. Never in a million years would I ever have expected Apple to give a rat's behind about something as banal and useless as organised professional sports.



    It's hard to even imagine the words "Apple" and "sports" in the same sentence. Sports, especially football, and especially English football and everything it stands for, is almost the antithesis of Apple.



    bleh.



    Err... PP, remember where the most iconic ad in history was presented to the public...
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