Apple's Tim Cook, Eddy Cue attend Super Bowl 50 amid talks of NFL streaming deal

AppleInsider · February 8, 2016 6:32PM

Apple CEO Tim Cook and his head of Internet endeavors -- Eddy Cue -- made an appearance at Super Bowl 50 on Sunday, amid multiple reports the company is vying to stream NFL games.

Image Credit: Daily Mail

The executives sat next to each other in the stands and were among a number of celebrities in attendance, according to U.K. publication the Daily Mail. The pair likely had little trouble going since the event was hosted in Santa Clara, California, just 30 minutes away from Apple's Cupertino headquarters and Apple sponsored the game's host committee.

Apple is one of several companies allegedly bidding for rights to stream the NFL's Thursday night games, the other interested parties being Amazon, Google, and Verizon. Any deals could be non-exclusive.

It's not clear how Apple would stream games, but it could offer access through its rumored streaming TV service. Long delayed because of problems securing content, it could potentially debut in September alongside new iPhones, and would presumably be accessible on the Apple TV.

Colorado Rocky Mountain High congrats @Broncos! pic.twitter.com/3l3gpqWaKj
-- Tim Cook (@tim_cook)
February 8, 2016

Cook's Super Bowl appearance generated brief small firestorm on Twitter after the CEO uploaded a blurry photo to the service at the end of the game. Many comments made reference to the company's "Shot on iPhone" ad campaign, which positions the camera on the iPhone 6s/6s Plus as good enough to match a professional DSLR in the right hands.

mazda 3s · February 8, 2016 6:40PM

Tim Cook's problem wasn't with taking a blurry photo -- or even taking such a shot in portrait mode (we all are guilty of such offenses). His mistake, being such a high-profile person of such a high-profile compan,y was to post that sh**ty image to Twitter.

To be fair to him though, he did post a much better image moments later:

Image: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Caq5xu_VAAAkHja.jpg:large

rogifan_old · February 8, 2016 6:49PM

There's something about Eddy Cue that just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it's the way he dresses or the way he presents himself on stage but he kind of comes off as an unserious clown. I guess it doesn't help that he runs the part of Apple that seems to encounter the most issues/bugs.

ny1822 · February 8, 2016 7:10PM

sog35 said:

So this is what Tim Cook does instead of defending Apple's stock and name.

Glad Tim Cook is having a grand old time while Apple investors and employees have lost over $250 billion in equity in the last few months. thanks.

Let me guess, you're the same guy who when he gets pulled over for speeding says to cop "shouldn't you be catching the murderer instead of pulling people over?"

edited February 2016

ksec · February 8, 2016 7:18PM

An Honest questions, why should apple own a Streaming Right?

Shouldn't Apple provide an Platform that everyone could show their shows on?

isteelers · February 8, 2016 7:29PM

ksec said:

An Honest questions, why should apple own a Streaming Right?

Shouldn't Apple provide an Platform that everyone could show their shows on?

You have to have the rights from the content providers to stream the content

cali · February 8, 2016 7:46PM

ksec said:

An Honest questions, why should apple own a Streaming Right?

Shouldn't Apple provide an Platform that everyone could show their shows on?

I think that was their plan.

and WOW the fandroids follow Tim too?!?!??

mengel925 · February 8, 2016 7:55PM

sog35 said:

NY1822 said:

Let me guess, you're the same guy who when he gets pulled over for speeding says to cop "shouldn't you catching the murderer instead of pulling people over?"

No. I'm the guy that expects a CEO who gets paid $100,000,000 to do his job instead of wasting time at the Superbowl. The stock is in a state of crisis and instead of going on tv/media to calm the fears he goes to the Superbowl. makes me sick.

Okay, okay... Now think of something. Maybe appearing at the Super Bowl, spending his money, having an outing with a colleague.... Maybe these are things that MOST investors would view as being reassuring. Tim Cook is a stock holder, he wants the company to succeed just as much as you do. Going to a game is him saying, "we're doing fine". Taking refuge in his office or running to the media has proven that it only incites more panic.

edited February 2016

flaneur · February 8, 2016 8:11PM

rogifan_old said:

There's something about Eddy Cue that just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it's the way he dresses or the way he presents himself on stage but he kind of comes off as an unserious clown. I guess it doesn't help that he runs the part of Apple that seems to encounter the most issues/bugs.

It's been obvious for months now that you're hung up on Eddie Cue. He's clearly not the kind of guy you'd go out with, but I'm forced to wonder if you secretly wish you . . . oh, never mind.

cpsro · February 8, 2016 8:17PM

AppleInsider said:

[Cook and Cue] likely had little trouble going since the event was hosted in Santa Clara, California, just 30 minutes away from Apple's Cupertino headquarters and Apple sponsored the game's host committee.

Yes, Apple's $2M donation to the committee probably had some influence.

bobroo · February 8, 2016 8:19PM

mengel925 said:

sog35 said:

No. I'm the guy that expects a CEO who gets paid $100,000,000 to do his job instead of wasting time at the Superbowl. The stock is in a state of crisis and instead of going on tv/media to calm the fears he goes to the Superbowl. makes me sick.

Okay, okay... Now think of something. Maybe appearing at the Super Bowl, spending his money, having an outing with a colleague.... Maybe these are things that MOST investors would view as being reassuring. Tim Cook is a stock holder, he wants the company to succeed just as much as you do. Going to a game is him saying, "we're doing fine". Taking refuge in his office or running to the media has proven that it only incites more panic.

I don't think you get it, there are many investors who do not think Apple is doing fine.

As Cook's photo illustrates, many investors are troubled that Apple can not live up to the hype.

While we are on the topic of business; Eddie Cue dressed like that to go to an event where serious business was likely to be discussed??? I could care less about California casual, Eddie Cue went to this game representing Apple looking like that???

rogifan_old · February 8, 2016 8:25PM

Wait, so Tim Cook should have been on TV defending Apple stock instead of going to the Super Bowl?

Also since when is it a CEOs job duty to protect/defend the company's stock? If that's the case I guess then Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos need to be fired as their stocks are all down double digits over the past 5 days - Amazon and Facebook down almost 16% and Google down 11%, same with Microsoft.

suddenly newton · February 8, 2016 8:33PM

sog35 said:

So this is what Tim Cook does instead of defending Apple's stock and name.

Glad Tim Cook is having a grand old time while Apple investors and employees have lost over $250 billion in equity in the last few months. thanks.

I assume any public appearance from Cook will earn this rebuke from you.

nottylerdurden · February 8, 2016 8:42PM

These two are still way more effective in their roles than the majority of the tech industry. If you don't think there was business going on while they were at the game, you are naive to how these kind of business deals work. I can guarantee neither of these guys got to watch the game uninterrupted for 4 hours. There's always business involved some way.

sflocal · February 8, 2016 8:50PM

sog35 said:

NY1822 said:

Let me guess, you're the same guy who when he gets pulled over for speeding says to cop "shouldn't you catching the murderer instead of pulling people over?"

No. I'm the guy that expects a CEO who gets paid $100,000,000 to do his job instead of wasting time at the Superbowl. The stock is in a state of crisis and instead of going on tv/media to calm the fears he goes to the Superbowl. makes me sick.

No... you're the whiny little brat that is having a hissy-fit for being wrong about your $150/share price. Apple is doing fine, Tim Cook is doing the right thing, and you're just bitter. Apple is making more money than ever since Tim Cook took over. He has no control over what those jackass analyst do or say when they're manipulating AAPL.

So just shut the hell up and vanish like you said you were going to do. Your vitriol is really polluting the threads. Just go away.

chas_m · February 8, 2016 8:57PM

sog35 said:

NY1822 said:

Let me guess, you're the same guy who when he gets pulled over for speeding says to cop "shouldn't you catching the murderer instead of pulling people over?"

No. I'm the guy that expects a CEO who gets paid $100,000,000 to do his job instead of wasting time at the Superbowl. The stock is in a state of crisis and instead of going on tv/media to calm the fears he goes to the Superbowl. makes me sick.

Great! So you're selling your stock and sodding off (sorry, sogging off) then. Good. Please don't let the door hit you on the way out, and hopefully you won't have noticed that the stock is up 25 percent, but you clearly don't "get" Apple and think of it as "just a stock" so it's clearly not the stock for you. Maybe you should check out that go-go Amazon stock!

realistic · February 8, 2016 9:07PM

bobroo said:

mengel925 said:

Okay, okay... Now think of something. Maybe appearing at the Super Bowl, spending his money, having an outing with a colleague.... Maybe these are things that MOST investors would view as being reassuring. Tim Cook is a stock holder, he wants the company to succeed just as much as you do. Going to a game is him saying, "we're doing fine". Taking refuge in his office or running to the media has proven that it only incites more panic.

I don't think you get it, there are many investors who do not think Apple is doing fine.

As Cook's photo illustrates, many investors are troubled that Apple can not live up to the hype.

While we are on the topic of business; Eddie Cue dressed like that to go to an event where serious business was likely to be discussed??? I could care less about California casual, Eddie Cue went to this game representing Apple looking like that???

Maybe EC and TC were there as regular people, not as Apple employees, to enjoy the game. Do you really believe that serious business is likely to be discussed in the stands during the actual game?

realistic · February 8, 2016 9:15PM

sog35 said:

NY1822 said:

Let me guess, you're the same guy who when he gets pulled over for speeding says to cop "shouldn't you catching the murderer instead of pulling people over?"

No. I'm the guy that expects a CEO who gets paid $100,000,000 to do his job instead of wasting time at the Superbowl. The stock is in a state of crisis and instead of going on tv/media to calm the fears he goes to the Superbowl. makes me sick.

What happened to your self ban promise? Last I heard while a CEO's job may be a very hard and demanding job it still is not a 24/7/365 job.

rogifan_old · February 8, 2016 9:24PM

bobroo said:

mengel925 said:

Okay, okay... Now think of something. Maybe appearing at the Super Bowl, spending his money, having an outing with a colleague.... Maybe these are things that MOST investors would view as being reassuring. Tim Cook is a stock holder, he wants the company to succeed just as much as you do. Going to a game is him saying, "we're doing fine". Taking refuge in his office or running to the media has proven that it only incites more panic.

I don't think you get it, there are many investors who do not think Apple is doing fine.

As Cook's photo illustrates, many investors are troubled that Apple can not live up to the hype.

While we are on the topic of business; Eddie Cue dressed like that to go to an event where serious business was likely to be discussed??? I could care less about California casual, Eddie Cue went to this game representing Apple looking like that???

I know Cue likes his loud shirts but that looks like something you'd wear on vacation in Hawaii not to the Super Bowl.

rogifan_old · February 8, 2016 9:31PM

flaneur said:

rogifan_old said:

There's something about Eddy Cue that just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it's the way he dresses or the way he presents himself on stage but he kind of comes off as an unserious clown. I guess it doesn't help that he runs the part of Apple that seems to encounter the most issues/bugs.

It's been obvious for months now that you're hung up on Eddie Cue. He's clearly not the kind of guy you'd go out with, but I'm forced to wonder if you secretly wish you . . . oh, never mind.

Yes because I think of everyone on the executive team he's underperformed the most. And the two biggest things launched on his watch in the past 6 months or so are just barely rounding into 1.0 products. Apple Music was clearly beta when it launched even though Apple didn't launch it that way, and Apple TV launched without remote app or bluetooth keyboard support, without Siri support for Apple Music and without dictation. All of those are things that should have been there day one.

bobroo · February 8, 2016 9:40PM

mazda 3s said:

Tim Cook's problem wasn't with taking a blurry photo -- or even taking such a shot in portrait mode (we all are guilty of such offenses). His mistake, being such a high-profile person of such a high-profile compan,y was to post that sh**ty image to Twitter.

To be fair to him though, he did post a much better image moments later:

Tim Cook's problem is that he is too preachy.

By telling folks how to live their lives and to be forever boasting about Apple products is going to be his downfall.

Apple's Tim Cook, Eddy Cue attend Super Bowl 50 amid talks of NFL streaming deal

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