The NFL is looking for a new partner to host Thursday Night Football, and it appears that Apple may be gunning to make an interception from Yahoo and Google.
Traditional networks like CBS, ESPN, Fox, and NBC were all informed by the NFL that it is ready to accept bid for broadcasting rights to its Thursday Night Football package, but the league also notified Apple that it can bid for a non-exclusive streaming deal for Apple TV and iOS users.
“The league also sent RFPs to several digital companies, like Google, Yahoo, Apple and Amazon, to stream the entire Thursday night schedule on a non-exclusive basis,” reports SportsDailyBusiness. “The league’s initial plan would have the digital streams serve as a simulcast of the television production — with the same ads and in-game production features.”
Adding the option to stream Thursday Night Football could be a great way for Apple to get more customers to buy the new Apple TV. Games could be sold on an individual or seasonal basis through iTunes and Apple TV, or Apple could just give away access for free as a marketing promotion.
Yahoo purchased exclusive rights to stream one game this season, paying around $15 million. NFL Network CEO Brian Rolapp revealed in a recent interview that the league is looking to bring a ‘heavy digital component’ to Thursday games. If Apple doesn’t buy up the rights, we expect Amazon and Google will be more than happy to scoop up the fumble.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
5 responses to “Apple expected to bid on Thursday Night Football streaming deal”
I don’t see how Apple will gain many customers by ‘broadcasting’ non-exclusive football games to upscale iPhone owners who already own TV sets and cable TV subscriptions.
For Apple, the question is what can Apple offer iPhone owners who follow the NFL that they can’t already get elsewhere. For example, consider a post-game Apple show with top players from the game commenting on the game tape. If Apple paid 5 players $100k apiece to show up each week for that show, the cost (about $10 million per season) would be a very small fraction of the cost of obtaining non-exclusive broadcast rights to the game. Moreover, comments from the players would be quoted in the press, and the reportage would gain additional publicity from Apple.
This strategy is similar to Apple’s plans to televise the Taylor Swift concert, which is not available to the general public.
There is an increasing market segment of users that do not have cable TV. Apple TV is playing into that market by increasing their offerings to “cord cutters”. I attempted to get rid of cable this summer (crawled around attic installing antennas to pick up local HD signal), but couldn’t deal with the fact that I might lose NFL games in the fall, so I opted back into verizon FIOS. Once the NFL offerings are better on Apple, or some other device (live, not later that day or next day), I will ditch FIOS TV.
Wishing that Apple would spend $100+ million to serve your needs is rational for you, but what makes it rational for Apple? Who, specifically, would purchase an iPhone (or iPad or Mac) to watch one Thursday night game each week for four months, when the same games are shown elsewhere (the NFL offer is non-exclusive) and Apple does not stream other NFL games?
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