Apple isn’t quite the biggest name when it comes to streaming sports. While it does try to offer up some features for the fans out there, including notifications for upcoming games and high-profile moments in those matches, it’s not the go-to place like some other services are. That could be changing in the near future, though.
According to a new report from The New York Post, Apple is right now in “serious talks” to broadcast select Major League Baseball games. If everything pans out, and this rumor turns into a reality, then Apple could be the home for many MLB games starting next season. As noted in the original report, Amazon already has a piece of the sports pie after securing Thursday Night Football games from the National Football League.
Per the original report:
A potential MLB-Apple deal would not be anywhere close to the magnitude of the NFL and Amazon — which is for more than a billion dollars per year — but MLB and Apple would be the entree of the technology behemoth into the coverage of top live sports.
This genre has long been dominated by ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC and CBS. The digital companies are new players in this field.
Up until recently, ESPN had the rights for weekday games. This report suggests that this could be what’s on the bargaining table right now for Apple. As far as any other major details are concerned, those remain unknown. It’s not clear how Apple would let would-be viewers access the content, either.
Namely, would Apple launch a new premier package for Apple TV+? Or would the games simply be available for subscribers with the “base” subscription option. The only one that Apple offers (at the moment). That remains to be seen.
Apple is a services company these days, and that won’t change anytime soon. So finding new options for would-be customers, to keep people coming back, only makes sense. And sports is a big deal. There have been previous rumors suggesting Apple has been in talks with other outfits, including the PAC-12, but nothing has come of that up to this point.
If you aren’t an Apple TV+ subscriber at the moment, would you consider signing up for the subscription service if it offered access to MLB games?