Thursday Night Football could soon stream to your Apple TV
NFL fans seem to have become a favorite demographic for tech giants. Both Apple and Microsoft have their sights set on Football fans. While Microsoft already has a foot in the door, through its partnership with the National Football League, by which the company provides Surface Pro 3 tablet PCs, and possibly even future deals involving the introduction of Microsoft HoloLens as a new way to experience football from home, or anywhere, Apple continues to look for ways to solidify its plans of providing its own streaming service, which, thanks to recent talks with cable channels CBS and NBC, could include exclusive access to Thursday Night Football content.
While no deal has been inked as yet, between Apple and the NFL, non-subscribers streaming rights may still up for grabs, for the right price, which means that consumers who do not have a subscription to a cable bundle with content provided by CBS and NBC, could still get access to live games, through other providers and devices, such as Apple TV.
Amazon, Google and Verizon are also interested in a possible deal, as active discussions with “...digital partners...”, as described by the NFL, will likely have a deal reached within weeks.
One reason why Apple is especially motivated in reaching a deal with the NFL, is that last year, Yahoo had the opportunity to stream, worldwide, the match between the Buffalo Bills, and the Jacksonville Jaguars, which was watched online, by over 15.2 million fans, 66% of whom, were in the United States.
With that said, the total number of devices on which the game was streamed was close to 33.6 millions, across multiple social networks owned by Yahoo, including Tumblr.
One big advantage Apple has over traditional cable service, is that apps on Apple TV do not require a passcode login, which is typically required when subscribing to services like HBO NOW, through cable providers like Verizon FiOS, Time Warner Cable and Comcast.
Yet, aside from the obvious benefits from an increased subscribership, Apple’s ability to stream live NFL games could result in Apple’s renewed interest in advertising, which is a business model that Apple has briefly experimented with.
Finally, should this deal go through, the company could find an easier path to kick-off its own streaming service, full steam ahead, from a position where content providers would see a bigger benefit from streaming on Apple TV, than through traditional cable bundles.