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Series and films have been running on Apple TV+ since day 1. Will we also experience live sports broadcasts in the future? According to Wedbush analysts, Apple is on an “aggressive hunt” for potential deals that would allow the company to bring live sports content to Apple TV+ in a bid to boost the streaming service’s subscriber base.
Apple is ready to spend billions of dollars on live sports broadcasting
In a recent investor assessment by Wedbush, which colleagues at MacRumors analyst Dan Ives says he sees Apple’s continued failure to buy a film studio as a clear indication that the company sees live sports programming as a potential key factor in its future success in growing its video audience streaming service.
The managers in Cupertino have not published official subscriber numbers for Apple TV+ since the launch of the video streaming service. Ives estimates that Apple TV+ has 20 million total paying subscribers. In addition, around 25 million users are said to be in a free test phase. This puts Apple well behind Disney+ and Netflix in terms of subscriber numbers.
The analyst writes
With Apple spending $7 billion annually on original content and with around $200 billion in cash on its balance sheet, we believe the company is preparing to bid on a number of upcoming sports bundles that will be available for the coming years Contracts/extensions pending. Please note that the next sports packages that may be tendered over the next four years and that Apple may be involved in (to some extent/semi-exclusively) are: NFL (Sunday Night Ticket), Big Ten, Pac 12, Big East, Big 12, other NCAA sports packages (timing 2024), NASCAR and the NBA/WNBA.
Just a few days ago, there was a report that Apple was interested in broadcasting Major League Baseball. In addition, rumors have surfaced in recent years that Apple is negotiating live sports rights. Ultimately, the question is whether Apple actually wants to broadcast live sports or not. In any case, the necessary money should be available.
