Tech giant ready to throw its hat in the ring for the most lucrative football rights on the market
Per a report in the Daily Mail, silicon valley tech behemoth Apple is considering a bid for Premier League broadcast rights in the UK.
Apple TV, the company's over-the-top live streaming platform would significantly bolster its fledgling sports rights portfolio by adding the most watched football tournament on the planet to its ranks.
Holding English Premier League broadcast rights in any territory is noteworthy but to do so in the UK, the league's domestic market, would fundamentally change the face of football broadcasting in the country and mark Apple as a significant rival to other sports broadcasters around the world.
Apple TV wouldn't be the first online streaming disruptor to try it. Global OTT platform DAZN last year made a bid to buy BT Sport and in the process take over the domestic rights to the EPL but ultimately fell short.
The current broadcast rights cycle for the Premier League comes to an end in 2025, at which time Apple TV would take over the rights and potentially move all coverage of the English top flight online for the first time ever, were they to be successful.
Linear broadcasters Sky Sports and BT Sport currently share the vast majority of TV rights for the Premier League in the UK, with Amazon Prime Video holding the rights to a select few games.
If Apple TV were to win the rights, they would likely strike a deal with a traditional broadcaster to allow some of the rights to remain on linear television, as they have done with their domestic rights to Major League Soccer. The streamer begins a 10-year deal with the MLS next month, having won the exclusive rights to the American top flight but sold a portion of them to FOX. However, there is no guarantee they would chose to do the same with the Premier League.
American businessman Bill Foley recently took control of Bournemouth to become the 10th American owner of a current Premier League club. It is believed that several of these owners, including notorious Chelsea owner Todd Boehly, see the current £5.1bn three year rights deal as undervalued, and are hoping that bids from US tech giants can increase the price.
Apple have the means to make a serious bid for EPL rights and could represent the biggest threat to the stranglehold enjoyed by traditional broadcasters Sky Sports and BT Sport.
Whether they will go ahead and make a serious attempt to win the rights remains to be seen.
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