Apple Decides Not to Acquire Premier League Broadcasting Rights for Apple TV+

Eddy Cue, the head of Apple’s services division, has effectively shot down rumors that the company will attempt to acquire the broadcasting rights to the English Premier League for its upcoming Apple TV+ service.

Rumors of Apple’s Interest in Premier League Broadcasting Rights

Since 2012, it has been rumored that Apple has been interested in acquiring the rights to broadcast matches from the Premier League. Bloomberg reported earlier this year that Apple was mulling over whether or not to make a bid for the rights to stream matches from the English Football League’s Premier League and other lower league competitions for its upcoming streaming service, Apple TV+.

Eddy Cue Disregards Previous Plans

Eddy Cue has now effectively disregarded Apple’s previous plan to place a proposal due to the fact that the company would only be able to gain worldwide rights. The business wanted a deal comparable to the one that granted them the rights to broadcast Major League Soccer (MLS) games worldwide for 10 years. Cue provided the following explanation to The Daily Mail regarding Apple’s decision-making:

“Because something is significant but not as important as something else, I don’t like the word ‘exclusivity.’ We place a strong emphasis on global rights. Because we are a worldwide firm with customers in every country and a substantial number of customers, I don’t find it thrilling to have something that you can have but I can’t have.”

“Second, we are devoting many engineering resources to developing the product. As we move forward, we plan to do some extremely cutting-edge things with the product. We have done several very tough things in other situations, such as multi-viewing of games and MLS 360, which provides live look-ins from every match. We have accomplished both of these things. And this is of no consequence.”

Competition for Premier League Broadcasting Rights

Sky Sports, BT Sport, and Amazon Prime Video have all been involved in fierce competition for the broadcasting rights to the Premier League over the past few years, with Sky Sports typically emerging as the most successful participant. However, during the past few years, Amazon has become much more aggressive in the use of its negotiating leverage. Due to the packaging rules, it is impossible for a single broadcaster to obtain rights to all English Premier League matches.

Apple’s Focus on Global Rights

Any deal Apple strikes for the broadcasting rights of the Premier League will inevitably fall short of the exclusivity agreement that the company successfully negotiated with MLS. When asked if this indicated that Apple did not have any interest in acquiring the rights to UEFA or the Premier League, Cue responded as follows:

“When I have more information, I will always answer in the affirmative to the question being posed. But, as a general matter, are we going to sign anything, any league, that is to a certain country or a limited number of countries? I doubt that will ever happen. Because we are not your usual distributor, I can’t imagine a scenario in which we would want to invest and accomplish that. It just doesn’t make sense. It’s not only that we’re trying to patch up some holes in our knowledge.”

“This [MLS deal] is the most important thing for us right now, and we want it to be successful. Imagine supposing instead of doing this, we would do something else. It wasn’t because it would be the second most important thing. In that scenario, the reason is that it would be another number one around it, which we would want it to be; therefore, that is the difference between us.”

Apple’s Expansion into Sports Content

Apple hopes to increase the number of people using its Apple TV+ streaming service by acquiring sports content. The company has agreements with Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer, both of which are presently accessible on Apple TV+ by means of a Major League Soccer Season Pass that costs $14.99 a month or $99 for the entire season. Apple wants to purchase a National Basketball Association (NBA) streaming package.

Apple TV+ is also the home of the hit sports comedy-drama “Ted Lasso,” in which a college football coach from the United States is hired to manage a soccer team from England.