A new report from Thursday claims Apple, Google, Amazon and Verizon are all prepared to battle it out in the fight to gain the streaming rights for the NFL”s Thursday Night Football game package.
When the NFL announced two-year TV broadcast deals with CBS and NBC for the Thursday night games, it also revealed “active discussions with prospective digital partners” for those same matches. According to sources familiar with the matter, Apple is one of the companies looking to bring NFL games to its streaming service, Variety reports.
It’s not known how much the NFL is looking to pocket for the streaming rights to the regular season Thursday night games, but Apple, Google, Amazon and Verizon’s Go90 service are expected to place their bids. Since the league is apparently splitting up the broadcast rights between CBS and NBC, there’s a possibility more than one streaming provider might also be named.
While Thursday’s report indicates the negotiations for the rights are in their early stages, it’s not the first time Apple has been mentioned as a possible bidder on pro football streaming rights, as a December report claimed the Cupertino firm was prepared to bid on the Thursday night gridiron matchups in a non-exclusive basis, with possibly Google and Yahoo also carrying games.
Apple and Google have also been mentioned as possible bidders for the rights to the NFL games set to be played in London next season. Reuters reported that Apple has expressed an interest in the deal, perhaps to secure the rights for the games for their Apple TV set top streaming device.
