A report by The New York Times on Sunday claims Twitter is working with Apple to launch a Twitter app on the fourth-generation Apple TV that would offer live streaming of NFL Thursday Night Football. The microblogging service won the rights to stream ten Thursday night games in the 2016 season earlier this year.
Since Twitter’s agreement with the NFL, it has reached agreements with the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, Pac-12 Networks and Wimbledon to stream content from those organizations. The report indicates the company is also in talks with Major League Soccer and the Professional Golfers Association.
In a statement when the agreement was signed, NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, said Twitter “is where live events unfold and is the right partner.” Major League Soccer would not comment about reported discussions with Twitter, and the PGA did not respond to requests for comment.
Apple had reportedly been involved in negotiations for the Thursday Night Football streaming package, possibly as a way to set its Apple TV set top box apart from its numerous competitors, the Cupertino firm reportedly felt the football package “isn’t enough to pull that off.”
Twitter’s tvOS app, if it is launched, would offer another source for sports streaming, and could prove quite popular among sports fans, given the above list of leagues involved in the offering. The NFL games would be a major ingredient to attracting sports fans to the new app.
The microblogging service’s first NFL Thursday Night Football stream, offering a matchup between the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills, is scheduled for the evening of September 15th. It isn’t known for certain if an app could be ready in time for that game.
