Apple’s Finally Working to Bring Live Sports and Movies to Apple TV+
Credit: Apple
Executives from the Cupertino company met with both MGM Holdings and the Pac-12 Conference this year, sources familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. The talks are still preliminary and have “yet to reach an advanced stage,” however.
A deal with Pac-12 would bring live collegiate sports to Apple TV+, which currently doesn’t offer any live sports at all. Such a move could help Apple TV+ better compete against Disney+’s bundle and Prime Video, which have varying types of sports content.
The goal of a deal with MGM is a bit murkier. Although the obviously has a massive catalog of films and movies, it isn’t clear whether Apple would acquire streaming rights for existing titles or if the collaboration would focus on original content.
Both meetings, which were headed by Apple’s mergers and acquisitions chief Adrian Perica, reportedly took place in February. That’s important because, at the time, MGM was looking for a digital streaming partner for its Epix cable channel.
It’s worth noting that Apple has met with movie studios and film production companies in the past, hinting that the next big thing for Apple TV+ could be feature-length titles in one form or another.
Apple’s meeting with representatives from the two content providers is especially significant because Apple TV+ currently only offers original content.
And while those shows have received praise and award nominations, the fact that there’s only a handful of them makes it hard for the platform to compete against Netflix, Hulu or other streaming rivals.
The preliminary talks suggest that Apple could add content from third-party producers sometime in the future.
Apple TV+ currently costs $4.99 a month, although customers who purchase a new Apple product after Sept. 10 can get a free year subscription to the service.
It isn’t clear if the service will stay at that price point when new content is added. On the other hand, Apple is said to be considering some type of “services bundle” that includes Apple TV+ and Apple Music, among other platforms.
