Earlier this year it was reported that Apple was among a handful of tech companies negotiating for the streaming rights to NFL Thursday Night Football games. While CBS and NBC obtained the rights to the television broadcasts, the NFL is looking for other options for the streaming rights. Re/code reports today, however, that Apple is no longer interested in purchasing the rights to Thursday Night Football.
The report claims that Apple is no longer interested in purchasing the rights to the streaming package as it doesn’t believe the price the NFL is asking is it worth it. While Apple wants to bolster its streaming offerings on the Apple TV, the report notes that Apple doesn’t see the NFL streaming deal as a worthwhile investment.
Last year, Yahoo streamed an NFL game worldwide and attracted 15.2 million unique viewers. Both Yahoo and the NFL were said to be have been pleased with these results, hence it looking to branch out its streaming offerings this year.
Now that Apple is apparently out of the running for NFL streaming rights, it remains to be seen how the company will act to bolster its live streaming offerings for Apple TV. In the meantime, the company is working on things like Beats 1-sponsored concerts, original content, and improving the tvOS App Store.
