A report in a British tabloid has suggested that Apple plans to bid for the streaming rights to the English Premier League (EPL). With this move, the company will build on the decade-long agreement that was recently signed by Apple with Major League Soccer (MLS), which will make the league’s games available exclusively on Apple TV starting next month. In terms of domestic rights to top-flight English football, according to the report, Apple would be the fourth-largest player in the race for the domestic rights of the game.
There is currently a value of £5.1bn ($6.23bn) on the domestic EPL rights, and these rights are renewed every three years. A renewal of the EPL tender rights for the current three-year period is due to be announced later this year, as the current rights will expire in 2025 when the current three-year period comes to an end. There is a possibility that the current valuation of domestic EPL rights will increase significantly if Apple participates in the bidding process for the domestic EPL rights.
There has been a bidding war in recent years between major players like Sky Sports, BT Sport and Amazon Prime Video, with Sky Sports often being the dominant player. There is a package clause in the Premier League contract that ensures that no single broadcaster gets all of the rights to broadcast the Premier League, thus Apple’s broadcast rights for the EPL will necessarily fall short of the exclusive deal the company has successfully negotiated with Major League Soccer.
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I would like to draw your attention to the fact that Apple TV+ premiered the documentary series “Super League: Battle for Football” on Sunday, chronicling an idea for a European league that pitted the sport’s elite clubs against one another. There is a good chance that this could mean that the company is interested in increasing its coverage of Sports in the future.
It is reported that Apple is considering a bid for the rights to stream the Premier League, which would increase the current valuation of the domestic EPL rights by a further £5.1 billion ($6.23 billion). In that case, the company would become the fourth largest player in the race to purchase domestic rights for top-flight English football, joining the likes of Sky Sports, BT Sport and Amazon Prime Video, as well as others.
