Apple is considering a bid for Premier League and English Football League (EFL) broadcast rights, according to Bloomberg.
This would see matches streamed on the Apple TV platform, joining Amazon, BT Sport and Sky Sports as Premier League broadcasters, alongside terrestrial TV broadcast partners.
The Premier League’s current deal with BT Sport, Sky Sports and Amazon runs to the 2025 football season, having been extended in 2021. However, the EFL 2024/2025 rights are up for grabs. Could Apple become a big name in UK football in the relative short term?
While you may associate Apple with Ted Lasso more than real football games, Apple has already made significant inroads into sport streaming.
Apple in 2022 signed a 10-year deal with Major League Soccer (MLS). This let it exclusively stream every match globally through the Apple TV app.
“Apple is the perfect partner to further accelerate the growth of MLS and deepen the connection between our clubs and their fans,” said MLS commissioner Don Garber at the time.
The MLS Season Pass then launched in February 2023, offering access to the streams for £14.99 a month, or £99 a season. There is a slight discount for Apple TV Plus subscribers, reducing the cost to £12.99 a month, or £79.99 for the season.
A limited number of these games are available to view for standard Apple TV Plus subscribers, but only a sample-size portion.
How much do Premier League rights cost?
Apple’s MLS deal is worth an estimated £203 million a season. However, the costs involved in the Premier League are, suitably enough, in another league.
The 2021 renewal of broadcast rights between Sky, BT Sports and Amazon was worth a reported £5.1 billion. That covered the 2022/2023, 2023/2024, and 2024/2025 seasons.
Given that Apple spends a reported £5.2 billion annually on the creation of movies and TV shows for Apple TV Plus, there is zero chance of the company pulling a second MLS move by bidding for full domestic or global Premier League broadcasting rights.
However, an approach similar to Amazon’s could make commercial sense for Apple.
Amazon currently streams 20 Premier League matches per season, compared with 140-plus for Sky Sports, and the 52-plus of BT Sports.
It is a relatively small player and started Premier League broadcasting in only the 2019/2020 season. Its initial deal cost an estimated £35 million a year, but will undoubtedly have helped to keep Amazon Prime’s churn under control. This is the term used in the broadcast industry for the rate at which a service loses subscribers.
This concept has come into focus in recent months, with widespread reports of people cutting down on their subscriptions due to the increased cost of living. Netflix attempted to combat this with Netflix With Ads, a cheaper ad-funded tier that costs £4.99 a month.
Apple branching out into Premier League and EFL streaming would expand recognition of Apple TV as a force in sport streaming — its MLS deal arguably only does so within the US. It could also help reduce subscriber attrition if these matches were bundled as part of Apple TV Plus.
The subscriber retention factor may even work better for the Apple One crowd than Apple TV Plus subscribers. Apple’s One subscription ties together six Apple subs, including TV Plus, Apple Fitness+ and Apple Music. And a little football and the sense it’s a full entertainment package is only enhanced.
There’s a more risky route for Apple to take: introducing a paid bolt-on as it did with MLS. However, considering the limited number of games it would likely gain the rights to, and the precedent set by Amazon Prime and its “included as standard” approach, this may seem like a fragmentation too far for the average football fan.
