Apple TV+ Could Become the New Home of the ‘NFL Sunday Ticket’

• Apple is reportedly negotiating with NFL to bring “Sunday Ticket” on the TV+ platform.
• At the same time, a skillful Netflix engineer was brought over to work for Apple.
• Apple services account for the company’s 13.85% earnings, so the company looks to invest more there.

Apple is looking to invest more in its services, with Apple TV+ being one of the most important of the batch. News reports claim that Apple is negotiating to secure the rights to broadcast the next season of the NFL on the TV+ platform. The “NFL Sunday Ticket” is currently on AT&T’s DirectTV, which is reported to be tanking at the moment. Experts believe that DirectTV will not place a bid to renew the deal with NFL, as they are currently facing a severe problem with their customer base which is shrinking fast. Thus, Apple is one of the most probable players to grab the opportunity. After all, the NFL is also positive towards this prospect, as they have been critical about their previous contractor’s strategy to promote the content via satellite only.

Remember, sports today explore new platforms of content distribution that would be closer to the fans and supporters. This next-level engagement brings a whole set of benefits for the sports, the teams, and the economics of everyone involved. Apple could sell tickets or promote the merchandise on TV+, push relevant ads and content on the devices of the people, and generally do all kinds of stuff that is impossible via satellite broadcasts alone.

In parallel news, Apple has employed one of Netflix’s top engineers, Ruslan Meshenberg. The particular engineer was with Netflix since the early days, helping build a successful streaming service. As expected, Apple has faced quite a few technical issues with the launch of the TV+ service, so they hope that Meshenberg will help them make their infrastructure more reliable, not only for the TV+ but also for News+ and the Arcade.

New adventure! pic.twitter.com/gijx5usDBo

— Ruslan Meshenberg (@rusmeshenberg) January 28, 2020

Apple recently announced record holiday Q1 2020 earnings, with $12.72 billion coming from selling services. To put things into perspective, iPhone sales amassed $55.96 billion, wearables and accessories brought in $10.01 billion, Macs sold $7.16 billion and iPads another $5.98. This means that Apple’s services accounted for 13.85% of the total earnings of the tech giant, so investing more in it makes perfect business sense.

The TV+ is a big bet that is already doing great, so Apple only needs to put in more in order to get more back. Contrary to other streaming platforms that have to fight with established giants like Netflix, Apple already has the userbase right on their platform, so they only need to convince them to spend some in order to access the offered content.