Twitter reportedly in talks to stream live NFL games on Apple TV

Shawn Knight

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Twitter earlier this year secured the rights to exclusively livestream select NFL football games during the upcoming 2016 regular season. Now, the microblogging platform is reportedly looking to make good use of the partnership by getting its app – and by proxy, free NFL games – onto Apple’s set-top box.

Two sources familiar with the matter tell The New York Times that Twitter is actively holding talks with Apple to bring its app to Apple TV. The move would allow millions of Apple TV owners to watch the 10 Thursday Night Football games Twitter has lined up this season.

Naturally, both companies declined to comment on the matter.

Fewer than a dozen games may not sound like much but it’s a pretty incredible feat for Twitter considering its competition. Rivals like Amazon, Verizon and Facebook bid more money but according to sources, some of their demands were unfavorable.

Social networking giant Facebook, for example, reportedly wanted to sell all of the ads that would air during the livestreamed games on its platform. This would have cut out the sales relationship between marketers and the NFL, sources say.

In the end, Twitter got the exclusive agreement to stream the 10 games for around $10 million by agreeing to only sell a portion of the ads itself.

Twitter has explored several avenues in an attempt to jumpstart stalled growth but thus far, nothing has really worked. Could livestreaming be Twitter’s saving grace? It’s entirely possible although we should know a lot more after this season’s games air.

For what it’s worth, Thursday Night Football games generated an average of 13 million viewers last season.

Twitter will stream its first NFL game on September 15.

Image courtesy Josh Hallett, Flickr

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That will be the beginning of the end for Comcast, Dish and DirecTV. Sports channels are the single largest reason those monopolies are still running today. As soon as people have access to sports channels via streaming - goodbye big-name provider.
 
That will be the beginning of the end for Comcast, Dish and DirecTV. Sports channels are the single largest reason those monopolies are still running today. As soon as people have access to sports channels via streaming - goodbye big-name provider.

Comcast will be fine, they'll just charge the sales they lose in cable subs to your internet bill. It's not like most people have a choice anyways.
 
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