Eddy Cue, senior vice president of internet software and services at Apple Inc., arrives for a morning session of the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., on Wednesday, July 11, 2018.
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Apple’s Senior Vice President of Services, Eddy Cue, recently articulated the tech giant’s strategic approach to sports rights, emphasizing the need for innovation and a differentiated broadcast experience. Speaking at the Autosport Business Exchange NYC, Cue told CNBC’s Alex Sherman that while Apple is interested in acquiring more sports rights, the company would only pursue opportunities that allow them to deliver something “unique and special.”
“We don’t have to do sports the way that they are. There’s plenty of people doing that,” Cue stated, signaling Apple’s intention to disrupt the traditional sports broadcasting model.
Currently, Apple TV+ holds rights to Major League Baseball games on Friday nights and a comprehensive Major League Soccer (MLS) package, offering subscribers access to all MLS matches. However, the platform has yet to secure rights to major American sports leagues like the National Football League (NFL), whose NFL Sunday Ticket package was acquired by Google’s YouTube, or the National Basketball Association (NBA), which features select games on Amazon Prime.
Apple Studios recently produced the movie “F1,” which saw significant box office success, grossing over $629 million. While Cue refrained from commenting on whether Apple has acquired broadcast rights to Formula 1 racing, his statements underscore Apple’s broader ambition in the sports and entertainment space.
Cue highlighted several areas ripe for improvement in sports broadcasting, including blackouts, the fragmentation of content across multiple services, and challenges related to accessing streams while traveling. He pointed to Apple TV+’s approach to broadcasting MLS, which eliminates blackouts and enables global streaming, as an example of how these issues can be effectively addressed.
“If we want people to watch games, and we want all of sports to grow, some of these things need to be fixed,” Cue asserted, suggesting that leagues should encourage collaboration among broadcast partners to implement features like picture-in-picture across different streaming services when multiple games are being played simultaneously. This comment hints at the technological infrastructure Apple might bring to bear, potentially leveraging its ecosystem to offer a more integrated viewing experience.
Apple is striving to create a “level of differentiation” when it broadcasts sports, Cue explained, citing innovations in its MLB broadcasts. He emphasized the superior video quality on Apple TV+, achieved through reduced video compression, and referenced an experimental camera angle achieved by placing an iPhone on a foul pole during a recent MLB game. This highlights Apple’s willingness to explore unconventional broadcasting techniques to enhance the viewing experience.
Apple’s ambition extends beyond securing individual game packages; the company aims to forge broader deals with leagues to broadcast their games across international markets. Cue described Friday Night Baseball, launched in 2022, as a “test” for Apple to gain insights into the complexities of sports broadcasting.
“You had to start somewhere to learn a little bit about what it takes to broadcast before you decide to take on a whole league and broadcast worldwide,” Cue explained, underscoring Apple’s measured and strategic approach to expanding its presence in the sports broadcasting landscape. This deliberate strategy suggests that Apple is not merely interested in acquiring content, but in fundamentally reshaping how sports are consumed globally, potentially leveraging its technological prowess and international reach to create a truly global sports platform.
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