Apple interested in broadcasting Premier League football

Computer giants Apple are showing interest in joining the billion-pound battle for the next set of live Premier League TV rights when the tender goes out before the end of the season.

The Premier League is seen as the type of premium content that will help establish Apple TV in the UK and boost iPad sales, while the iTunes subscription service infrastructure is already in place.

The involvement of Apple - and their great multimedia rivals Google are also expected to make similar soundings - would give the PL a hugely competitive market at a time when the price of other TV sports rights are in decline.

The three certain bidders will be Sky, who paid £1.6billion for their current packages, ESPN, who say they are determined to buy more PL content, and Middle East network Al Jezeera, who also have the resources to break the Rupert Murdoch stranglehold on the Premier League.

In contrast the FA have had to accept a 30 per cent-plus drop in the price of a two-year FA Cup and England renewal with ITV. The £42m-a-year deal has been delayed while talks took place over increasing the price for more England matches, but no definite extra dates have been agreed.

source: daily mail

it's good for both companies, now the football can be played on the ipad as well as the tv without using skygo application

Good move by Apple. Was only a matter of time they stuck their technology into something else given the failure of the recent iPhone4S. Lack of initiative and progress my have resulted in a great deal for Apple TV.

Handy when you've got $79bn in the bank to play with.

I have an idea, invest in the SPL