PFT: Apple is "likely" landing Sunday Ticket

[Creeper]

It wasn't ATT, it was DirecTV since they were no longer be owned by ATT.

The purchase of DirecTV was not popular with many of the ATT management and with very few DirecTV people. It has not been a good marriage. They could not wait to get out from under the ATT label and John Oliver helped that along on HBO by needling the ATT brass every week.....every week. And he wasn't kidding, he hates ATT.

I am not sure what you are referring to. AT&T bought DirecTV in 2015 and still own a 70% stake in the separate legal entity they created for DirecTV last year.

 

[VACowboy]

I am not sure why you are so optimistic about Apple. There are some basic economic facts in play. Apple wants to make a profit on NFL Sunday Ticket. And to do that they need to recoup what they paid for the rights plus whatever operating costs they incur to offer the package. We have no idea what Apple has planned or what their logic was in buying the rights from the NFL. But just remember that Apple reportedly paid $2.5 billion per year for the Sunday Ticket. Just to cover the purchase price Apple would need between 7 million and 8.5 million customers to pay $293 per year, the current DirecTV price, for the package. Obviously there are operating costs that would have to be recovered as well. Sunday Ticket currently has 2 million subscribers and 450,000 of them only joined when they were offered a steep discount. Only 10% of DirecTV's customers signed up for Sunday Ticket. You can see why AT&T could not wait to get out from their contract with the NFL.

The networks barely break even on the NFL in non-Superbowl years. They don't buy the NFL for the direct big bucks. They buy the NFL for the bright light it shines on their platforms and the rest of their content, and Apple is no different. It won't surprise me at all if Apple takes a loss on subscriptions to attract subscribers, something Apple can easily afford that DTV could not. Apple has already sunk billions into content development without a direct return on its investment. Spending 2.5 of its $200+ billion cash pile to add the NFL to its stable of content is a drop in the bucket. Like its award-winning shows and movies, Apple needs the NFL to deliver subscribers, not profit. And unlike AT&T Apple is a smart business playing the long game. They are paying $2.5 bil for the NFL for a reason and will not make AT&T's mistakes. That's why I'm so optimistic about Apple.

 

[lurkercowboy]

I do not think any of the streamers offer that.

That messes me up because I work Sundays.