Amazon is allegedly looking into streaming live sports to take down traditional cable subscriptions and Netflix.
The report comes from Bloomberg, citing "people with knowledge of the matter." Amazon is reportedly seeking streaming rights to sports with "global appeal, such as tennis, golf, soccer and auto racing."
"Amazon has been leaning forward on sports. They want to be a new age [multiple-system operator]," said Tennis Channel Chief Executive Officer Ken Solomon. Solomon claims his network has been in discussions with Amazon for over a year.
Smart strategy, if successful
If Amazon is successful in obtaining streaming rights to sports, it could give its Prime video on-demand service a huge leg up on the competition like Netflix, which currently has no interest in live sports. Currently, the only way to watch live sports is to do so over the air, with a cable subscription or purchasing packages from sports organizations like MLB.
Amazon could theoretically offer sports streaming à la carte as it already does for TV networks like Starz and CBS' Showtime. À la carte streaming services are quickly becoming the industry norm such as HBO offering an internet-only subscription called HBO Now.
Amazon already has its own eSports streaming service, Twitch, which has more than 100 million monthly unique users as of August 2016. However, Twitch is facing increasing pressure from competitors like Facebook and YouTube Gaming.
It will be an uphill battle for Amazon to obtain streaming rights for sports, which are the most expensive properties in media. For perspective, ESPN pays the National Football League (NFL) nearly $2 billion a year for broadcasting rights. Amazon also recently lost a bid to stream Thursday Night Football games to Twitter.
from TechRadar: Television news http://ift.tt/2cfzJdS
via IFTTT
0 التعليقات: