The beautiful game? Apple v. Google hits the Premier League

By Jonny Evans

Apple [AAPL] is preparing for the chase and status of new adventures in television, and expectation the firm will deliver enhanced TV show access via iTunes has shot up on news the company is bidding for rights to distribute Premier League soccer games via the service.

Kicking off

Football is the international game. Any move to enable event coverage streaming via iTunes will help propel any Apple television service/product hybrid into the mainstream mass market.

The Premier League is the world's most watched sporting league and is currently broadcast to over 600 million people in over 200 countries worldwide. Satellite provider Sky made its fortune on the back of live and post-match sports coverage, after all.

Football fans will be hugely tempted. It means they'll be able to watch matches on their Macs (presumably), iPads, iPhones, and via the Apple TV or Apple television. Football is a huge international business: Premier League content is among the most widely watched coverage on the planet.

Sky has followed the iApp path. In 2009, the company introduced a £6/monthly Sky TV app, which allowed users to access the full Sky Sports bundle on their iOS device.

On the terraces

The Daily Mail tells us both Apple and Google are pitching for the rights to stream Premier League matches via their television services.

In conjunction with services such as iPlayer and apps including on-demand streaming shows from ITV and Channel 4, Apple's ecosystem now enables access to most of the best-loved content in the UK. UK-produced broadcast content is in huge demand worldwide.

It isn't clear if Apple is bidding for global coverage, but its pockets are certainly deep enough to put together a tempting proposal. Sky paid £1.6 billion (approximately $2.53 billion) for its current package.

The report characterizes the attempt at a deal as a way to shore up Apple TV services in the UK.

Set your goals

With Apple expected to host a special iTunes event later this month, this second report suggests there's a plethora of big deals being attempted by the company as it preps iTunes to break the stranglehold satellite and cable service providers hold over the broadcast television industry.

It makes sense, of course. Apple has been working hard to develop its video provision offerings for some time, understanding as it does that extending the breadth of its iTunes content offering is central to a good customer experience for iDevice users.

Apple is likely working to deliver similar deals in other key markets, targeting mass market offerings in order to dent new user demographics. I'd suggest it likely we'll hear additional murmurings of big content provision details in the months to come.

Apple has been expected to deliver an Apple television later in the year, with an iPad 3 release scheduled for March/April. Of course, it's in no way certain Apple will succeed in reaching a football deal, but given the sheer cost of that deal it's hard to predict if any such services will be made available in time for the iPad release.

Is Apple premier league?

A look around the big UK electrical retailers confirms there's big deals on flatscreen televisions this season. There's an opportunity: Sony in recent months confirmed itself to be losing cash on every one of the televisions it sells. Offering superior television products festooned with additional features will drive huge interest in Apple's as-yet unreleased and unconfirmed TV product.

That Apple plans to introduce a smart, Internet-enabled television with Siri-based voice and gesture controls and the ability to run apps, including media access apps has been the big rumor for several years now.

Spicing this offering up with the 'footy' will automatically create a potential audience of 600 million people for the new device.

That's an opportunity Apple and Google may go to the wire to embrace.

The beautiful game

I believe victory in securing this deal will immediately secure a future in television for whichever of these two firms triumphs in these negotiations. This is because football as a game appeals to millions of people across almost every demographic. (For example, age, income or religion). That's a level of mass market consciousness no other sport can deliver, with the possible exception of Olympic or World Cup coverage.

I'll be interested in future to hear of similar attempted streaming deals with the Olympics organizers, Formula One and other key sporting events. If Apple is looking to football/soccer today, then interest in those other events will inevitably follow.

Will Apple shoot and score, or will Google claim the streaming content prize?

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