Amazon pushing for sport rights

AMAZON IS PUSHING FOR SPORTS RIGHTS, BUT NBA TURNED THEM DOWN FOR LEAGUE PASS

Despite all this talk, though, Amazon hasn’t actually picked up much yet. They’ve ventured into sports in small ways, as with their “All Or Nothing” behind-the-scenes in-season documentary series on the Arizona Cardinals, but there haven’t been any big streaming deals yet. They were reportedly in contention for the NFL’s Thursday Night Football streaming rights at one point, but Twitter won those. Ramachandran’s piece also notes that Amazon made a specific offer to be the exclusive licensee of NBA League Pass, but the NBA turned them down to stick with their current many-outlet approach. A lot of premium sports contracts (including digital rights) don’t expire for another eight years or more, too, so there isn’t a ton of inventory Amazon can immediately grab. And Ramachandran notes that Amazon has floated ideas before backing away in the past. Still, this report seems further evidence Amazon’s looking to become a big player in the sports-streaming world. Where they go from here will certainly be worth keeping an eye on.

Interesting, they have the platform to do it unlike others.