While it"s hardly the most far fetched of Apple rumors, this has got to be among the most unusual. Yahoo is reporting that Apple is planning to bid for the TV rights to the English Premier League, one of the most popular football (or soccer, if you prefer) leagues in the world.
The report says that Apple plans to expand their Apple TV business, and by implication all of their other businesses, by gaining the rights to original programming. They go on to compare the implications of Apple owning the rights to EPL to Google owning the rights to NFL, but with way more potential for growth. Because, you know, football is about to take the US by storm, or something...
Rumors of Apple"s interest in acquiring the rights first came from the Daily Mail, only to be "confirmed" by "Apple sources" a few days later by ThePostGame. Such a move could potentially help Apple to gain a huge market segment in the UK. If such a move does actually take place, then it would be expected to see Apple make similar moves on other properties, such as US sports and news.
So, is this what Steve Jobs had in mind when he said that Apple had finally "cracked" the TV market? Who knows. Even Yahoo admits that it"s all just conjecture at this point, but it"s an exciting concept. Using streaming technology combined with exclusive programming, as opposed to asking consumers to pay for each episode of programming they purchase, Apple could offer a far better product than anything currently on the market, including their own current model Apple TV. Maybe News Corp"s The Daily will be coming to TV screens soon?