Amazon has plans for a standalone app dedicated to sports, a new report by The Information said on 28 December. Currently, Amazon’s sports content is bundled with the main Amazon Prime Video subscription.
Amazon Prime Video is one of the biggest streaming services in the world, hosting movies, live sports, and other entertainment content whose rights are held by the company. Content by some other streaming services is also available on Prime Video apart from video rentals and Amazon Originals.
More about the Amazon sports app
Live streaming of sports events main focus
The Information said in its report that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently indicated that he would possibly continue spending on streaming rights for live sports.
According to the report, the discussions around a unique app for live sports indicate that Amazon is exploring ways to make money out of the deals worth billions of dollars it has inked to stream live sports programmes.
But citing a source, the report added that no decision has yet been taken by the company.
There is no clear indication of whether Amazon will go through with the plan or when it might launch the app if it takes the idea forward.
Amazon holds the rights to stream some mega sporting events
Reuters reports that the move signals an increased push in Amazon’s focus on sports programming. It would also further help the company compete with sports streaming market leader Walt Disney Co.
As per the news agency, audiences in the US are increasingly switching from pay TV subscriptions to streaming apps while sports continue to be one of the major draws for live viewing.
The rights to stream Thursday Night Football franchise of the National Football League (NFL) in the US and the English Premier League (EPL) matches in the UK are with Amazon. On the other hand, YouTube recently inked a multi-year deal to stream games under NFL’s Sunday Ticket package in the US.
Meanwhile, Amazon has been taking measures to cut costs in other segments. Reuters reports that the company has laid off some staff and is reviewing unprofitable business units as inflation forces consumers to spend less.
(Main image: Thibault Penin/@thibaultpenin/Unsplash; Featured image: Marques Thomas/@querysprout/Unsplash)
This story first appeared here.
Manas Sen Gupta
Manas Sen Gupta writes at the intersection of tech, entertainment and history. His works have appeared in publications such as The Statesman, Myanmar Matters, Hindustan Times and News18/ETV. In his spare time, Manas loves studying interactive charts and topographic maps. When not doing either, he prefers reading detective fiction. Spring is his favourite season and he can happily eat a bowl of noodles any time of the day.
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