Amazon eyeing standalone app for sports, report claims

Amazon is considering launching a new standalone app for its live sports coverage and other sports content, a new report claims.

It could mean the e-commerce giant separating its current sports offerings from Prime Video to offer it as part of a separate product, The Information reported on Wednesday, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.

Amazon carries a growing range of sports content that includes livestreams of fixtures from the NFL and U.K.’s Premier League soccer, while it also has a special deal with the New York Yankees to show some of its baseball games.

The company has offered no official word on the likelihood of it launching a standalone sports app, though it’s worth noting that The Information’s report comes after recent comments by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in which he confirmed that live sports were a continuing area of interest for the company.

It’s also not clear when Amazon might release such an app, and whether it will charge a subscription fee for its use. It’s also possible that alongside the app it could keep its sports content on Prime Video but put it behind a paywall.

Rights to stream live sports can be costly, but such deals can also help to pull in more subscribers to streaming platforms.

Apple, for example, is also exploring the space with Apple TV+ inking an agreement with MLB earlier this year to livestream games on Friday nights. It’s also become the exclusive streamer for MLS games for the next decade.

Streaming service Peacock also offers a growing range of live sports events, though that’s not a surprise considering it’s backed by NBC. Content — some of it exclusive — includes NFL, Premier League, MLB, WWE, golf, and NASCAR.

And just recently, YouTube announced a deal for NFL Sunday Ticket costing it $2 billion a year. In a sign of how streaming services are starting to make their presence felt in the live sports space, YouTube’s deal saw it nab the package from satellite-TV provider DirecTV, which carried it since 1994.

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