Amazon is working on a standalone sports streaming app, according to a new report. Live sports remains one of the major driving forces for streaming services, as it is one of the surefire ways to get homes to sign up to a service. For example, Peacock for the Premier League and Paramount Plus for NFL.
Amazon is no exception either as the company has also been investing heavily in sports as one of its key Prime Video benefits. For example, Prime Video is now the home of Thursday Night Football in the US, and holds the broadcasting rights to Premier League live matches in the UK. These days, Prime Video even has its own Sports Talk programming block which includes 12 hours of live, daily sports talk.
Amazon is not expected to just stop at what it currently offers, and this increased emphasis on sports may also lead to the release of a new standalone streaming app. That’s according to a new report by The Information which specifically states the company is working on a new sports-only app, citing “a source with direct knowledge of the plan.”
Unfortunately, that’s largely the extent to the details provided in the report. In other words, it still remains unclear when such an app could be released, if it is ever released. In addition, it also remains unclear whether it would require a separate standalone subscription or be bundled with Amazon Prime in the same way that Prime Video currently is.
The last few months have seen some fairly big moves elsewhere. Most recently, YouTube TV signed a big deal to carry NFL Sunday Ticket from the start of next season, a change which sees Sunday Ticket move away from DirecTV Stream. Likewise, Apple recently agreed a new deal to become the streaming home of Major League Soccer. With Amazon, Apple, and Google all seemingly keen on expanding their involvement in live sports, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Amazon launch a new dedicated app.
Amazon also owns Freevee which offers access to free, ad-supported content – another area that has seen major growth in the age of streaming. For reference, and in spite of the availability of a standalone Freevee app, Freevee content can also be found within the main Prime Video app. Amazon could, in theory, offer a similar arrangement with a standalone sports app in a bid to equally cater to Prime members and non-Prime customers alike.
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