The NFL today announced a multi-year deal with Google granting YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels the right to exclusively distribute NFL Sunday Ticket starting with the 2023 NFL season.
It’s official: NFL Sunday Ticket has a new home.
The NFL today announced a multi-year agreement with Google granting YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels the right to exclusively distribute NFL Sunday Ticket to consumers in the U.S. starting with the 2023 NFL season.
According to Tom Pelissero YouTube has completed a deal for the NFL Sunday Ticket, the out-of-market package that DirecTV has exclusively broadcast since 1994 when it debuted.
Pro Football Talk is reporting that YouTube will pay $2.5 billion per year for the package.
“We’re excited to bring NFL Sunday Ticket to YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels and usher in a new era of how fans across the United States watch and follow the NFL,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “For a number of years we have been focused on increased digital distribution of our games and this partnership is yet another example of us looking towards the future and building the next generation of NFL fans.”
“YouTube has long been a home for football fans, whether they’re streaming live games, keeping up with their home team, or watching the best plays in highlights,” said Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube. “Through this expanded partnership with the NFL, viewers will now also be able to experience the game they love in compelling and innovative ways through YouTube TV or YouTube Prime.”
Talks with Google (the YouTube parent company) came full circle after Amazon and Apple dropped out.
With consumers cutting the cable cord, the NFL Sunday Ticket package will be available on YouTube TV and YouTube Premium channels.
A well-placed source told @JohnCanzanoBFT that the #Pac12 will get more $ than the #Big12. Hello, Amazon.
Big news broke on Sunday morning when the Big 12 Conference finalized its media rights package with ESPN and Fox Sports. The Big 12 earned more money per school than in its previous deal, fetching roughly $31.7 million per school for 12 member institutions once Oklahoma and Texas leave for the SEC.
As you know, Big 12 and Pac-12 fans and journalists have had plenty of vigorous debates over the past few months since USC and UCLA announced their Big Ten move on June 30. The Big 12 definitely exceeded industry expectations with this deal. Commissioner Brett Yormark clearly did well. Notions of a revenue decrease with OU and Texas gone did not materialize. Yormark refuted his critics, some of them in the Pac-12.
Now the Pac-12 and George Kliavkoff are under huge pressure to deliver a competitive package which stands up to the Big 12 and ensures that the Arizona schools, Utah, and Colorado have no temptation to leave the Pac for the Big 12.
One Pac-12 columnist thinks the conference will not only achieve that goal, but will actually fetch more money per school than the Big 12 will.
No Big Ten on ESPN? It looks like it could happen according to the latest media rights rumblings
If the Big Ten is going to lose a working relationship with ESPN, it better hope it has support to fall back on. Fortunately, it appears the Big Ten has quite a safety net to fall into after ESPN reportedly opted to back out of the media rights negotiations game.
What once may have felt inconceivable has apparently become a reality. According to John Ourand of Sports Business Journal, via Twitter, ESPN has taken its name out of the Big Ten media rights negotiations. By doing so, the Big Ten will be off ESPN’s air for college football and college basketball for the first time in 40 years.
As reported by Ourand, ESPN turned down a seven-year package worth $380 million per year. That now leaves the door wide open for a new contract that will bring the Big Ten to CBS and NBC, with FOX already on board. What’s more, a formal announcement could come as early as this week as details for the Big Ten’s highly-anticipated new media rights deal settle in.
It is believed CBS will feature a Big Ten game in the 3:30 p.m. ET timeslot currently used to feature the SEC Game of the Week. But with the SEC contract moving to ESPN, CBS could replace the SEC with the Big Ten in the same high-profile slot.
NBC is expected to get primetime with the Big Ten and some exclusive rights for streaming its Peacock streaming platform. All games airing on NBC will also be streamed on Peacock as well, it is safe to assume.
So, how much is at stake?
According to a report from New York Post, CBS is set to pay $350 million per year for its part of the contract. And NBC, according to Sports Business Journal, will pay another $350 million per year for its portion.
CBS is expected to pay in the $350 million per year neighborhood for the 3:30 Big Ten games, according to sources. https://t.co/D0nGwB4PXJ
That’s a cool $700 million per year on top of whatever FOX will be paying for its rights in the noon timeslot, as well as additional airtime on FS1 and its partnership with the Big Ten Network.
And we haven’t even talked about the competition for the streaming package options. Apple and Amazon are discussing streaming rights with the Big Ten, and the competition has spiked since the news that USC and UCLA will be joining the Big Ten in 2024 as Apple came back to the table as a potential suitor.
There could still be a lot to unpack with this new media rights deal, and the negotiations could still involve ESPN before the ink dries on the new contracts. But regardless of where this all goes from here, the Big Ten is going to be swimming in an ocean of cash.
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Anyone hoping Fortnite will return to iOS devices soon might want to sit down, as it seems the battle royale phenomenon is now “blacklisted” from the App Store. At least, until the legal battle between Epic Games and Apple reaches a meaningful conclusion.
Last year, the two companies came to blows when Epic Games released a Fortnite update that let players avoid using the App Store for in-game purchases. Naturally, Apple was not happy about that and took away Epic’s developer account on the App Store. Epic sued in response; Apple then filed a countersuit, culminating in a ruling where both companies lost. In the wake of all that, Apple has declined to reinstate Epic’s developer account on the App Store. Naturally, Tim Sweeny, CEO of Epic Games, isn’t happy about that.
“Apple lied,” Sweeny said on Twitter. “Apple spent a year telling the world, the court, and the press they’d ‘welcome Epic’s return to the App Store if they agree to play by the same rules as everyone else.’ Epic agreed, and now Apple has reneged in another abuse of its monopoly power over a billion users.”
Sweeny went on to post an email from Apple lawyer Mark A. Perry.
Late last night, Apple informed Epic that Fortnite will be blacklisted from the Apple ecosystem until the exhaustion of all court appeals, which could be as long as a 5-year process. pic.twitter.com/QCD7wogJef
“In light of this and other statements since the court’s decision, coupled with Epic’s duplicitous conduct in the past, Apple has exercised its discretion not to reinstate Epic’s developer program account at this time,” Perry said. “Furthermore, Apple will not consider any further requests for reinstatement until the district court’s judgment becomes final and non-appealable.”
Sorting this mess out might take up to five years, according to Sweeny. So yeah, Fortnite probably won’t be back on iOS devices for a long time.
This Sunday we’ll see a showdown between Tom Brady’s Buccaneers and Pat Mahomes’ Chiefs, two iconic teams helmed by two iconic quarterbacks. And for a lot of people tuning in, they won’t care about any of that.
What they’ll care about are the commercials.
Super Bowl ads have become as much a part of the Super Bowl experience as the game itself. We see that every year in the incredible energy at Ad Meter — the USA TODAY site that allows you to rate your favorite Super Bowl commercials in real-time. (It’s seriously fun and totally free, and you can still sign up to be involved.)
To celebrate this part of the game, we’re counting down five of our favorite Super Bowl ads of all time. Some are iconic, others are just weird ones that, for whatever reason, we’ve never been able to get out of our heads.
Welcome to FTW Explains: a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world.
Fortnite and its parent company Epic Games have never been afraid to shake things up. That’s how it became the most popular game in the world today.
Now, they’re taking that same attitude that got them there to the doorsteps of two of the biggest tech companies in the world in Apple and Google.
Fortnite mysteriously disappeared from the Apple Store on Thursday without a trace. If users already had the game downloaded to their phones, it was still there. But anyone looking for the game? It was nowhere to be found.
Come to find out, Apple flatout removed it from the App Store.
Then, shortly after that, Epic Games dropped a commercial on Fortnite and YouTube called “Nineteen-Eighty-Fortnite” and everything went off the rails.
Lost in all the madness? Don’t worry. Here’s what’s happening.
Wait, wait, wait. Why did Apple ban Fortnite?
So on Fortnite, there are these things called V-Bucks. Think of them as virtual tokens you can use to purchase new “skins” and collectables on the game.
To actually get V-Bucks, though, you pay real life cash. Generally speaking, to this point, about 1,000 V-Bucks cost $9.99 in real life when purchased through the Apple Store or the Google Play store. Until now, those have been the only mediums to purchase them through on mobile platforms.
Until now, anyway. And here’s where things get tricky and the beef starts brewing.
Epic Games changed that. They created an in-game direct payment system that charged $7.99 for those same 1,000 V-Bucks instead of $9.99.
So they’re saving gamers a couple of dollars?
Yup, exactly. Instead of having them pay for the V-Bucks through Apple’s and Google’s systems, they give them a better deal in doing it through their own.
Wow. Epic outright promoting direct in-app payment around iOS store but in iOS apps
And users collect 100% of the savings. No monetary benefit to Epic.
In exchange for hosting Fortnite on the App Store on the Google Play Store, the platforms review the app for users and charge a 30% commission on in-app purchases.
Epic Game’s in-game store circumvents that 30% commission, which Apple and Google say is a violation of the original agreement. So, therefore, they’ve removed the game.
So as long as this in-app store exists we won’t see Fortnite on our phones?
If you don’t already have it, no. At least not for iPhones anyway. Fortnite is still available through other app stores on Android systems. Tough luck, iPhone crowd.
Don’t worry. Epic Games isn’t sitting still, though. They’re suing both Googleand Apple for the removal of the game from their platforms. And, the thing is, they clearly expected this to happen.
What do you mean?
Epic Games broke out those lawsuits against both companies shortly after Fortnite was removed from both Google Play and the App Store. They counted on each company taking the actions they did.
And, as a public response, they dropped a Fortnite-style commercial you might recognize.
This is a clear shot at Apple’s famous Super Bowl commercial set in an Orewllian “1984” dystopia from back in the day.
That’s feels mad dramatic here, but whatever. You get the point.
What’s their purpose in all of this?
That’s the thing — it’s hard to really say. They’re calling the current system they’re working in a “monopoly,” and they’ll battle it out in court to try and prove it.
But, honestly, it just seems like they’re trying to skip over paying the commission fee to their current distributors in Apple and Google which…fine.
But they’ve turned this into a public relations battle and it’s hard to tell how much ground they actually have to stand on.
This is weird and complicated.
Very much so. But it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Fortnite fans, you’ll want to keep your eyes on this one.
Lakers star LeBron James and NFL star Tom Brady are collaborating on a new sports program for Apple TV-+.
LeBron James and Tom Brady are two of the biggest names of their generation and they will be joining forces together in a new production about their exploits on the court and the field, that will be featured as part of Apple TV-Plus. LeBron and Brady will both be featured as stars in the show, while also having a hand in the production, through their companies UNINTERRUPTED and Religion of Sport.
Director Gotham Chopra, who also directed ‘Shut Up and Dribble,’ produced by UNINTERRUPTED and Religion of Sport for Showtime, will direct the new Apple series entitled “Greatness Code,” Apple announced on Thursday. In addition to LeBron and Brady, Usain Bolt, Alex Morgan, Katie Ledecky, and Shaun White will all have ‘short-form’ documentaries about them.
LeBron James always busy with the production of sports-related content, but he’s been even busier over the past few weeks. The announcement of the new Apple series comes less than two weeks after UNINTERRUPTED and Quibi announced a new documentary about the Houston Astros sign-stealing cheating scandal. Earlier this week it was reported that he’s also working on a Netflix movie with Adam Sandler, who will play an American basketball scout overseas who is trying to make his way back to the NBA.
