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Apple Is Adding a Feature to Its TV App that’s Huge for Sports Fans

Jeff Kotuby
Jeff Kotuby is a contributing writer to The Streamable who specializes in sports, music, and all things Japanese media. He cut the cord in 2017 and has spent the last six years of his career writing for technology, entertainment, and healthcare websites. He's a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles and Anaheim Ducks fan, but also enjoys watching animated shows from the '90s.
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Jeff Kotuby

The latest iOS update is giving Apple TV a leg up on the competition when it comes to sports content.

According to Apple’s release notes for iOS 15.6, the TV app now gives viewers the option to restart a live sporting event already in progress and then to pause, rewind, or fast-forward the action. This means that — as long as you can avoid spoilers — viewers can watch games as if they were live at any time.

The most obvious partner with this function will be Apple TV+’s “Friday Night Baseball”… at least for now. Starting next year, Apple will own the rights to broadcast every MLS game for the next 10 years. The vast majority of those games will appear on an MLS-only streaming service with some also being available to Apple TV+ subscribers and a handful airing for free via the Apple TV app.

But neither of these sports are what Apple would like for this function to primarily be used for — the tech company has aspirations of having NFL football on its platform, and it starts with the NFL Sunday Ticket. America’s most popular league’s out-of-market broadcast media rights expire at the end of this upcoming season, and Apple would love to get ahold of that package for its digital platforms.

Apple is believed to be the frontrunner to land the NFL Sunday Ticket, but Amazon is also reportedly still in the mix. If Apple were to land the rights to Sunday Ticket, the package could be the cornerstone of a much larger, football-focused hub within Apple TV — much like the forthcoming launch of its MLS-specific streamer. Now, they’d also be able to offer sports fans the ability to watch NFL football at their own pace.

Regardless of what happens, this is a welcome change to Apple’s streaming offerings which could make it a destination for sports fans moving forward.

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Jeff Kotuby
Jeff Kotuby is a contributing writer to The Streamable who specializes in sports, music, and all things Japanese media. He cut the cord in 2017 and has spent the last six years of his career writing for technology, entertainment, and healthcare websites. He's a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles and Anaheim Ducks fan, but also enjoys watching animated shows from the '90s.
Read full bio ›
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