Apple In Talks With James Bond Franchise, Pac-12 Conference To Boost New TV Service: WSJ

Apple Inc. AAPL earlier this year held talks with Beverly Hills-based media company MGM Holdings, Inc. and the San Fransisco-based athletic collegium Pac-12 Conference to explore possible cooperation for its new video-on-demand service, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

What Happened

The Cupertino-based technology giant launched the Apple TV+ service in November, priced at $4.99 per month in the U.S.

The Journal said that the talks were in a preliminary stage, and the possibility of partnership isn't yet final.

If Apple ends up striking a deal with Pac-12 Conference, it would be its first onset in the live sports streaming market, the Journal noted.

Meanwhile, MGM, the parent company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, which owns the James Bond franchise, has held talks with multiple companies since February, including e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, as reported by the Journal.

What's Next

If the deal that will give Apple the right to stream films and shows including "James Bond," "Silence of the Lambs" and "Fargo" is finalized, MGM owners could walk away with as much as $10 billion from the deal, people close to the matter told the Journal.

Apple reaching out to these companies for its streaming service is understandable, given that it is a latecomer in a market already dominated by Amazon's Prime Video service and Netflix Inc. NFLX.

The Walt Disney Company DIS recently joined the competition with its Disney+ platform.

Price Action

Apple's shares closed 0.1% higher at $280.02 on Thursday.