Apple Could Be Pushing Deeper Into Sports — Is This Key Feature For Sports Fans A Test?

Streaming markets have continued to heat up, as media and technology companies spend billions of dollars on original content and acquired content. One key feature that is setting some streaming networks apart is sports content.

What Happened: Technology giant Apple Inc AAPL is among the players in the streaming space, with its AppleTV+ platform. The platform has several original shows and movies and recently expanded aggressively into the sports space.

And now, a rumored multiview feature for Apple TV is in beta, according to a report from TechCrunch.

On Friday, Apple previewed the feature during its livestream coverage of Major League Baseball (MLB) games.

The feature is limited to Apple’s sports offerings, which include Friday Night Baseball games and Major League Soccer (MLS) games, according to Tom’s Guide. Major League Soccer coverage in multiview began Saturday.

Using multiview, Apple users are able to watch up to four sports contests at once. According to the report, users are able to change the size of the games, making one game larger than the others or splitting two or four games equally on the screen. Users are also able to pick which game they'd like audio.

There is no timeline when the multiview feature will become widely available or any details on whether it will expand outside of Apple's sports offerings.

Related Link: How Subscribers And Prices Stack Up For Streaming Companies

Why It’s Important: Apple has become a major player in sports rights, with deals with the MLB and exclusive rights to MLS games. The company is also rumored to be bidding on rights to English Premier League games.

Apple landed the 10-year exclusive rights to MLS games in a deal rumored to be worth around $2.5 billion.

AppleTV+ has been one of the smaller streaming platforms in the space, but with the deep pockets of its parent company, some analysts believe the platform could be aggressive in acquiring additional sports rights in a move to boost its streaming aspirations.

Rivals like YouTube TV from Alphabet Inc GOOGGOOGL are also testing multiview features. YouTube TV landed the rights for NFL Sunday Ticket that will begin with the 2023 season.

Amazon Inc AMZN, on the other hand, streams “Thursday Night Football” games, which helped provide a boost to subscriptions in 2022.

Other streaming platforms like Netflix Inc NFLX have been quieter on sports and live-content offerings.

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