According to a report by The Information, Amazon is working on a standalone application to watch sports. This showcases the company’s commitment to investing in live sports content and building Prime Video content on its platform.
About
If and when released, the app would exclusively stream sports content, which is currently being done on Prime Video. To back up the claim, the statement of Andrew R. Jassy, CEO of Amazon, can be cited who said live sports is a “unique asset”.
Investment
Amazon would continue to invest in the same. Amazon presently has exclusive rights to the NFL’s Thursday Night Football along with Yankees baseball games and a few Premier League soccer matches.
The company has invested in other sports content as well to complement the live games. It launched the original sports talk show on Prime Video as well as its ad-supported streaming service Freevee.
Is it official?
There has been no news about the app officially. Amazon may even abandon the plan altogether. When TechCrunch requested a comment from Amazon, they did not say anything.
It seems Amazon is exploring more ways to earn additional revenues by means of investing in live sports. However, considering the steep charges of streaming rights, viewers need to pay a subscription fee to watch sports on the new app. Even if the app does not happen and Amazon chose to host sports on Prime Video itself, it can come with a separate subscription tier for sports content.
Steps taken
Amazon is reviewing its unprofitable divisions leading to the elimination of numerous roles. Although Amazon is taking every cost-cutting measure it still is focused on developing Prime Video along with its live sports streaming content.
Competition
Amazon is not the only company investing in live sports content. It is facing stiff competition from other companies that signed some major streaming deals. For instance, while YouTube secured the NFL Sunday Ticket Apple got the rights to Major League Soccer and Majoy League Baseball games.
