Apple TV rumours are only going to spiral and swirl and get more unlikely as we draw nearer to the official launch (whenever that may be), but we’d file this particular under: spurious. According to word from the Daily Mail, Apple is looking to buy the UK rights to the football Premier League.
The rumour suggests that when the UK rights go out to tender later this year, Apple will put in a bid to try and outdo Sky, which paid £1.6 billion for its current rights.
The Daily Mail, which we should point out has never really been known for breaking Apple scoops, claim that the buyout would be to help push iPad sales, but if it did happen there would be a much bigger reason.
Everything you need to know about Apple’s upcoming TV sets
As stated, Apple is expected to drop a range of own-branded HD TV sets this year, with Apple TV services built in. It would make sense for the company to imbue its content offering with some sports coverage, but a complete buyout of the UK football premiership rights seems unlikely to us.
Apple TV’s major failure in the UK thus far has been the fact that it… Erm… Doesn’t actually have any TV on it; just iTunes. A redesigned service would need a strong UK content offering, but if Apple’s planning on buying any football rights it’d be more likely to opt for the now cheaper £42 million-per-year FA Cup rights from ITV when that deal ends in two years’ time.
