Twitter Looking to Launch Apple TV App for NFL Live Streaming

In a piece covering Twitter's successful effort to win live streaming rights for Thursday night National Football League games this season, The New York Times reports that Twitter is in discussions with Apple to launch a Twitter app for the Apple TV that would let Twitter's users watch the NFL games on Apple's set-top box.

nfl_twitter_apple_tv

Twitter has directed [Chief Financial Officer] Mr. [Anthony] Noto, a former Goldman Sachs banker with deep ties to the sports media industry, to lead the charge on live streaming and has assigned an engineering team to create its streaming video player. Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s chief executive, considers streaming a critical component of the company’s focus on “live” experiences, along with Periscope, its app that allows smartphone users to live-stream video.

To bolster the effort, Twitter is in talks with Apple to bring the Twitter app to Apple TV, which would potentially let millions of Apple TV users watch the streaming N.F.L. games, according to the two people briefed on the discussions.

Beyond the NFL, Twitter continues to strike deals for other live streaming content, and while the company's strategy for live streaming is not yet "fully formed," Twitter is considering how to bring that content users either in the main timeline or in the Moments tab of the current app for various platforms.

The NFL had solicited a number of companies, including Apple, to gauge interest in streaming rights for Thursday Night Football, but Apple ultimately declined to submit a bid.

Twitter's first Thursday Night Football live stream will take place on September 15 when the New York Jets visit the Buffalo Bills.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Tag: Twitter
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Popular Stories

Apple iPhone 16e Feature

Apple Announces iPhone 16e With A18 Chip and Apple Intelligence, Pricing Starts at $599

Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:02 am PST by
Apple today introduced the iPhone 16e, its newest entry-level smartphone. The device succeeds the third-generation iPhone SE, which has now been discontinued. The iPhone 16e features a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, up from a 4.7-inch LCD on the iPhone SE. The display has a notch for Face ID, and this means that Apple no longer sells any iPhones with a Touch ID fingerprint button, marking the ...
iphone 17 pro asherdipps

iPhone 17 Pro Models Rumored to Feature Aluminum Frame Instead of Titanium Frame

Tuesday February 18, 2025 12:02 pm PST by
Over the years, Apple has switched from an aluminum frame to a stainless steel frame to a titanium frame for its highest-end iPhones. And now, it has been rumored that Apple will go back to using aluminum for three out of four iPhone 17 models. In an investor note with research firm GF Securities, obtained by MacRumors this week, Apple supply chain analyst Jeff Pu said the iPhone 17, iPhone...
apple launch feb 2025 alt

Here Are the New Apple Products We're Still Expecting This Spring

Thursday February 20, 2025 5:06 am PST by
Now that Apple has announced its new more affordable iPhone 16e, our thoughts turn to what else we are expecting from the company this spring. There are three product categories that we are definitely expecting to get upgraded before spring has ended. Keep reading to learn what they are. If we're lucky, Apple might make a surprise announcement about a completely new product category. M4...
Generic iOS 18

Here's When Apple Will Release iOS 18.4

Wednesday February 19, 2025 11:38 am PST by
Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple updated its iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia pages to give a narrower timeline on when the next updates are set to launch. All three pages now state that new Apple Intelligence features and languages will launch in early April, an update from the more broader April timeframe that Apple provided before. The next major point updates will be iOS ...
prioritize notifications ios 18 4

Everything New in iOS 18.4 Beta 1

Friday February 21, 2025 1:08 pm PST by
Apple finally released the first beta of iOS 18.4 to developers for testing purposes, and while the beta is lacking some of the Apple Intelligence features we were hoping for, there are some notable new additions. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Priority Notifications - Apple Intelligence There is a new Priority Notifications feature that can show you your most...
apple launch feb 2025

Tim Cook Teases an 'Apple Launch' Next Wednesday

Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag. The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle. Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
iPhone 16e Feature

Apple Denies Speculation Surrounding iPhone 16e's Lack of MagSafe

Friday February 21, 2025 8:01 am PST by
Apple has confirmed that its custom-designed C1 modem in the iPhone 16e has nothing to do with the device's lack of MagSafe support, according to Macworld. Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, there was some speculation online about how MagSafe magnets might have interfered with the C1 modem's cellular connectivity performance, and this was considered to be a potential reason for the...
apple c1

Apple Unveils 'C1' as First Custom Cellular Modem

Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:08 am PST by
Apple today announced its first custom cellular modem with the name "C1," debuting in the all-new iPhone 16e. The new modem contributes to the iPhone 16e's power efficiency, giving it the longest battery life of any iPhone with a 6.1-inch display, such as the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16. Expanding the benefits of Apple silicon, C1 is the first modem designed by Apple and the most...

Top Rated Comments

drumcat Avatar
111 months ago
I, for one, appreciate the sense of irony MacRumors used in selecting a picture from the ColorBlindBowl game.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
111 months ago
Still no "edit" button and no anti-harassment policy. Priorities I guess....
I think an edit button for tweets is a non-starter. They're necessarily short, you can post a newer one. A machine can't tell if a tweet is being edited to only fix a typo, vs. changing the meaning. If they allowed editing, you'd have endless cases of folks getting hundreds or thousands of likes/retweets and then editing their tweet to "Retweet if you like Hitler and Satan!" or some variation. Think of how much fun that would be, say, in the political arena.

Agreed on anti-harassment. They need to be doing more than they are.

That said, this... this looks like Twitter "pivoting", trying to use their name recognition to make themselves into a media company instead of a text-message-broadcasting service (since it's hard to make money off the latter).
[doublepost=1471233586][/doublepost]
And the NFL thinks they can handle the streaming load?
Maybe Twitter's plan is just to send one guy with an iPhone to sit in the stands and use Periscope to broadcast it.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
111 months ago
Someone tell twitter there's a NFL streaming app and it's my called My Cable Providers Streaming App. They too have a streaming app. I use it all the time on my iPad and iPhone.
That works great for you, what about everyone else? Or do we all have to come over to your house to watch the game?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
111 months ago
As a cable cutter since 2010 (instead invested the money along with some other smart budgeting and made enough to buy cars with cash and have minimal debt), I've given up on trying to watch sports. Trying to watch the olympics has been worse than cancer, and NBC won't even let clips of it be shown most of the time, and the clips they do post on YouTube are 30 second blips and many of them don't even show what happened or who won. There was a freaking clip of them showing Usain Bolt walking out and that was it! I'm done. I don't care any more. It's not worth it. I try to navigate all these stupid packages online for MLB and NFL and for what? To get blacked out so I can't even watch, even though I live 120 miles away from these teams? Half the stupid DTV signals don't reach my house. Adding an amplified antenna from Leaf (the premium 50 mile one) ends up causing me to lose a bunch of channels (they get blown out from what I've read online since those ones are closer), while I end up adding a couple I don't care about and still not even get CBS for AFC games which is only 25 miles away over gently rolling hills. So yeah, I've just decided to stop caring. And no, I don't live in a small town and have decent 150mbps internet with some parts of town getting gigabit.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
expectdelay Avatar
111 months ago
YES! MORE CONTENT!

(g dang everyone loves to complain, eh? seriously wtf people)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
drumcat Avatar
111 months ago
Someone tell twitter there's a NFL streaming app and it's my called My Cable Providers Streaming App. They too have a streaming app. I use it all the time on my iPad and iPhone.
Does YourCableProviderApp™ work outside of the Good Ol' U-S-of-A?

This is why owners with money want an NFL division in Europe and "Joe Fan" thinks it's terrible. The TV rights outside of North America are potentially enormous. It's clear there is an appetite for it, and yet #mericuh thinks that's all there is. Well, la-ti-da Mr. I Have Cable. The world is evolving, and your bubble isn't as relevant as you believe.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)