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Amazon seeking sports video rights, including MLB, NBA

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Amazon could soon be offering live sports as they take a step toward competing with Netflix.

Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer with little in the way of competition. However, Amazon does face significant competition when it comes to growing their streaming video. Netflix is the unquestioned king of streaming, but Amazon’s attempt to bring live sports could change the game.

Amazon is attempting to acquire live streaming rights for sports to appeal to a global audience. Much in the same vein, Netflix went global earlier this year and saw their brand enhanced.

According to Bloomberg, Amazon is attempting to acquire live tennis, golf, soccer, rugby and auto racing which are all appealing to an international market. With international superstars often the top draws in those respective sports, Amazon is banking on the potential for a massive explosion of new subscribers to Amazon Prime Video.

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“Amazon has been leaning forward on sports. They want to be a new age MSO,” said Tennis Channel Chief Executive Officer Ken Solomon, using the acronym for multiple-system operator, an industry term for cable and satellite companies.

They won’t stop with those sports, however, and have their eyes set on ultimately adding baseball and basketball to their platform. That may be a little optimistic at the moment considering those broadcast rights won’t be for sale for some time. When they do become available for bidding, the price will be exponentially higher than they will be for tennis or auto racing.

In order to compete with Netflix for subscribers and with cable and broadcast networks who offer live sports, Amazon will have to pay the high price if they’re serious about growth in this arena. Netflix has remained vocal about their disinterest in sports programming, so there is a window for Amazon to take advantage and offer a new product to subscribers and entice people to subscribe.

Imagine if Amazon was the exclusive provider of the U.S. Open in tennis, PGA Championship in golf, or the Indianapolis 500 in auto racing. How about offering an add-on subscription for MLB and the NBA similar to what they do for Showtime and Starz?

There is so much potential with Amazon and it looks like sports is the area they are most interested in bringing to enrich their brand.

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