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

iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
iphone 16 pro models 1

Here's How the iPhone 17 Pro Max Will Compare to the iPhone 17 Pro

Saturday July 5, 2025 1:00 pm PDT by
Apple should unveil the iPhone 17 series in September, and there might be one bigger difference between the Pro and Pro Max models this year. As always, the Pro Max model will be larger than the Pro model:iPhone 17 Pro: 6.3-inch display iPhone 17 Pro Max: 6.9-inch displayGiven the Pro Max is physically larger than the Pro, it has more internal space, allowing for a larger battery and...
iPhone Car Key Kia

Here's Which Vehicles Offer iPhone Car Keys

Sunday July 6, 2025 3:03 pm PDT by
In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. The feature is currently offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and a handful of others, and it is set to expand further. Apple has a web page with a list of vehicle models that ...
imac video apple feature

Apple Launching These 15+ Products Later This Year

Sunday July 6, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
The calendar has turned to July, meaning that 2025 is now more than half over. And while the summer months are often quiet for Apple, the company still has more than a dozen products coming later this year, according to rumors. Below, we have outlined at least 15 new Apple products that are expected to launch later this year, along with key rumored features for each. iPhone 17 Series iPho...
airpods pro 2

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
Prime Day 25 Feature Warm Triad

The Best Early Prime Day Deals on Apple Products

Saturday July 5, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Amazon is soon to be back with its annual summertime Prime Day event, lasting for four days from July 8-11, the longest Prime Day yet. As it does every year, Prime Day offers shoppers a huge selection of deals across Amazon's storefront, and there are already many deals you can get on sale ahead of the event. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a ...

Top Rated Comments

drumcat Avatar
116 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
116 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
116 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
116 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
116 months ago
YES! MORE CONTENT!

(g dang everyone loves to complain, eh? seriously wtf people)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
drumcat Avatar
116 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)