According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, YouTube will pay roughly $2 billion a year to secure the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket franchise as part of its YouTube TV service. NFL Sunday Ticket is a package that allows users to access and watch all Sunday games from out-of-market teams for games that may not be broadcasted on local channels or affiliates.
NFL Sunday Ticket will be offered as an add-on for YouTube TV, which currently costs $64.99 per month. The exact price of the add-on remains unknown. Neal Mohan, chief product officer at YouTube, speaking of the new deal, said "we'll be able to showcase these NFL games in a way that I think no other platform can."
Apple was originally seen as the top contender for securing the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, with reports at one point suggesting Apple and the NFL had reached a final agreement. According to a new report this week by The Athletic, the agreement didn't go through due to apparent concerns at Cupertino that it wouldn't be able to incorporate NFL Sunday Ticket into its future AR/VR platforms.
Apple and the NFL also could not agree on whether the company would get the right to distribute Sunday Ticket on as yet non-existent platforms. Apple is heavily investing in virtual reality and augmented reality, nascent platforms in which sports are so far largely not viewed. As a result, Apple wanted what is dubbed known and unknown rights, individuals familiar with the NFL and Apple said. In other words, there is no known virtual reality market for Sunday Ticket, but there might be one day.
While YouTube will offer NFL Sunday Ticket as an add-on for YouTube, Apple reportedly wanted to offer NFL Sunday Ticket to Apple TV+ subscribers at no additional cost.
Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below.
Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Friday December 5, 2025 10:08 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Intel is expected to begin supplying some Mac and iPad chips in a few years, and the latest rumor claims the partnership might extend to the iPhone.
In a research note with investment firm GF Securities this week, obtained by MacRumors, analyst Jeff Pu said he and his colleagues "now expect" Intel to reach a supply deal with Apple for at least some non-pro iPhone chips starting in 2028....
Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by Tim Hardwick
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One thing worth...
Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found.
Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji could be the next leading executive to leave the company amid an alarming exodus of leading employees, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
Srouji apparently recently told CEO Tim Cook that he is "seriously considering leaving" in the near future. He intends to join another company if he departs. Srouji leads Apple's chip design ...
Monday December 8, 2025 9:23 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple's chipmaking chief Johny Srouji has reportedly indicated that he plans to continue working for the company for the foreseeable future.
"I love my team, and I love my job at Apple, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon," said Srouji, in a memo obtained by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Here is Srouji's full memo, as shared by Bloomberg:I know you've been reading all kind of rumors and...
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There was also a flurry of news this week about Apple executive departures, some expected and some not so expected, while we also learned that Apple and...
Monday December 1, 2025 3:00 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is expected to launch a new foldable iPhone next year, based on multiple rumors and credible sources. The long-awaited device has been rumored for years now, but signs increasingly suggest that 2026 could indeed be the year that Apple releases its first foldable device.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Below, we've collated an updated set of key details that ...
Ouch! A bit embarrassing for Apple. Having said that, 2 billion for just one sport is a lot of money and I’m sure they’ll look into others.
Think this might get embarrassing for Google’s YouTube TV service when the price gets unveiled. It’s going to be $64.99 per month plus whatever they decide the add on is going to be charged. I think it’s going to make DirectTV look like a bargain bin. Don’t think this is an embarrassing loss for Apple as it’s going to be painful to football fans.
This is gross. NFL Sunday Ticket already costs an absurd amount of money through DirecTV (what, 300+ a season?) and, except in very limited circumstances (college students, mostly), you have to have a DirecTV subscription to subscribe to Sunday Ticket (so 60+ a month, minimum, with a two year contract, plus 300+).
Nothing changes, except for the 2 year contract requirement - maybe, I could see Google requiring a contract for YouTubeTV. It's still an absurd amount of money, with no standalone package.
MLB has a standalone package that's absolutely wonderful and reasonably priced. This just makes me hate the NFL more than I already do.
I wish they would ignore NFL which is primarily in the US, and go for global sports.
NFL has plenty of coverage in the US, but has very little interest outside the US.
They should focus on F1 (which has a 300% higher TV viewership than NFL), or major league football (aka soccer in the US).
They would get a ton more subscribers if they were able to stream those services. Not that I have any interest in football, I would love to see better streaming support for motorsports.
