Jan 5, 2018

Report: Amazon in talks for Premier League soccer streaming

Photo: Michel Spingler / AP

Amazon is consulting industry experts about procuring rights to England's top live sport: soccer. The Seattle-based tech giant has its eyes Premier League rights for the three years between 2019-2022, according to The Daily Telegraph. Amazon would position itself against two of England's top live sports channels, Sky TV and BT, in a bid for the rights.

Why it matters: It's a sign that Amazon is interested in continuing to build a portfolio of worldwide sports rights to increase its Prime membership and user engagement with its services. As it build its advertising business, user adoption and time spent with its content will become crucial in ensuring it can produce enough ad inventory to sell sponsorships and ad placements.

Amazon has been bidding for live sports rights domestically for some time. Most notably, it won the Thursday Night Football contract from the NFL for $50 million during the 2017 season. In November it secured exclusive UK rights to cover the final grand slam of the U.S. open for the next five years.

Tech giants have increasingly been bidding for national and international sports streaming rights, as a way to capture attention from audiences worldwide and sell ads against those eyeballs. Facebook secured the streaming rights for MLS and MLB games. Twitter has struck partnerships with the NBA and NFL for highlight shows. Snapchat has secured dozens of rights to footage for sports across the globe, including the Dubai World Cup and Australian Open.

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Axios
Updated 23 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 4 p.m. ET: 12,813,864 — Total deaths: 566,790 — Total recoveries — 7,046,535 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 4 p.m. ET: 3,286,025 — Total deaths: 135,089 — Total recoveries: 995,576 — Total tested: 39,553,395 — Map.
  3. States: Florida smashes single-day record for new coronavirus cases with over 15,000 — Miami-Dade mayor says "it won't be long" until county's hospitals reach capacity.
  4. Public health: Ex-FDA chief projects "apex" of South's coronavirus curve in 2-3 weeks — Coronavirus testing czar: Lockdowns in hotspots "should be on the table"
  5. Education: Betsy DeVos says schools that don't reopen shouldn't get federal funds — Pelosi accuses Trump of "messing with the health of our children."
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Jacob Knutson
32 mins ago - Politics & Policy

11 GOP congressional nominees support QAnon conspiracy

Lauren Boebert posing in her restaurant in Rifle, Colorado, on April 24. Photo: Emily Kask/AFP

At least 11 Republican congressional nominees have publicly supported or defended the QAnon conspiracy theory movement or some of its tenets — and more aligned with the movement may still find a way onto ballots this year.

Why it matters: Their progress shows how a fringe online forum built on unsubstantiated claims and flagged as a threat by the FBI is seeking a foothold in the U.S. political mainstream.

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Fadel Allassan
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Lindsey Graham says he will ask Mueller to testify before Senate

Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tweeted Sunday that he will grant Democrats' request to call former special counsel Robert Mueller to testify before his committee.

The big picture: The announcement comes on the heels of Mueller publishing an op-ed in the Washington Post that defended the Russia investigation and conviction of Roger Stone, whose sentence was commuted by President Trump on Friday.

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