A senior executive at internet company Amazon has hinted that the firm is planning a significant expansion of its ambitions in the sports broadcasting market.
Speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, Roy Price, head of Amazon Studios and head of global content at Amazon Video, discussed the company’s approach to sports content.
“People love sports – it’s big, it’s engaging, it really motivates people, so I think that’s a good opportunity,” Price said, according to The Guardian newspaper. “I think it’s definitely an opportunity we’ll explore.”
Earlier this month, The Guardian reported that Amazon had secured its first major sports rights deal outside its home US market by acquiring UK rights to professional men’s tennis circuit the ATP World Tour.
The newspaper said Amazon had held off competition from incumbent rights partner, pay-television broadcaster Sky, with an offer worth as much as £10m (€11.2m/$13m) per year. Sky currently has a deal for all ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and World Tour 500 series events, including the World Tour Finals. The deal runs for five years, from 2014 to 2018.
Amazon also started offering content from international sports broadcaster Eurosport to subscribers of its Prime subscription service in Austria and Germany this month. Amazon reached the agreement with media and entertainment company Discovery Communications, which owns Eurosport.
The deal grants Amazon Prime members access to Eurosport content such as football’s German Bundesliga; the Australian Open, French Open and US Open grand slam tennis tournaments; the MotoGP motorcycling series; and the 2018 winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.