Social media company Twitter is in talks with North American basketball league the NBA, Major League Soccer and US cable-television broadcaster Turner Broadcasting System over acquiring digital streaming rights, according to the Recode website.
Citing several sources familiar with the discussions, Recode said content could include live games or footage such as pre- or post-match interviews and analysis.
Turner is included in the talks as its Turner Sports division holds sports rights with a number of leagues and properties such as the NBA, Major League Baseball and National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball. Turner also backs esports competition the Eleague.
Earlier this week, Twitter launched a live streaming service for the Wimbledon tennis grand slam as it prepares for its first major sports rights deal with American football league the NFL.
The UK grand slam’s official Twitter account tweeted the live feed on Wednesday, with the ‘Live @ Wimbledon’ page offering a video stream pinned to the top of the page, with a rolling list of tournament-related tweets running alongside.
Recode said Twitter worked with both Wimbledon and US sports broadcaster ESPN to commence the service. ESPN acquired exclusive US broadcast rights to Wimbledon in 2011, and the stream on Twitter includes a mix of content from the tournament organiser and ESPN.
In April, the NFL selected Twitter as its exclusive partner to deliver a live over-the-top digital stream of Thursday Night Football games to a global audience across all devices and for free during the course of the 2016 regular season.
Twitter will stream the 10 Thursday Night Football games broadcast by the NBC and CBS networks, which will also be simulcast on cable television broadcaster NFL Network, securing the league’s targeted ‘tri-cast’ distribution model of broadcast, cable and digital platforms.
In addition to live streaming video of NFL action, the partnership includes in-game highlights from TNF as well as pre-game broadcasts from players and teams via Twitter’s Periscope service.