Apple Sports app adds Golf and expands Soccer and Tennis
Apple rolled out a key update on its iPhone-based Sports app that includes Men’s and Women’s golf, covering every PGA and LPGA tournament with live leaderboards, scorecards, and real-time updates. It offers detailed player information including position, tour ranking, birthdate, birthplace, and headshots for those fans looking for in-depth player information. Along with the update, soccer coverage has expanded to include Copa del Rey, Coppa Italia, Coupe de France, and DFB-Pokal — giving users a more robust experience. Moreover, tennis coverage improves with enhanced real-time stats during games and more detailed information for each game and set. Since its launch two years ago, the Sports app covers a wide range of sports including NFL, F1 racing, MLB, NASCAR, NBA, NHL, WNBA, and the English Premier League. The latest version of Apple Sports is available for free in the App Store.
The Circana Take:
- With the addition of golf to the sports app, Apple is positioning itself as the go-to source for all sports content making it more attractive for sports fans. Timing seems right with the start of the PGA's WM Phoenix Open on Feb. 5.
DirecTV and NBCU partner on 2026 Winter Olympics
DirecTV and NBCU are teaming up for the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games that started last Friday, offering subscribers live coverage, interactive features and 4K HDR broadcasts. Subscribers can access linear coverage on NBC, USA Network and CNBC, and digital access from NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app. More than 2,500 hours of content will be streamed, including all 116 medal events and the “Gold Zone” show. NBCU is also introducing OLI, an AI-powered tool and chatbot designed to discover content and help users find programming information.
NBCU also announced that service members and veterans worldwide will have free access to full coverage of the games, compliments of the Army & Air Force Exchange Service and NBCU. Military members will be able to stream all the games using their personal devices and computers through ShopMyExchange.com.
The Circana Take:
- Major sports events like the Winter Olympics should help DirecTV bring in subscribers and widen NBCU reach during the month of February as viewers tune into the action.
Disney and NFL team up for rights to ESPN
Disney and NFL signed a deal that makes the NFL a minority shareholder in ESPN with a 10% stake. In exchange, Disney has control over NFL Network, and the NFL RedZone highlights service. The NFL Network will be integrated into ESPN’s streaming outlet at the start of the next regular season in the fall.
The Circana Take:
- These types of partnerships make sense in an era when sports rights have become essential for media companies that aim to attract broad audiences. It will be interesting to see if these two powerhouse companies agree on any changes to NFL and ESPN programming.