Report: Amazon aiming for sports rights

Amazon is reportedly going after video rights for professional sports, including tennis, rugby and golf.

According to a Bloomberg report, which cites people with knowledge of the matter, Amazon has expressed interest in sport with a global appeal, which also includes soccer and auto racing.

The online retail giant is also reportedly interested in US sports like baseball and basketball, even though the rights are not currently up for grabs.

Bloomberg said that while the progress of Amazon’s sports rights talks are not clear, this year the company hired executives formerly from Sports Illustrated and YouTube to oversee a sports division, as well as sports partnerships and business development.

Moving into sport would differentiate Amazon’s video offering from the likes of Netflix, with the latter’s CEO, Reed Hastings, recently commenting that Netflix is not interested in adding sport and news to the SVOD company’s content line-up.

In December Amazon partnered with major TV networks and content makers like Showtime, Starz and AMC – in order to offer additional content subscriptions through Amazon Video.

According to details revealed in a string of company job posts this summer, Amazon is now also planning to launch this streaming partners programme in Europe.