The boss of Amazon's TV production arm "has hinted that the company is planning significant expansion into sports broadcasting," according to Graham Ruddick of the London GUARDIAN. Amazon Studios Head Roy Price said at the Edinburgh int'l TV festival that "sport was a good opportunity for Amazon's video streaming service." The comments suggest Amazon "could compete to win rights to show Premier League matches when the next auction launches next year." Amazon recently won the rights to broadcast the ATP World Tour. These rights are currently held by Sky and allow it to show the end-of-year ATP World Tour finals. Price said, "People love sports -- it's big, it's engaging, it really motivates people, so I think that's a good opportunity. I think it's definitely an opportunity we'll explore." City analysts have already warned that Sky could be forced to pay an extra £600M ($776.4M) annually to "retain the lion's share of Premier League matches because of potential competition from Google, Apple, Facebook and Netflix as well as Amazon." Price refused to provide more details about "what Amazon may bid for or its expansion plans in sport" (GUARDIAN, 8/25).
