The new Apple TV 4K will bring live sports to viewers, but how?

Overshadowed by Tuesday’s announcement of the new iPhone was the unveiling of the new Apple TV 4K. And unlike the previous incarnations, this one will be in the next generation of high definition.

But one thing that our eyes in the Awful Announcing offices immediately noticed was the fact that this set top box will be a little more dependent on live sports. The current version of Apple TV is dependent on entertainment and health apps, but it also has the standard sports apps like CBS Sports, ESPN, Fox Sports Go, MLB.TV, NBA, NBC Sports, NFL, NHL, Stadium and so on and so forth.

The new Apple TV 4K will have a dedicated sports tab and will have every live and upcoming game. Plus, it will have live scores with both period and time remaining, just like on Comcast’s X-1 set-top boxes. In addition, the TV app will be updated to allow users to go to a live game within the app. The current TV app includes participating networks like CBS, HBO, Showtime, and your purchased TV shows and movies, but there’s no live sports.

The change in the TV app will also be reffected on the iPhone and iPad in iOS 11, but we don’t know how exactly this will work and if ESPN, Fox, Golf Channel, MLB, NBC, NFL, and others will be involved.

After Apple TV was unveiled, people were slow to embrace it and set top boxes like Amazon Fire Stick, Chromecast, Roku and others raced past it. Now, if Apple TV can integrate live sports into its intrastructure without having to go to each individual app and provide a one-stop shopping, it might be on to something and be a true alternative to the competition.

Apple TV 4K will be available for pre-orders on September 15 and for purchase on September 22.

[TechCrunch]