Apple continues to get into the sports streaming world after inking a first-look deal with Meadowlark Media. The multi-year agreement was first reported by Deadline and will give Apple TV+ a first-look at Meadowlark’s premium documentary films and unscripted series.
Earlier this year, former ESPN personality Dan Le Batard and former ESPN President John Skipper created Meadowlark Media as an outlet to create sports stories and other content. As a former journalist at the Miami Herald, Le Batard is using his new platform to tell stories from voices that haven’t been heard in the world of streaming.
On his popular sports podcast The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, he discusses a Penn State project that is in the works surrounding the Sandusky scandal:
“Meadowlark Media is doing a project that we will tell you about later, that involves the Penn State sports scandal of our lifetime and the damage that sexual abuse left on one kid after everyone left — the camera’s left, all ‘justice’ was metted out, Joe Paterno died, and there was no real healing.”
Details are sparse on when the Penn State project will be released or if it will be available on Apple TV+.
Skipper spent 27 years at ESPN, becoming Executive Vice President of Content in 2005, which ushered in a new era of storytelling for the network. 30 for 30 and E:60 are two of the network’s most popular docuseries and storytelling shows to debut during that time. In 2012, he became President of ESPN Inc. and left the company in 2017, to later become executive chairman of DAZN Group, a year later.
With Apple TV+ looking to become a major player in the sports world, they caught a big fish with the Meadowlark deal. Apple is a favorite to land NFL Sunday Ticket, which the league considers “a streaming product,” once the current DIRECTV deal concludes after next season. Recently, the streaming service announced that they will be the home of a 4-part Magic Johnson docuseries.