Twitter (TWTR) may have just pulled off a live-stream four-peat.
The social networking site reportedly has inked a deal with Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League to broadcast weekly games for both leagues as early as this season, though no date has been given for when the games will start Twitter-casting, according to Variety.
In April, Twitter secured a deal with the National Football League to live broadcast its Thursday night games, outbidding Verizon (VZ) and Amazon (AMZN) in the process. Last week, Twitter signed a contract with the NBA to showcase two of its new hoops-related shows. With Monday’s MLB and NHL announcements, Twitter would secure its position as the sole live-stream service for all four major sports leagues, a major victory as it strives to differentiate itself from competitors offering similar content.
“Twitter has long been a great partner and platform for both baseball and hockey fans as they follow their favorite teams and players every day,” MLBAM Executive VP Kenny Gersh told Variety. “We know fans will embrace what this wide-ranging partnership brings—expanded and reliable access to live baseball and hockey and the introduction of Twitter’s first daily live highlight show delivered intuitively to a platform where they’re actively engaged with the games.”
Twitter is facing strong live-stream competition from Facebook (FB), whose Facebook Live launch earlier this year has been viewed as a huge success. CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s company launched its own sports live-stream endeavor called Sports Stadium in January before making Facebook Live available to all users in the spring. Facebook also has signed as many as 140 contracts worth a total of $50 million with celebrities, YouTube stars, and select media outlets like Buzzfeed (BUZZFEED) earlier this year to stream their content on Facebook Live.
Coins2Day has reached out to Twitter and will update this story if the company responds.
