Apple Approached Bill Simmons About Producing an Original Podcast

Apple approached former ESPN star Bill Simmons about producing an exclusive podcast, reports Re/code. The news follows a recent report from Variety that said Apple has been looking into the production of original content to compete with Netflix, Amazon, and others.

Re/code confirms that Apple has discussed the idea with industry executives but warns that it may not happen at scale. Last year, Apple executive Jimmy Iovine floated the idea of signing up artists to exclusive contracts but for now Apple has only done small exclusives such as getting the rights to a Pharrell song for a limited time.

Interestingly, Apple has also investigated the idea of an original podcast starring Bill Simmons.


Recently, Apple showed interest in signing up former ESPN star Bill Simmons to an exclusive audio podcast deal. Apple media boss Eddy Cue discussed the idea a couple of times with Simmons this summer, say people familiar with the talks, who say that they were preliminary at best.

In the end, Simmons signed a major deal with HBO that includes a podcast which will debut in October.

Variety reported that Apple also made a bid for the stars of Top Gear but Amazon won that battle.

It will be interesting to see if the company's talks with other talent and executives go any further. Please follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates.


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