David Bridges
Key Highlights
- Partnership: Apple is collaborating with Spectrum SportsNet for streaming Lakers games.
- Format: Games will be filmed in Apple Immersive video format for a unique viewing experience.
- Availability: Live games are limited to owners in the Lakers’ broadcast territory with a possible subscription.
- Future Prospects: This initiative may pave the way for more live sports content on the Apple Vision Pro.
Apple is partnering with Spectrum SportsNet to stream select Los Angeles Lakers games directly to the Apple Vision Pro during the 2025-2026 basketball season. The games will be filmed in the Apple Immersive video format, the same VR-friendly filming style the company used to capture the Metallica concert film it released earlier this year.
Beyond giving you a reason to blow the dust off your $3,500 Apple Vision Pro, watching the games in-headset will showcase “perspectives impossible to capture in traditional broadcasts,” Apple claims. Live games will be limited to headset owners living in the Lakers’ regional broadcast territory (Southern California, Hawaii and parts of southern Nevada) and will likely require a subscription to view, but Apple says the full replays and highlights will also be accessible in “select countries and regions from both the SportsNet and NBA apps.” There’s no schedule of games available yet, but Apple and Spectrum say they’ll announce their final plans this fall, with the first games streaming early 2026.
While the general consensus on the Vision Pro is that it makes for a great media consumption device, sports programming that takes advantage of its unique features has been largely missing. Apple makes it easy to watch things like Friday Night Baseball and Major League Soccer, but the NBA is the only mainstream sports league trying to offer an experience that’s specific to the Vision Pro. Beyond playing live games, the NBA visionOS app can display real-time player stats, stream multiple games at once in multiview and show you a tabletop view of games, complete with a 3D court and tiny players.
Now that Apple is reportedly prioritizing smart glasses over a lighter and cheaper version of the Vision Pro, the best thing the company can do is supply existing owners with new things to watch. Not everyone loves the Lakers, but if it opens the door to more live sports in the future, that’s only a good thing.
Brandon Fletcher
