Apple is partnering with Spectrum SportsNet to stream choose Los Angeles Lakers video games on to the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional through the 2025-2026 basketball season. The video games might be filmed within the Apple Immersive video format, the identical VR-friendly filming model the corporate used to seize the Metallica live performance movie it launched earlier this yr.
Past providing you with a cause to blow the mud off your $3,500 Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional, watching the video games in-headset will showcase "views unattainable to seize in conventional broadcasts," Apple claims. Reside video games might be restricted to headset homeowners residing within the Lakers' regional broadcast territory (Southern California, Hawaii and components of southern Nevada) and can probably require a subscription to view, however Apple says the complete replays and highlights may even be accessible in "choose international locations and areas from each the SportsNet and NBA apps." There's no schedule of video games accessible but, however Apple and Spectrum say they'll announce their ultimate plans this fall, with the primary video games streaming early 2026.
Whereas the final consensus on the Imaginative and prescient Professional is that it makes for an excellent media consumption system, sports activities programming that takes benefit of its distinctive options has been largely lacking. Apple makes it simple to look at issues like Friday Evening Baseball and Main League Soccer, however the NBA is the one mainstream sports activities league attempting to supply an expertise that's particular to the Imaginative and prescient Professional. Past enjoying stay video games, the NBA visionOS app can show real-time participant stats, stream a number of video games directly in multiview and present you a tabletop view of video games, full with a 3D courtroom and tiny gamers.
Now that Apple is reportedly prioritizing good glasses over a lighter and cheaper model of the Imaginative and prescient Professional, the most effective factor the corporate can do is provide current homeowners with new issues to look at. Not everybody loves the Lakers, but when it opens the door to extra stay sports activities sooner or later, that's solely a very good factor.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/apple-is-bringing-live-nba-games-to-the-vision-pro-in-2026-184941594.html?src=rss