Apple TV+ to add Friday Night Baseball and more

[Brock Beauchamp]

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/03/friday-night-baseball-on-deck-for-apple-tv-subscribers/

The Friday night baseball is kinda meh whatever but I’m more interested in the 24/7 highlights and commentary. 

[Unwinder]

I mostly just don't like the games getting parceled out so that you can't just subscribe to one thing and watch all of the games. Though I guess it's not a lot of games.

[Original_JB]

Just read the AP story and came here to comment. I guess I'm not a fan of the exclusivity aspect but it only affects 4 teams per Friday. That said, Friday nights are one of the few nights I have the time to watch an entire game. A question. How can MLB make a deal with Apple, and grant them the exclusive broadcast rights to these games after already having contracts with various regional sports networks for them?

[chpettit19]

Don't at all like that they're further restricting access to games. This doesn't feel like building and promoting the game as much as it feels like just another revenue stream. I have to hope that there's a larger plan here and they aren't going to continue to parse out games to different streaming services and limit which fans can see what. I'm never going to have Apple TV+ so I hope the plan isn't to have them take on more and more of the games. Good thing is the Twins aren't likely to be featured too often on this so I'll still be able to watch them through other methods. Wonder if the owners see this announcement as poorly timed as they continue to tell the world they can't afford to raise payrolls while they bring in yet another revenue stream.

[MMMordabito]

[Vanimal46]

Would have been better if YouTube expanded their coverage so it was free for people to watch the coverage. $5.99 a month isn’t terrible, but MLB knew what it was doing hiding behind another paywall for their content. 

[TheLeviathan]

I've been able to watch nearly every Wild game on Hulu this year.  I stay engaged with the product and my kids are starting to share my love of hockey.

It isn't hard MLB.

[Trov]

MLB, who claims they make little money, just announced a full new money stream.  Poor timing when you are trying to claim you cannot cover certain money things for players because they cannot afford it.  This will be more fodder for players to attack about money they are not getting. 

I personally hate MLB and their media rights.  There is a reason they got sued for the streaming of games.  It is crazy that if have a sports package that has out of network sports, MLB will have your games blackout and make you pay them for the MLB streaming.  What is the point of having an out of network sports cable or satellite package if the out of network games are blocked? 

[Squirrel]

2 hours ago, Trov said:

MLB, who claims they make little money, just announced a full new money stream.  Poor timing when you are trying to claim you cannot cover certain money things for players because they cannot afford it.  This will be more fodder for players to attack about money they are not getting. 

I personally hate MLB and their media rights.  There is a reason they got sued for the streaming of games.  It is crazy that if have a sports package that has out of network sports, MLB will have your games blackout and make you pay them for the MLB streaming.  What is the point of having an out of network sports cable or satellite package if the out of network games are blocked? 

I read somewhere ... probably on Twitter and don't remember the source, so, consider the non-source ... commenting on this, and said that MLB had some new things like this all lined up but were waiting to complete negotiations before making any of those announcements, but that in this case, Apple jumped in with it ... hmmm ... 

[rationalfan]

I don't see the word "exclusive" used in the actual press release concerning Friday night baseball.  Specifically, the article says this: Most notably, "Friday Night Baseball" will be available in all markets—local broadcast restrictions will not apply to Apple's new service.  

It's certainly possible they are playing legal semantics with their wording or this is how it starts and eventually it will turn into exclusive coverage, but it doesn't look like that's the case now.

[MMMordabito]

Now throw Peacock in there as well for Friday and Monday ....

"... the league pulled in an average of $1.55 billion in annual television rights between the regular season and the playoffs. Their newest batch of contracts with [ESPN, FOX, TBS], plus the recent additions of Apple and NBC, give MLB a 26% increase in television and streaming revenue — up to an average of $1.96 billion each year ..."

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/03/mlb-apple-friday-night-baseball-streaming-deal.html

 

[nicksaviking]

This is great. Do they still make the TV Guide magazine? I love searching around to see which streamer du jour is carrying games each night. Knock on wood I already pay for that one!

[Otto von Ballpark]

3 hours ago, rationalfan said:

I don't see the word "exclusive" used in the actual press release concerning Friday night baseball.

It's in there. Link to press release

“Friday Night Baseball,” a weekly doubleheader with live pre- and postgame shows that will be available to fans in eight countries exclusively on Apple TV+ as soon as the regular season begins.

Emphasis mine. Also in the sub-heading "available only on Apple TV+"

[Otto von Ballpark]

8 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

I've been able to watch nearly every Wild game on Hulu this year.  I stay engaged with the product and my kids are starting to share my love of hockey.

It isn't hard MLB.

Out of curiosity, how are you watching the Wild on Hulu? I didn't think they carried Bally Sports North.

Edit: if you're out-of-market, and getting out-of-market NHL games via ESPN+ through Hulu, that's basically the same as MLB.TV right now, no?

[Mike Sixel]

3 hours ago, MMMordabito said:

Now throw Peacock in there as well for Friday and Monday ....

"... the league pulled in an average of $1.55 billion in annual television rights between the regular season and the playoffs. Their newest batch of contracts with [ESPN, FOX, TBS], plus the recent additions of Apple and NBC, give MLB a 26% increase in television and streaming revenue — up to an average of $1.96 billion each year ..."

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/03/mlb-apple-friday-night-baseball-streaming-deal.html

 

They must be awful business people if they are losing money.......like some claim....

[Otto von Ballpark]

On 3/8/2022 at 4:08 PM, Original_JB said:

A question. How can MLB make a deal with Apple, and grant them the exclusive broadcast rights to these games after already having contracts with various regional sports networks for them?

MLB national TV deals can pre-empt local deals. Same way they have flipped other games to Fox, ESPN, YouTube, etc. in recent years. I'm sure all of the local deals have standard language in them to deal with this.

[TheLeviathan]

1 hour ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

Out of curiosity, how are you watching the Wild on Hulu? I didn't think they carried Bally Sports North.

Edit: if you're out-of-market, and getting out-of-market NHL games via ESPN+ through Hulu, that's basically the same as MLB.TV right now, no?

I don't live in Minnesota, nearly all of their games are on that service.  I'm paying less for Hulu than I would for MLB.TV and getting a crap ton more than what that service would offer.  (Paying a lot less I'll add)

So, no....not even remotely "basically the same".  Unless MLB.TV is offering thousands of non-MLB programs I'm not aware of.  And is bundled with Bluey and Rick and Morty.  Please link me if so.

[Otto von Ballpark]

44 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

I don't live in Minnesota, nearly all of their games are on that service.  I'm paying less for Hulu than I would for MLB.TV and getting a crap ton more than what that service would offer.

So, no....not even remotely "basically the same".  Unless MLB.TV is offering thousands of non-MLB programs I'm not aware of.  And is bundled with Bluey and Rick and Morty.  Please link me if so.

Thanks for clarifying. Do you just have the $6.99/month Hulu (or $12.99 ad-free), or are you bundling it with ESPN+? I knew that ESPN+ was the NHL's out-of-market service in the US now, but I didn't know the extent of their cross-promotion with Hulu.

This is what the Hulu website says:

ESPN+ on Hulu and Disney Bundle subscribers will also have access to out-of-market NHL games, plus on-demand replays. 

A select number of live NHL games may be available to all Hulu subscribers during the regular season.

[TheLeviathan]

12 minutes ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

Thanks for clarifying. Do you just have the $6.99/month Hulu, or are you bundling it with ESPN+? I knew that ESPN+ was the NHL's out-of-market service in the US now, but I didn't know the extent of their cross-promotion with Hulu.

This is what the Hulu website says:

ESPN+ on Hulu and Disney Bundle subscribers will also have access to out-of-market NHL games, plus on-demand replays. 

A select number of live NHL games may be available to all Hulu subscribers during the regular season.

The bundle.  $80 a year and I basically have all Wild games.  Plus Hulu.  Plus Disney.  Plus ESPN.

That's $40 cheaper than MLB.TV with an unquantifiably higher level of content.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Worth noting that the NHL didn't switch to a cheaper service or bundling in Canada, where there is no ESPN+. In Canada, the NHL still has its own out-of-market streaming package for $200 CAD, the same as in past years and roughly comparable to MLBTV ($130 USD) and NBA League Pass ($200 USD).

I think the NHL realized they just didn't have the USA customer base to support offering that out-of-market package here anymore, so they partnered with ESPN+ instead. From what I've heard, that's working out pretty well for everyone involved so far -- but such bundling would be a much different calculation for the NBA and MLB.

[TheLeviathan]

When the NBA rights go up for bid again, or get extended, they will see a massive uptick and a streaming heavy component.

The NHL will always be on the lower tier but they prioritized eyes on their product and an easy streaming relationship.  The NBA will simply get more money and do the same.

If MLB is smart...they'll take that path too. 

[dex8425]

Unbelievable. Instead of making the games more available, let's make fans have to subscribe to another streaming service to have to watch their own team's games! Brilliant!

Guess I'll just watch the highlights the next day on youtube if the Twins win. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

14 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

The bundle.  $80 a year and I basically have all Wild games.  Plus Hulu.  Plus Disney.  Plus ESPN.

That's $40 cheaper than MLB.TV with an unquantifiably higher level of content.

But then you don’t get to watch the same MLB highlight reel between innings 852 times a year.