MLB teams with Apple for Friday broadcasts

[notjimrose]

A weekly slate of Friday games will be broadcast exclusively on Apple TV+, assuming the season ever starts, with no blackouts. Users will be able to watch "for a limited time" without a subscription.

https://theathletic.com/news/apple-partners-with-mlb-to-show-weekly-friday-baseball-doubleheader/bupGgKCWHm8w/

[Dumpjerry]

I don't have Apple TV+ and don't plan on getting it (I have enough of those services already). How do I get to see the White Sox if they are one of the Friday night games???

[eriqjaffe]

I don't have Apple TV+ and don't plan on getting it (I have enough of those services already). How do I get to see the White Sox if they are one of the Friday night games???

Not sure if there will be any other way.

[Dumpjerry]

Not sure if there will be any other way.

Somewhere Bill Wirtz is smiling. He, too, hated allowing fans to watch his team on television.

[thomas35forever]

This is such a terrible idea. Clearly, they learned nothing from The Baseball Network.

[ChiTownTrojan]

So these games won't be broadcast on mlb.tv either?

[Lipman 1]

I wonder how much the poor owners are getting for this little deal? LOL.

[Chez]

I don't have Apple TV+ and don't plan on getting it (I have enough of those services already). How do I get to see the White Sox if they are one of the Friday night games???

Hey, old-timer - ask the teenager down the block or the 20-something in your office (after you chase them off your lawn). .

[notjimrose]

I wonder how much the poor owners are getting for this little deal? LOL.

The rumor is $350M. Apparently there is also another streaming deal with Peacock that will be announced once the new CBA is in place. MLB wanted to wait to announce both deals, but Apple had other plans.

[ChiTownTrojan]

The rumor is $350M. Apparently there is also another streaming deal with Peacock that will be announced once the new CBA is in place. MLB wanted to wait to announce both deals, but Apple had other plans.

Yeah, it's harder for them to cry poor during the CBA negotiations when they're being given an extra $350M just to make it harder for fans to watch their product.

[Dumpjerry]

I wonder how much the poor owners are getting for this little deal? LOL.

Well, in fairness to the owners (who, rumor has it, are Human Beings like us), they do need the money. After all, how else can the Ricketts family, a home-spun family from Nebraska, come up with $3,300,000,000.00 to buy a Soccer team in Europe?

[eriqjaffe]

Somewhere Bill Wirtz is smiling. He, too, hated allowing fans to watch his team on television.

The difference, of course, is the only thing stopping you here is your unwillingness to spend the money, not because it's not being made available.

[longtimefan]

Yeah, it's harder for them to cry poor during the CBA negotiations when they're being given an extra $350M just to make it harder for fans to watch their product.

JR will have to get a bigger wallet.

[Dumpjerry]

The difference, of course, is the only thing stopping you here is your unwillingness to spend the money, not because it's not being made available.

There are too many streaming services out there. It makes no sense to sign up for all of them because there isn't enough time in a month to watch all of them (unless you're retired and don't like to get outside at all).

Over the next few years, there will be shrinkage as they buy each other out.

[Lipman 1]

Details on the deal, from Forbes:


The new multi-year streaming deal between Major League Baseball and Apple is worth $85 million annually over seven years, according to several sources familiar with the agreement who spoke with Forbes on the condition of anonymity because the discussions were private. Under terms of the new pact, Apple will pay a $55 million rights fee and $30 million worth of advertising. Apple gets exclusive rights to telecast two “Friday Night Baseball” games each week (about 50 a season) in the U.S. and to eight countries overseas, via its Apple TV Plus. Apple has the right to exit the agreement after the first or second years.

In addition, Forbes has learned that MLB has come to terms with a two-year streaming deal with Comcast’s NBC Sports for the Monday and Wednesday Night games ESPN did not pick up in its new agreement with MLB, mainly to stream on Peacock. This deal starts this season and is worth $30 million annually.