According to a report from the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand, Major League Baseball has recently engaged in “serious” and “substantial” talks with Apple with regard to weeknight broadcasting rights, specifically to the Monday- and Wednesday-night package previously aired by ESPN. Should a deal be reached, Apple would presumably broadcast the games on Apple TV+, the company’s subscription streaming service that competes with Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video, among others. Apple, the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, recently attained a $3 trillion market valuation.
Though the move wouldn’t exactly represent something wholly new for MLB — regular-season games have been carried on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter in recent seasons, and speculation that MLB might seek to sell the games ESPN had dropped has been rampant since the network’s new deal was announced — it would reflect a shifting sports media landscape. Amazon, a direct competitor with Apple in several arenas, recently reached a deal with the NFL to poach Thursday Night Football from Fox to the tune of $1 billion per season, and NBC has made many Premier League soccer matches available exclusively on Peacock, its own streaming service. MLB also operates its own highly successful streaming service, MLB.tv, which logged a record 10 billion minutes of viewership in 2021, per an October press release. Neither Apple nor MLB have yet commented on the reported talks.
Though the size and scope of a potential deal are presently unclear, it’s unlikely the package would approach the $1 billion mark that Amazon agreed to pay the NFL. While the approximately 60 MLB games ESPN has relinquished dwarf the 18 NFL games Amazon will receive, national viewing habits (and consequent broadcast values) differ greatly between the sports. For reference, per Tom Bassam of SportsPro Media, ESPN paid MLB $700MM annually for the right to a 90-game package and from 2022 will pay an annual fee of $550MM to retain Sunday Night Baseball (roughly 30 games) as well as the Little League Classic, the opening night game, the Home Run Derby, and either all Wild Card series games (should the new CBA include a playoff format similar to 2020’s) or one of two Wild Card games and eight additional regular-season games (should the existing playoff format remain in place).
Still, should a deal be reached, it would almost certainly represent a substantial cash infusion for a league presently at a standstill in CBA negotiations that center largely on the share of revenue retained by owners and that paid to players. In any event, should such a deal come to fruition, it’s very unlikely to be the last of its kind.
I wonder who would broadcast for them
Boogers
Richard Walz?
Time for another sister website …. AAPL Stock Trade Rumors.
I’d pay for that one.
Just buy it and hold on to it. That is what I did in 1997. About as solid of a stock as you can buy.
Hopefully not Costas and Smoltz
I heard Nickleback is looking for a job?
“Hey hey we wanna be sell outs”
Nickleback is one of the worst music groups of all time.
Nickleback uses lyrics like “I’ll have a quesadilla” in their songs. They didn’t even sing it. It was spoken word. That’s all anyone needs to know about Nickleback.
It wasn’t even spoken by a Nickelback member. That was Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top.
I’m sure they cry all the way to the bank.
Seriously, that’s such regurgitated social media BS. You don’t have to like them, but the worst of all time? Sure, because Twitter says so. Please.
I saw them in Seattle with Puddle of Mudd at Bumbershoot and they put on a great show. Tight as hell.
They’ve sold over 50 million albums and sold out arenas around the world. You don’t do that for over two decades by being the worst music group of all time or anything close to it. I haven’t listened to them in years, but people were bagging on them in the internet echo chamber when they had one of the top-selling albums of the 2000’s, “All the Right Reasons.”
Google “Nickelback Is Officially the 11th Best-Selling Band In History.” It’s worth it just for the picture.
I’d sit down and eat a quesadilla with Billy Gibbons!
Pic is quite funny. Thx.
Picture is great. Liked the line “They’re also the second best-selling ‘foreign’ group in the US, behind only the Beatles.”
Ted Lasso
Why waste time with this streaming effort when they’re still crippled by their own self-inflicted blackouts?
Sure, what’s the chances of doing two things at one.
I still don’t understand how MLB can’t figure out that they’d increase subscriptions if they sold packages for local teams to be watched live instead of the current package.
Seriously, with so many other channels creating their own service apps, cable is leaving MLB stuck with garbage channels that are forced on people…channels that are easily replaced by channels on Pluto TV, Xumo, IMDB TV, Roku, FilmRise, Fawesome, etc. etc. etc. They could do much better offering various grades of packages like Disney+, Discovery, HBO Max, etc. have done. Is there any baseball fan that wouldn’t jump all over a chance to have a subscription that showed their local team live?
The simple answer to your question is somebody already paid huge bucks for those in market broadcast rights so they probably aren’t going to be so keen to share them.
Blue Jays are exclusively broadcasted live on their own streaming service, If you live in Canada and try to watch a Jays game on MLB.com it is now fully blacked out , you HAVE to subscribe to SportsNet’,s streaming service to watch the Jays. I had to cancel my MLB subscription last season because no Jays games were available through their streaming service.
If they include local live games in MLB.TV, the price will triple to cover the lost cable money and I’ll cancel my subscription.
They can offer different packages that have different items in each package. You pay for what you order…like all others. If you get the local coverage, then you pay for it. If you stick with the current plan, your payments remain the same.
Nobody watches nationally broadcast games. The ratings prove this. Baseball is a regional sport and most people watch baseball on their local RSN, or on the MLB app. There is no need for any nationally broadcast games.
*except for the obvious money grab by MLB
A dinosaur sport, negotiating deals with a dinosaur service (cable).
Unfortunately, they’ll make it Apple TV exclusive so that fans have to buy that subscription if they want to see the several games a year their team plays that are blacked out everywhere else. That’s the purpose. I didn’t mind it so much with youtube (mild annoyance) because at least that’s free.
I’ve gotten used to not watching sports i was hoping to tune into thanks to ESPN+ (which i don’t subscribe to) and their hockey coverage.
We do watch them, simply because the RSNs don’t carry those games out of respect for those national broadcasts, so it’s the only way to see those games when our local teams are playing.
That being said, you’re right that they could just put them on the RSNs instead.
Although, either way would still be preferable to not being able to see those games at all unless you buy access to yet another streaming service.
Not out of respect, but out of contractual obligation. Those national broadcasts are paying for exclusivity.
This is easy. Apple is one of the richest companies in the world with a young streaming platform and little content in comparison to the juggernauts (Netflix, Hulu/Disney, HBO Max, etc.) — and they have a lot of money they’d be willing to invest to capture at least a small corner of the market to gain critical viewership, not including what it could mean on getting into a younger demo that Apple represents.
Sure, blackout restrictions will ultimately make this null and void, but MLB wants that Apple cache.
Not mentioned in this article is the important fact that Apple currently provides no live streaming content. This would be their very first live offering. For another company this wouldn’t be such an important point, but since it’s Apple the question of where they might be going with live streaming is significant.
This streaming would be available in the home markets of the teams playing in the games like any national broadcast. They have also been in negotiations with several broadcasters including DAZN to do streaming in home markets. From what I have been reading they are not going to allow the RSNs to do the streaming at all.
Great, the one streaming service we don’t have
As if MLB using youtube and facebook wasn’t bad enough already.. Could understand it if they wanted to make a few coins selling the crap, but hundreds of thousands of us folks pay 100.+ for the package. Why do we get gyped? Shouldn’t we get these they try to slide by?
MLB needs to stop this slight of hand nonsense.
I quit my MLB TV for this reason on top of that MLB TV sucks too.
If youre not going to use a hacked Firestick and get every sporting event on Earth for $10/month, then the MLB TV/app along with a vpn is the next best thing
It’s $5/month. Not exactly like signing up for a second Netflix.
this is racism against android users!
AppleTV+ is a subscription service that runs on AppleTV, Roku, Firestick, Chromecast…
lol
Shouldn’t they be more worried about actually getting an agreement made to have games first? Everyone is just nonchalant about this. I remember 1994. These guys might not be same people, but essentially they are. Greed is greed, and each side only cares about themselves and no one worries about the fans.
Sorry just needed to vent.
1994 is 28 years ago. Time to move on.
Anyone who ignores history is doomed to repeat it. I have moved on, but I will NEVER forget.
Nonchalant? Why fret and worry over something you have absolutely no control of? Live your life. Once they figure it out then there will be baseball.
Except I do have control over whether I want to continue spending my money on this sport. I might not be able to control them, but I can control whether I support them. Basically if they take too long to figure it out, I might not care that there is baseball anymore.
Exactly. Baseball has ZERO impact on anyone’s life. It is a complete waste and time and energy getting angry over this.
They have been negotiating with Apple since 2019.
I hope apple just buys the MLB. At least then we’d get watch games on MLB TV
Yep
Then MLB games would be blacked out on Android devices.
Ah Apple, the company that will put it behind a dedicated paywall as if their $100 charge cables aren’t enough.
Why are you paying $100 for charge cables? I get mine for less than $20 at a discount store
I don’t pay for them at that price, but everybody knows they have offerings like that. I’m just pointing out that Apple overcharges stuff they get [insert foreign country here] to make it for pennies and then charge a Kings Ransom for here.
And my original Apple charging cords still work just fine for nearly a decade. They may cost more, but they last.
Hahahaha you get duped, I pay <$70 for a multi-port wall plug with USB-C and the four charger cables for my iPhone, Watch, and whatever else I wish to charge with the other ports
Apple has denied the Mets’ request to something-something.
Lol that’s funny
So why is MLB doing thus now? Would it be better if MLB did this following the completion of CBA negotiations? Players will want more. I am not trying to pick owners over players. I am just saying why make it known? If it can”t be kept quiet then MLbshould not have started the conversation with Apple until after the CBA is signed.
unless this is trying to motivate the MLBPA to agree to a deal?
If MLBPA knows there is a bigger pie, they are likely to hold out for a bigger piece.
This hurts MLB in my opinion. This will only strengthen the resolve of the PA demanding a bigger piece of the pie. But, then again, this is Manfred’s leadership, so……
Doesn’t matter when they do it.
They’ve been doing it for a long while, obviously. Just got written up cuz there’s nothing else going on.
They have been in negotiations for several years. It wasn’t until ESPN dropped the rights to the mid-week games starting in 2022 that the conversation heated up.
If Apple+ is going to stream games, they have to be games in the big Apple, right?
MLBTV blackouts suck. Shouldn’t be “regional” if less than 150 miles from team.
AND
Multiple streamers is becoming more problematic than cable.
Get a VPN ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But for the record I totally agree with you
If MLBPA knows there is a bigger pie, they are likely to hold out for a bigger piece.
Just what I wrote above. Seems like terrible timing for the cost-conscious MLB claiming poverty all the time.
“$3 trillion” – good lord. Millionaires squabbling with billionaires who are attempting to partner with a three-trillion-dollar monster. What is going on here?
They’re all fighting over our money.
… true, Ronn.
Is anyone at Apple in touch with society? NHL sold their soul to ESPN+ and no one is paying for it. No one is gonna pay more money for weekday baseball when their home team has most of those games televised…..
I paid for it. It’s like $7 a month to watch basically every hockey game. Get the whole NHL season for less than one ticket. Pretty great actually.
Watching Avs vs SEA right now.
smith – Millions of fans don’t live in their favorite team’s region and therefore can’t watch their home team’s network without a subscription.
in that case it’s understandable, but that is 5% of the fan base.
35-45 million people that subscribed to MLB.tv would say otherwise. That is much more than 5% of the fan base.
I wouldn’t be so sure that last bit is gonna last. Many major league local TV broadcasts are very low revenue affairs that may not even make money. It wouldn’t surprise me if Apple were able to negotiate no local broadcasts for the games they carry. In fact I assume that would be a prerequesite to a deal. That’s how capitalism works these days.
They are negotiating for the national rights to the game so just like any national game, there would be no home broadcast. The game still we be available later on MLB.tv just like they were when ESPN had the rights.
Exactly right. The overwhelming majority of games are already televised and widely available on cable or streaming.
Wouldn’t these games replace the local games though?
Yes. Just like they did when ESPN carried the mid-week games. If its a national game there is no local broadcast.
Aside from fans of teams that live in a different market, doesn’t really matter. Years of an unbalanced schedule has diluted matchups anyway. Balanced schedule, salary cap and floor, and quicker games and you’ll get ratings no matter what platform the games are on. Until then, nobody is going out of their way to tune into White Sox/Indians part 16 of 19.
Down with the Divisional Era!
So now we have to pay extra to stream rotten apples….
how bour dropping the mlb.tv blackouts, then we’ll talk.
MLB steaming agenda is a mess. I live in Hawaii, every California team is blacked out. Only the elderly have cable, keep slowly dying and alienating your fans mlb.
Another pay service that brings games farther away from the working man and his sons. How many pay services do they expect a wage earner to afford?
I won’t feel any guilt streaming it, more so if they still have blackouts. Eye for an eye.
Televised baseball games have always cost viewers. Just in wasted time and brain cells in the form of ads between innings. Now we’re paying (very modestly, I might add) in dollars and cents. Doesn’t particularly bother me. In fact, I vastly prefer it to these mega cable companies that force me to pay for stuff I never watch.
If TTO hadn’t bored me into not watching baseball anymore, I’d be mad about this…
MLB Network got rid of Ken Rosenthal???
Little dude is the best reporter in any sport. He was the best thing on that channel, hands down.
Manfred really is a dunce.
Didn’t MLB learn anything from giving Facebook games to broadcast? Nobody watches games on FB. And it really, really pisses me off when I can’t watch a game on my expensive cable package because it is being broadcast on that social media farce.
1. I hate anything apple
2. The Tuesday and Thursday games on ESPN were lame.
3. Why can’t I just pay extra and get 100% of the games on MLB.TV?
4. Sunday night games on ESPN have lame announcers.
5. No one watches 3 hours of baseball with screaming, “Shut Up Tim McCarver!”
Sports likes to assume what team we should root for and therefore want to watch. Obviously, if you live in a certain city or region, you must be a fan of the local team.
With all of the technology available I don’t understand why we can’t choose the games we want to see. If you want to limit me to “one game at a time” or whatever my “package” would allow, at least let me choose the game.
It’s almost like…
If you live in the west, you must love CSI: Las Vegas and let’s say NCIS: LA. But you can’t watch them if you live in NY…because why would you want to? You have to watch Blue Bloods and NYPD Blue. (I don’t watch any of those, I’m being facetious to make a point)
Obviously geography matters for attendance, but it shouldn’t have to matter for viewership. In my opinion.
Fans will have to subscribe to a dozen different services to catch all the games. Every time they put a game on a different streaming svc, they black it out on the local RSN that I pay for just to watch the games. Then I have to get set up on another service. Now it’s going to be another pay service. MLB has already priced the average fan out of the ballpark. Now they’re going to price us out of watching it on TV too.
It’s already ridiculous. I don’t have cable but use my out-of-state folks’ account for streaming services. There has been at least a dozen times last year where I couldn’t figure out what network is where so I instead resorted to illegal streaming sites to save myself time. Such a damn chore.
These are games that used to be on ESPN and ESPN decided not to carry them anymore.
Sure. Make it bleepin’ harder to find games. I already can’t stand the stupid MLB.TV restrictions, the blackouts, the search and destroy missions you have to go on to find playoff games. I just use bootleg sites, no sense in paying for something that doesn’t perform the basic function that is is for.
I’d get the TV package if they got rid of rhe blackouts. I subscribe to the radio part, and am not interested in the streaming packages that the local sports network use. So, they get to lose money all around. Stupid business model for a modern, multi-billion dollar media operation.
I am thrilled by this for a couple reasons:
I am an iPhone user
Any streaming tech Apple comes up with to broadcast games is gonna be actually functional. The MLBtv app sucks donkey balls.
STOP making it harder to access the product. The owners are chasing these silly numbers into a closet. A closet is about the size needed for Apple+ users compared to the rest of the audience here in the states alone. MLB isn’t even trying to be America’s pastime with this thinking…..
How does MLB negotiate with Apple folks and not the actual players in a new CBA? Time to pivot to another hobby for me. Wore out with the lies, hypocritical behavior and requests for public funding while I got ads galore for online sports betting. Baseball used to stand for something different, much different.
Maybe it is my general disdain for Apple or specific disdain to ongoing discussion around around the use of forced labor in China, but there is zero chance I would watch games in any Apple streaming service.
Apple does only one thing well: It makes good hardware. Everything else it tries doing stinks. Most of the things MLB tries doing also stink. They’re a perfect match.
I hate apple TV and anything associated with apple streaming television shows.
They charge super high prices for most anything apple and are already the most valuable company in the world, why do they have to screw up our tv and sports now too? So damned greedy!
I’m so sick of new streaming services all trying to suck our dollars their way! Peacock!? Paramount plus!? Go f yourselves execs! (Especially because they ALREADY HAVE TV NETWORKS!!!)
I never thought I’d say it, but it almost makes me wanna go back to good old cable-where at least everything was in one place and was in one bill!
Unless there’s actually going to be something special and different about them, stop creating new streaming services!
What?! No! Why should we have to get another streaming service instead of watching the games on a channel we already have?! I’m already doing without most of the Cardinals’ TV games due to Fox’s failure to negotiate with any reasonably priced services in St. Louis (while the MLB Network games are blacked out), so the national ESPN games are almost all I have left! That will only leave the national Fox Saturday games and the YouTube games available to me!
I wonder how most of you would have survived when there was only one national game a week (Sat afternoon), and most teams only broadcast a handful of local games a season…and all WS games were played in the afternoon.
A tube radio and a good imagination made baseball a wondrous game at night, as I could listen to the Indians, Cardinals, Pirates, Tigers, White Sox, Yankees…and the Houston Colt 45s.
And the announcers back then.
At one time, KMOX in St Louis had a three man radio crew.
Jack Buck
Harry Caray
Joe Garagiola
Who needed a game to be televised?
If there is no black out restrictions, I would probably subscribe.
After using a Mac and iPhone mostly exclusively for work ( i asked for to learn them better ) I am Liking it… wish they were cheaper though.