![]() In this case, Apple reaches into every single home, with their products and their app. That’s certainly not what we see, across a wide variety of content. I think the conversation a few years ago of, ‘Hey, you’re streaming something and that is somehow going to negatively impact the viewership,’ I don’t think that’s the reality any more. But, if you look at what happened in the pandemic, and behavior with streaming in general, it’s become mainstream. I hear what you’re saying on the streaming side. So, from our perspective, it’s going to reach a huge domestic and national audience. Why does MLB believe the Apple deal is good for fans?įirst of all, any time you have a national game, it takes a local game of some sort of significance and exposes it to more people. That’s a decision they’ll make down the road.Īs a fan, I might not be interested in your reach on a national scale. That is something I would probably expect them, on some level, to do. They have the ability to put it behind a paywall. (Apple has promised free games through June 24 but could require a subscription thereafter.) We’re pretty excited about it.įree, for a limited time. You don’t need to be a subscriber to Apple+ to access it. The other big thing for us, at least initially, is that this is free, in front of a paywall. And so the opportunity to have a partner such as Apple, who can distribute our product - in this case, doubleheaders on Friday nights - to a huge domestic but also international audience is something that appealed to us. On top of that, you’ve got the combination of cord-cutters and, more importantly, cord-nevers. And even in the local market, the traditional linear bundle has been under pressure. We have been looking for ways to increase reach for our games on a national scale. Why does the Apple deal make sense for MLB? That made this a good time to check in with Noah Garden, chief revenue officer at MLB, on behalf of the many fans wondering why the league appears to have made it more difficult for consumers to watch its product. The Dodgers play on Apple TV+ this Friday. The Angels played on Apple TV+ last Friday. There might be no more critical concern for Major League Baseball, where teams have grown accustomed to ever-higher payments from cable and satellite companies, all based on the concept that each home subscriber should pay perhaps $5 per month for a team, even if 95% of those customers do not watch the games. The bundle format is in decline, with customers balking at paying for dozens of channels they never watch and streaming services offering the chance to pay only for the programming you do want to watch. You might have to look up which channel would carry that day’s game, but you already had paid for access to it. If your team’s game was selected for a national broadcast - on ESPN, Fox, FS1, TBS or MLB Network - you also could find those channels within your bundle. Your team’s regional sports network (or RSN) - SportsNet LA for the Dodgers, Bally Sports West for the Angels - was one of those channels. You paid a cable or satellite company a monthly fee for a bundle of channels, many of which you would never watch. ![]() For decades now, the way you watch your baseball team has been pretty much the same.
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