Apple's approach to streaming MLS - I hope MLB is paying attention

[Brock Beauchamp]

It's $15/mo or $100/season. If you're an Apple TV+ subscriber, it's $13/mo or $80/season.

No blackouts, all games available to stream live or as an archived recording.

This is what MLB.tv should have been a decade ago.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/02/apples-major-league-soccer-streaming-service-launches-today/

[wiguy94]

6 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

It's $15/mo or $100/season. If you're an Apple TV+ subscriber, it's $13/mo or $80/season.

No blackouts, all games available to stream live or as an archived recording.

This is what MLB.tv should have been a decade ago.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/02/apples-major-league-soccer-streaming-service-launches-today/

Pretty sure if you are a season ticket holder for a team that you get to watch the games for free on Apple TV (have no clue how that works, but I have seen people say that's the case on twitter)

[bobahunter]

I hope they figure it out sometime soon. I live in the baseball dead zone of Iowa and I'm currently blacked out of six (I think) teams. I just get the radio subscription and hope to catch one or two national games a year that aren't blacked out. This is probably a similar problem for any state that doesn't have a MLB team. Very frustrating.

[sveumrules]

14 minutes ago, bobahunter said:

I hope they figure it out sometime soon. I live in the baseball dead zone of Iowa and I'm currently blacked out of six (I think) teams. I just get the radio subscription and hope to catch one or two national games a year that aren't blacked out. This is probably a similar problem for any state that doesn't have a MLB team. Very frustrating.

Welcome to the site, bobahunter.

Nothing illustrates the absurdity of MLBs blackout restrictions quite like Iowa.

Puts a whole different spin on the famous "This isn't heaven, it's Iowa" quote.

 

[bobahunter]

Thanks! I have been a long time lurker on the site.

A neighbor of mine went to one of those games and brought a sign that said something clever about that subject. I didn't see it on TV and don't know if they even let him into the game with it. 

If you build it (no blackout streaming), they will come (pay).

[Brock Beauchamp]

Iowa encapsulates everything wrong with baseball’s television situation. It’d be hilarious if it didn’t hurt so many fans who just want to watch baseball. 

[Jake McKibbin]

I do find it ridiculous that as someone who doesn't live in the US, I can watch any game via MLB.tv, but for those living in it, you can watch almost any team except your local team on TV for large parts. It just seems so absurd

[MrTPlush]

Bally did this already, but everyone thinks bally is the worst thing ever. 

Actually, Bally is even better as it combines MLB/NBA/NHL (plus even more depending on local) for the same exact price.

Just clamor for all the networks to do what Bally is doing. Then all you need to do is allow people to subscribe to any of the subscriptions within their blackout region. Because right now Bally is still a bit odd in those overlapping blackout areas. Your option gets to be the Royals. That’s really what is dumb and makes no sense. How do you get blacked out and it isn’t even possible the get that team on TV no matter what you try and do? I imagine the Brewers aren’t on cable subscriptions in Iowa.

 

[Brock Beauchamp]

2 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

Bally did this already, but everyone thinks bally is the worst thing ever. 

Actually, Bally is even better as it combines MLB/NBA/NHL (plus even more depending on local) for the same exact price.

Just clamor for all the networks to do what Bally is doing. Then all you need to do is allow people to subscribe to any of the subscriptions within their blackout region. Because right now Bally is still a bit odd in those overlapping blackout areas. Your option gets to be the Royals. That’s really what is dumb and makes no sense. How do you get blacked out and it isn’t even possible the get that team on TV no matter what you try and do? I imagine the Brewers aren’t on cable subscriptions in Iowa.

I don't hate the Bally's solution in a lot of ways but it's quite different than what Apple is doing here.

For example, as a Minnesotan I cannot buy Bally Sports Wisconsin. I'd happily hand over the cash but they won't let me.

But Bally's also owns the rights to the Twins. Surely, if they had enough motivation, they could arrange deals to distribute and stream this differently. Why can't I buy both Bally North and Bally Wisconsin? It's really dumb.

[patrickgpe]

There are models that work which fans are not taken to the woodchipper. For example, gone are the days of 50 dollars for a PPV for WWE (F), now its 5 dollars a month for a peacock subscription and you get any PLE for that month. 

Ballys is basically doing this already, charging 20 dollars a month to watch the brewers, the issue with this is that in addition to a TBTV or hulu live account if you enjoy watching more than just the brewers in the summer. 

The perfect answer is a return of something similar to midwest sports channel, a way to watch the brewers with any cable subscription. I don' t mind paying for premium content (the ability to watch the brewers, but don't appreciate being gauged. 

(I just changed from youtube tv to direct tv stream this week, and the bill went from 65 dollars to 100, and really only getting ballys as an extra chanel. 

[bobahunter]

Back in the day when I first moved here and had directv, I was able to see the brewer games on FSN so then I could see why the blackout could be in place. But in northwest IA there is no service that I have checked that has an option to have access to local brewer broadcasts. Maybe in the Dubuque area that's a different story and then the restriction is just carried out for the entire state. 

[GreatNWwi]

5 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I don't hate the Bally's solution in a lot of ways but it's quite different than what Apple is doing here.

For example, as a Minnesotan I cannot buy Bally Sports Wisconsin. I'd happily hand over the cash but they won't let me.

But Bally's also owns the rights to the Twins. Surely, if they had enough motivation, they could arrange deals to distribute and stream this differently. Why can't I buy both Bally North and Bally Wisconsin? It's really dumb.

Move to the other side of the St. Croix and you can get both.  That is the one TV market advantage we have in the eastern MSP TV market among the many disappointments.  Or you could move to the Iron Range, they get more Wisconsin sports and news than we do in Western Wisconsin adjacent to the twin cities.

[Brock Beauchamp]

20 minutes ago, GreatNWwi said:

Move to the other side of the St. Croix and you can get both.  That is the one TV market advantage we have in the eastern MSP TV market among the many disappointments.  Or you could move to the Iron Range, they get more Wisconsin sports and news than we do in Western Wisconsin adjacent to the twin cities.

I have a cabin just on the Wisconsin side of the St Croix and have contemplated changing one of my credit card billing addresses to that just to get more access to the Brewers.

[MrTPlush]

8 hours ago, patrickgpe said:

There are models that work which fans are not taken to the woodchipper. For example, gone are the days of 50 dollars for a PPV for WWE (F), now its 5 dollars a month for a peacock subscription and you get any PLE for that month. 

Ballys is basically doing this already, charging 20 dollars a month to watch the brewers, the issue with this is that in addition to a TBTV or hulu live account if you enjoy watching more than just the brewers in the summer. 

The perfect answer is a return of something similar to midwest sports channel, a way to watch the brewers with any cable subscription. I don' t mind paying for premium content (the ability to watch the brewers, but don't appreciate being gauged. 

(I just changed from youtube tv to direct tv stream this week, and the bill went from 65 dollars to 100, and really only getting ballys as an extra chanel. 

$65 + $20 = $85

$100 + $0 = $100 

Why not just go with the Bally route? What are you gaining that is worth $15 a months.

As to Brock’s comment: That’s my point. The only issue with the Bally route currently is the blackout rules make it goofy in some locals. Can Bally not just open up the subscription to anyone? There must be something goofy with their cable contracts not allowing it or something. To be honest, Bally being on cable and then dishing this subscription to streamers is probably the best route for profits and getting it accessible to everyone. The entire problem with it being on streaming services is the fact in that demographic not a lot of people need that channel and it is cutting into streaming service profits and/or raising their prices.

It really is the best of both worlds. Streaming services can stay well under the price of cable and streaming fans that want RSNs can still access it while saving boatloads of money over getting cable still.

 

[MrTPlush]

8 hours ago, bobahunter said:

Back in the day when I first moved here and had directv, I was able to see the brewer games on FSN so then I could see why the blackout could be in place. But in northwest IA there is no service that I have checked that has an option to have access to local brewer broadcasts. Maybe in the Dubuque area that's a different story and then the restriction is just carried out for the entire state. 

Yeah, there is no reason places should be blacked out and have literally no way to even access the games if they wanted. That’s just dumb.

[Playing Catch]

The blackout rules for MLB are insane. I have to think that the rules were built for the East coast metroplex with no consideration whatsoever for flyover country. As if smaller markets need any other disadvantages.

[TURBO]

I already pay for cable, I don't want to pay anything more to stream games.  PERIOD!

I want to turn on my tv and watch Brewers games.

The fact that I am going to have to add some other service to watch games is ridiculous, and I am shocked that so many are willing to pay the extra with no fuss.

Not everyone has 6 different streaming services, and not everyone wants to go that route.

 

[patrickgpe]

On 2/3/2023 at 7:23 PM, MrTPlush said:

$65 + $20 = $85

$100 + $0 = $100 

Why not just go with the Bally route? What are you gaining that is worth $15 a months.

As to Brock’s comment: That’s my point. The only issue with the Bally route currently is the blackout rules make it goofy in some locals. Can Bally not just open up the subscription to anyone? There must be something goofy with their cable contracts not allowing it or something. To be honest, Bally being on cable and then dishing this subscription to streamers is probably the best route for profits and getting it accessible to everyone. The entire problem with it being on streaming services is the fact in that demographic not a lot of people need that channel and it is cutting into streaming service profits and/or raising their prices.

It really is the best of both worlds. Streaming services can stay well under the price of cable and streaming fans that want RSNs can still access it while saving boatloads of money over getting cable still.

 

i understand i am tossing 15 dollars away, but from what i have been told, when i am out of town on business or vacation, the ballys app will not wok outside of my zip code, also some have complained about the quality of the stream. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

On 2/4/2023 at 7:57 PM, TURBO said:

I am shocked that so many are willing to pay the extra with no fuss.

Which is fair... if it's an extra cost, which it isn't for a lot of us.

I haven't had traditional cable in over 15 years so I'm not duplicating costs, streaming is literally my first and only option.

And that's the problem with what Sinclair has done... they've played hard ball with all the streaming companies to the point where the only option to stream a Bally RSN is DirecTV, which is an absolute trash fire of an experience. I've used most of the streaming cable options - Hulu, YouTube TV, DirecTV, and something else I'm forgetting - and those first two options aren't a little better than DTV, they're miles better.

So the move to a standalone app is actually a welcome one, at least for me personally (and others who abandoned cable).

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 hour ago, patrickgpe said:

i understand i am tossing 15 dollars away, but from what i have been told, when i am out of town on business or vacation, the ballys app will not wok outside of my zip code, also some have complained about the quality of the stream. 

I'm not sure about blackouts in the app. I've used it at my cabin but I believe that's technically both the Twins and Brewers coverage zone (ugh, MLB blackout rules are arcane). My understanding was that the app never blacks out based on geolocation but the billing zip needs to be in the home territory. I could be wrong about that.

As for the stream itself, I haven't had any problems with it at all but have seen others complain. No idea what the issue is there but it has worked adequately for me personally.

[MrTPlush]

On 2/4/2023 at 7:57 PM, TURBO said:

I already pay for cable, I don't want to pay anything more to stream games.  PERIOD!

I want to turn on my tv and watch Brewers games.

The fact that I am going to have to add some other service to watch games is ridiculous, and I am shocked that so many are willing to pay the extra with no fuss.

Not everyone has 6 different streaming services, and not everyone wants to go that route.

 

Extra Fees?

You must be talking about Cable, surely. I am pretty sure the 'broadcast fee' is where they charge for RSNs etc. At least that is how it shows up if you try to buy AT&T's service.

People aren't paying an extra fee. RSNs off streaming services keep steaming services cheaper. Instead of the streaming service being like $10 more expensive, you pay $15 separately. A slight increase because Betty White down the street isn't helping fund your sports entertainment.

I'd be more concerned why someone has to pay $25 to install something themselves. 

 

 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

MLS, funnily enough, is getting quite a bit of blowback for this (or, at least, a lot of skepticism). The thinking is: Why would people fork over $15/month (basically the cost of Peacock, Paramount+, and one-third of Hulu/ESPN+/Disney+) for a worse version of a product available elsewhere and for less money. Obviously, MLB is the top league of its kind, so that argument doesn't really apply, but there is concern from the soccer folks I know about just how much the sport's broadcasting rights are getting fractured. To be a soccer fan is to have to make a lot of conscious choices about which leagues you care about and how much you're willing to pay for them.

Again, not saying MLB has a better system. Not at all. Those blackouts and the issues others have brought up about Bally's and its weird regionalism is ridiculous. Regional borders mean less than ever in a sporting context, so MLB's stubborn refusal to admit that its a global world (nevermind a national one) is just strange.

Let's hope things change soon.

[Jim Goulart]

Pricy, but, if you are a sports diehard and need Bally Sports Wisconsin:

 

[patrickgpe]

22 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I'm not sure about blackouts in the app. I've used it at my cabin but I believe that's technically both the Twins and Brewers coverage zone (ugh, MLB blackout rules are arcane). My understanding was that the app never blacks out based on geolocation but the billing zip needs to be in the home territory. I could be wrong about that.

As for the stream itself, I haven't had any problems with it at all but have seen others complain. No idea what the issue is there but it has worked adequately for me personally.

thanks for the information, I may have gotten poor intel from a friend. 

[MrTPlush]

4 hours ago, Mass Haas said:

Pricy, but, if you are a sports diehard and need Bally Sports Wisconsin:

 

$86 after a RSN fee for the cheap fuboTV option, YouTube TV is $80/$85 with Bally depending on if you do yearly or not. However, the YouTubeTV channel lineup is a lot better and more comparable to the (what is now) $97 fuboTV.

I like the ability to cancel Bally at will though...so I will test that out and hope it streams well. If not I suppose I could do Fubo for the Brewers season and then revert back to YoutubeTV after since I don't care about the Bucks.