MLB At Bat Goes Live for 2012 With Improved Pricing Scheme

MacRumors · Feb 29, 2012

Baseball season is almost upon us and with that comes the latest edition of Major League Baseball's At Bat app, which went live this morning. The app provides baseball fans with access to live game radio and television broadcasts, MLB GameDay play-by-play service, and more.

Of course, all this isn't free. There are several service options depending mostly on if users wish to have streaming television broadcasts or are content with radio. The app itself, a universal app designed for both the iPhone and iPad, is a free download. On its own, it offers free league-wide scoreboards and limited access to news content from Major League Baseball.

There are two main service levels, with the high-end MLB.tv Premium offering everything: live home-and-away television broadcasts for "out-of-market" games (that is, users can't watch their local team's television coverage); live game home-and-away radio broadcasts; GameDay play-by-play coverage; in-game highlights; box scores; and many, many statistics.

MLB.tv Premium can be purchased for $124.99/season or $24.99/month from the MLB.tv website. The MLB.tv login can then be used to completely unlock the iOS app, and it also allows games to be watched from the Mac or Apple TV.

New for this year is an additional MLB.tv Premium purchase option: a $24.99/month in-app subscription that gives all the same access as buying through the MLB website, but with the convenience of charging the service to an iTunes account. Across the whole length of the season, the $24.99/month charge will be more expensive than the full season charge of $124.99, but it is nice to have the option.

Also available is an in-app purchase for $14.99/season or $2.99/month that offers the same radio broadcasts and GameDay features as the full MLB.tv Premium package, but without the television broadcasts. Subscribers to this package do get one free featured television broadcast per day, as well as "live look-ins" to games when significant events happen.

Last year, MLB.tv Premium users were required to pay the $124.99/season fee, as well as buying separate iPhone and iPad apps for $14.99 each. This year, subscribers with iOS devices will save $30 by having the apps unlock automatically with a login. Additionally, MLB.tv Premium users will get access to out-of-market game broadcasts on the Apple TV. MLB tells MacRumors that the Apple TV is receiving an updated interface for 2012 as well.

Finally, MLB told us about a new "At The Ballpark" app coming on Opening Day 2012. The app will expand on the features offered in the At Bat app last year and will offer maps to concession stands, emergency exits and more at ballparks, as well as a geolocated check-in service. Individual clubs can offer seat upgrades, special offers and food discounts to app users. Some clubs even offer mobile food ordering from the app, and can deliver food right to your seat.

MLB At Bat is a free universal download from the App Store for iPhone and iPad. [Direct Link]

Article Link: MLB At Bat Goes Live for 2012 With Improved Pricing Scheme

spiderman0616 · Feb 29, 2012

MLB is yet another streaming content provider that doesn't "get it". They're better than the NFL about this stuff, but as a cord cutter, I look at this service as a waste of money. If I pay for MLB.TV, I want to watch the games live whether they're in my market area or not. If they would get rid of the game delays for local games, I would be all over this service.

These big companies these days just don't understand where things are moving. In ten years time, I honestly think we'll be streaming everything we watch and paying for only the content we want rather than 500 channels of stuff we don't care about.

bennettave · Feb 29, 2012

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

how long before there is a way to watch home team baseball for people who have dropped cable tv??

HA5TY · Feb 29, 2012

damir00 · Feb 29, 2012

Good stuff!

But curious that the image they're showing is from a video game instead of actual baseball footage.

If they (and the other leagues! looking at you, NHL!) could do something about the blackout restrictions, it would be even better.

----------

spiderman0616 said:
These big companies these days just don't understand where things are moving.

They certainly do understand. MLB in particular has been at the forefront of moving to IP based distribution.

But legacy contracts/commitments don't allow them to move as quickly as we'd like them to move.

Stang · Feb 29, 2012

Oh screw this man. I guess It's okay that the iPad and iPhone app will only cost me 14.99 together to listen to the games, but this sucks hardcore. Now it's an in-app purchase? Why do they keep doing this crap?

Cynicalone · Feb 29, 2012

The best sports app year after year.

My subscription is paid for and the app is installed on all my devices. I'm ready for the season to start.

Diode · Feb 29, 2012

bennettave said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

how long before there is a way to watch home team baseball for people who have dropped cable tv??

With MLB tv blackout restrictions - a long way away.

summitRun · Feb 29, 2012

Thanks MR! Just made me realize how close we are to spring.

Opening day at a ballpark near you...aint that america, home of the free YEAH

Jazwire · Feb 29, 2012

Until I can watch in market games, its junk for about 75% of fans.

Granted if you don't live in a market or your fav team is out of your market its pretty nice.

Another year with cable and the horrible local FoxSports announcers. :/

socbrian · Feb 29, 2012

spiderman0616 said:
MLB is yet another streaming content provider that doesn't "get it". They're better than the NFL about this stuff, but as a cord cutter, I look at this service as a waste of money. If I pay for MLB.TV, I want to watch the games live whether they're in my market area or not. If they would get rid of the game delays for local games, I would be all over this service.

These big companies these days just don't understand where things are moving. In ten years time, I honestly think we'll be streaming everything we watch and paying for only the content we want rather than 500 channels of stuff we don't care about.

MLB gets it, just that the channel that covers your team owns the rights to broadcast is exclusively. aka why would they want mlb to stream it in their market. They would lost views, then lower commercial pricing and then them not making any money.

I know in NY the YES channel, offers in-market streaming package, lets hope other channels caught on to this.

derek1984 · Feb 29, 2012

Nfl

I hope one day the NFL offers something like this where you can watch every game live. But I guess there is too much money involved with DirecTV. Too bad...

Mac21ND · Feb 29, 2012

I'd buy it in a heartbeat if not for the blackout rules. I live four hours from my "home" team and am blacked out.

room237 · Feb 29, 2012

bennettave said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

how long before there is a way to watch home team baseball for people who have dropped cable tv??

It's called "going to the bar"!

Edit: Yes, I do realize that this strategy can turn out to be more expensive than paying for cable.

ganymedes13 · Feb 29, 2012

spiderman0616 said:
MLB is yet another streaming content provider that doesn't "get it". They're better than the NFL about this stuff, but as a cord cutter, I look at this service as a waste of money. If I pay for MLB.TV, I want to watch the games live whether they're in my market area or not. If they would get rid of the game delays for local games, I would be all over this service.

These big companies these days just don't understand where things are moving. In ten years time, I honestly think we'll be streaming everything we watch and paying for only the content we want rather than 500 channels of stuff we don't care about.

It's not as easy as you make it out to be. The home times have side deals with local television networks (and/or even have their own network) and they want the ratings. MLB can't really do anything about it.

It'll eventually change, but like all things, it takes time.

december · Feb 29, 2012

MLB foolishly gave Rogers the ability to claim all of Canada as their home territory, so there is no reason for Canadians living in Canada but outside of Toronto to buy the MLB service to watch the Jays.

Blackouts are the deaths throes of a dying business model.

dashiel · Feb 29, 2012

spiderman0616 said:
MLB is yet another streaming content provider that doesn't "get it". They're better than the NFL about this stuff, but as a cord cutter, I look at this service as a waste of money. If I pay for MLB.TV, I want to watch the games live whether they're in my market area or not. If they would get rid of the game delays for local games, I would be all over this service.

These big companies these days just don't understand where things are moving. In ten years time, I honestly think we'll be streaming everything we watch and paying for only the content we want rather than 500 channels of stuff we don't care about.

Totally concur. Im not an MLB fan, but the same narrow minded thinking happens with MLS and FoxSoccer. Id say 80% of the games I wanted to watch were blacked out in the case of the former or delayed until the next day for the latter.

I would gladly pay the price being asked of both services if they werent fundamentally broken. As it is there are more, er, user friendly, options out there.

kcamfork · Feb 29, 2012

No thanks. And... who cares?

Tones2 · Feb 29, 2012

spiderman0616 said:
MLB is yet another streaming content provider that doesn't "get it". They're better than the NFL about this stuff, but as a cord cutter, I look at this service as a waste of money. If I pay for MLB.TV, I want to watch the games live whether they're in my market area or not. If they would get rid of the game delays for local games, I would be all over this service.

These big companies these days just don't understand where things are moving. In ten years time, I honestly think we'll be streaming everything we watch and paying for only the content we want rather than 500 channels of stuff we don't care about.

Exactly. The service is WAY WAY too expensive if it excludes watching live broadcasts of your IN MARKET team, the only team most of us really care about. Otherwise it's just like many of the other cheaper alternatives. I guess if you are lucky enough to have moved away from the city of the team you are for, this may be worth it. Otherwise, just get a slingbox and watch the games (plus everything else) from your home TV.

Tony

SeanMcg · Feb 29, 2012

damir00 said:
Good stuff!

But curious that the image they're showing is from a video game instead of actual baseball footage.
....

I've been impressed with the quality of graphics they have made available on the website and the iOS app(s), to make you feel more like you were there. Actual footage would probably be too big, and may violate some of their agreements. You can go back to the older, lower resolution version if you don't have the bandwidth.

I'm wondering if this will be a demo app for the announcement of the next gen AppleTV.

Cynicalone · Feb 29, 2012

I opened up the package content of the app and it is just full of retina graphics for the iPad 3.

So this might be one of those apps that Apple can show off on March 7th.

Consultant · Feb 29, 2012

That's smart of them to try to bypass iTunes with their season payment.

Chupa Chupa · Feb 29, 2012

bennettave said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

how long before there is a way to watch home team baseball for people who have dropped cable tv??

There is... Slingplayer.

JBaker122586 · Feb 29, 2012

spiderman0616 said:
MLB is yet another streaming content provider that doesn't "get it". They're better than the NFL about this stuff, but as a cord cutter, I look at this service as a waste of money. If I pay for MLB.TV, I want to watch the games live whether they're in my market area or not. If they would get rid of the game delays for local games, I would be all over this service.

These big companies these days just don't understand where things are moving. In ten years time, I honestly think we'll be streaming everything we watch and paying for only the content we want rather than 500 channels of stuff we don't care about.

It's you that doesn't "get it."

MLB is at the FOREFRONT of live video streaming. They've been doing it for a decade now. In fact, a large portion of live streaming broadcasts that you watch from anywhere are using servers on loan from MLB.

In-market games are unavailable due to contracts with local broadcasters. If your local Fox affiliate has a contract with the Diamondbacks to show their games, they're not going to want the MLB allowing potential viewers to watch games on computers or iPad or Apple TVs. Then you're not seeing any of the advertising, which is what makes it profitable for the local affiliate to carry the games.

If you really want to stream local market games to your phone, just get a Slingbox. It can be had for about the cost of two seasons of MLB.tv or less. That way you watch your local market games, get your local ads, and your local affiliate receives the ratings.

As a Yankees fan living in Texas, MLB.tv is a godsend. And when the Yanks play the Rangers, I'll just watch it on my Slingbox.

And this new model is further proof that MLB gets it. I have been annoyed the last two years that as a subscriber to MLB.tv I've still had to pay just to have the app (last year $30 to get it for both my devices). Glad they found a smooth way to rectify that.

slu · Feb 29, 2012

socbrian said:
MLB gets it, just that the channel that covers your team owns the rights to broadcast is exclusively. aka why would they want mlb to stream it in their market. They would lost views, then lower commercial pricing and then them not making any money.

I know in NY the YES channel, offers in-market streaming package, lets hope other channels caught on to this.

As a Yankees fan in NY, this would be great, but YES requires you to also have cable to use their in market streaming package.

I want to pay to watch the Yankees on my iPad, iPhone & Apple TV. I do not have cable. If I could watch in market games, I would drop the $125 right now. I would pay $250! I will not subscribe to cable for one channel, so they get nothing. Blackout restrictions really need to be ended. They are bad for the consumer.

Either way, I will buy the 14.99 version of the app, as I have done since it came out. It is great for radio and really is the best sports app out there. The fact that it is now universal and I don't have to buy it twice is even better.

EDIT: One thing that I have always found interesting is that in-market audio has never been blacked out. Wouldn't the radio partners have the same issues as the TV partners do regarding ads, losing listeners/viewers to the alternate medium, etc.? It seems like the radio networks are doing OK without in-market blackouts.

MLB At Bat Goes Live for 2012 With Improved Pricing Scheme

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