MLB At Bat Goes Live for 2012 With Improved Pricing Scheme

[JBaker122586]

I'm not sure what you're talking about here... MLB is offering the exact same monthly pricing within the app as it is outside the app: $24.99.

The $124.99 for the full season is available from the website only.

Regarding blackouts, MLB has been working on that for a few years but the local cable companies won't sign off. The other commenters are right, MLB has been at the forefront of online broadcasting for many years -- MLB.tv was one of the first online broadcasting services.

I didn't realize there was a monthly option outside the app. I've always just bought the full season package.

Good for them, then. I guess they realize the revenue sharing with Apple will more than be made up for by the increase in volume of monthly subscribers this drives. Like I said, MLB has some foresight and intelligence in this area.

 

[socbrian]

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.

I forget that you needed cable to do that package, and the radio is not blacked out because its free over the air, and they stream it online for free

 

[ndpitch]

I agree with everyone who already said the blackout restrictions make the MLB.tv package completely not worth it. It's only remotely worth it if you're on a business trip or vacation and are outside of your home market frequently.

I really don't care for watching other teams, I only want to watch the Red Sox. When I'm not at home, I want to pay to be able to watch it the game on my phone or iPad. Why is is so hard to make this happen? I don't want a slingbox - the last thing I want is another set top box.

 

[Russell L]

So will the 'Lite' version still continue to work? I've been using the Lite version for years and it still works now, though opening it just now on my iPhone4, a banner comes up saying that the new (presumably full) version is available. Everything else seems to work. Searching in the iTunes Store, the Lite version is now gone...

 

[wingnut8]

People that complain about the blackout restrictions just don't get it. It's not just MLB that does it. Every sport has blackout restrictions. If it's that big of a deal, you can jailbreak and get location spoofer and it works fine.

 

[JBaker122586]

Incorrect. The vast, vast majority of games are on cable for all teams.

Yeah, I guess I spoke a bit too soon.
WGN is still OTA. And most markets with a cable deal have a split where some games are still on OTA networks. I think the Rangers have games on KDFI. The Mets have games on WPIX. The Yankees WWOR. Etc.

 

[gspet01]

A number of commenters have addressed the primary issue with the At Bat service. Blackouts, blackouts, blackouts. MLB could give me the service for free and I would get little use because of their blackouts. I'm sure as heck not going to pay for something that is essentially useless to me because of where I live. You have to wonder about the business model of an entertainment industry that does not allow you to view their product at any price.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

So will the 'Lite' version still continue to work? I've been using the Lite version for years and it still works now, though opening it just now on my iPhone4, a banner comes up saying that the new (presumably full) version is available. Everything else seems to work. Searching in the iTunes Store, the Lite version is now gone...

No, this is a complete consolidation of the MLB At Bat for iOS franchise. There no longer is separate lite, iPad, and iPhone/Touch versions. From now on it's just a single universal MLB At Bat app, which is free. From there you can buy the radio broadcasts or TV and radio features in-app, or you can buy an annual MLB.TV sub online as in previous years.

A number of commenters have addressed the primary issue with the At Bat service. Blackouts, blackouts, blackouts. MLB could give me the service for free and I would get little use because of their blackouts. I'm sure as heck not going to pay for something that is essentially useless to me because of where I live. You have to wonder about the business model of an entertainment industry that does not allow you to view their product at any price.

MLB doesn't exist in a vacuum. There are TV contracts which bring in much more $ than all of MLB's streaming products combined. At some point streaming will be counted in the Nielsen ratings but until that point, and as long as TV is a cash cow, blackouts will exist.

 

[slu]

Again, it is EASY to obtain access to all the games by using a VPN service.

The iPad/iPhone app uses GPS to determine location. VPN would only work for streaming to a computer.

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People that complain about the blackout restrictions just don't get it. It's not just MLB that does it. Every sport has blackout restrictions. If it's that big of a deal, you can jailbreak and get location spoofer and it works fine.

If this actaully works, I have a reason to jailbreak again.

 

[BigFatCow]

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. :/

I don't get it, you complain about not having the in market games, but you complain about the local broadcasters. Correct me if I'm wrong, but can you still get your in-market game, but it will be under the out of market opponent's broadcast? If so, that means you can catch your in market team, but you won't have to hear the horrible local FoxSports announcers.

 

[NinjaKid]

This might get you in trouble

With the likes of AT&T slowing down data rates for people on the unlimited plan with as little of 2 gigs of usage, I can see this app becoming a major problem if your going to stream the video over the cell data network. I will pass it by for this reason.

 

[Diode]

I don't get it, you complain about not having the in market games, but you complain about the local broadcasters. Correct me if I'm wrong, but can you still get your in-market game, but it will be under the out of market opponent's broadcast? If so, that means you can catch your in market team, but you won't have to hear the horrible local FoxSports announcers.

If you are watching a in-market team both broadcasts are blacked out.

Same is true if you are traveling - if you are in the home city of a team that your team is playing - it will be blacked out as well (even if the game is back in your home town).

So this basically is only useful to people who travel a lot or watch a team outside of their designated market.

 

[jlgolson]

With the likes of AT&T slowing down data rates for people on the unlimited plan with as little of 2 gigs of usage, I can see this app becoming a major problem if your going to stream the video over the cell data network. I will pass it by for this reason.

Or, you know, just use it on Wi-Fi.

The 3G streaming video quality sucks anyway.

So this basically is only useful to people who travel a lot or watch a team outside of their designated market.

Which is a hell of a lot of people, and this app is AWESOME. Also, you can get radio streaming even in-market, which is great for those of us who have crappy AM stations broadcasting play-by-play. The quality of the streaming audio is great.

Even cooler, if you watch on the computer, you can overlay the video broadcast with the local radio audio.

It doesn't work on the app or Apple TV because of syncing reasons. MLB told me that the syncing of live local radio and the live video broadcast was really, really, really difficult.

 

[OsageCowboy]

The iPad/iPhone app uses GPS to determine location. VPN would only work for streaming to a computer.

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If this actaully works, I have a reason to jailbreak again.

Block location services on your iPhone/iPad and use a router with DD-WRT firmware that connects directly to the VPN server located outside of your market. Problem solved.

 

[cvaldes]

So will the 'Lite' version still continue to work? I've been using the Lite version for years and it still works now, though opening it just now on my iPhone4, a banner comes up saying that the new (presumably full) version is available. Everything else seems to work. Searching in the iTunes Store, the Lite version is now gone...

This Universal app is the Lite Version if you don't make any other purchases to enable premium services. Go ahead, download it and fire it up.

 

[jlgolson]

Block location services on your iPhone/iPad and use a router with DD-WRT firmware that connects directly to the VPN server located outside of your market. Problem solved.

If you block location services on the iOS device, the app refuses to stream video. You MUST give it access to your location to determine blackout restrictions. Jailbreak is the only alternative and I don't even know if that works.

 

[osufever]

Just discovered that iPod 2nd Gen are no longer supported. Not even just for the news and scores!! For those of you who have downloaded it, is it that much more processor heavy that would prohibit my iPod from using it? I have the correct iOS version. Here's to hoping I can find a radio station streaming the game in TuneIn when they shouldn't be.

 

[halhiker]

Too much

I'm not interested in an entire year of games or even an entire month. Give me the. Option to buy individual games for $1.99 and I'd buy several a year. As it is, the amount I buy is ZERO.

 

[SlickShoes]

I just bought the season pass on MLB.tv for $125 or £78. It is incredibly cheap for an entire seasons worth of sport.

In the UK if you like baseball you are lucky if there is one game a week on TV at a reasonable time so this app and the MLB.tv service are amazing.

If soccer in the UK had a service like this I would be all over it, but paying Sky TV £20 a month minimum to see 3 games a week maxiumum is just not worth it.

 

[convergent]

I love MLB.tv and already paid for subscription for this year. By the way, they give you a discount as a repeat subscriber.

For those of you whining about these guys not getting it and saying you won't buy it because of blackout restrictions, I would ask you what your alternative is? MLB.tv gives you access to ALL games and only makes you wait until they are over to watch them if they are local market, or are on the major networks. If you are in local market, then that means you probably have another way to watch them live if you want to. I live in NC and am a Yankees fan and there is literally no way for me to watch Yankees games from here because the YES channel is not available, so MLB.tv is perfect. I tried Time Warner's crappy alternative at twice the price for a year and will never go back.

MLB.tv is the benchmark for all other apps on Apple TV. It gives me streaming of both home and away feeds for all games. I don't have to worry about recording anything...and because we usually watch them after the fact or at least delay starting until a couple hours into the games, they are always there for us when we want them. I agree that blackouts are a pain, but there isn't really another alternative, and that is not an issue with the service/app, but one of policy.

 

[gspet01]

MLB doesn't exist in a vacuum. There are TV contracts which bring in much more $ than all of MLB's streaming products combined. At some point streaming will be counted in the Nielsen ratings but until that point, and as long as TV is a cash cow, blackouts will exist.

Yes, I understand the nature of the blackouts. However, we're not looking at just income from streaming here. I have a sports package on satellite, but I only have a small selection of teams I'm allowed to watch. Each season, especially at the height of a pennant race, there are games I would like to watch. But I'm not allowed. Therefore, I shut off the TV. So, here's my message to the advertisers on those blacked out games: Sorry, I didn't see the ad you payed a lot to place because MLB wouldn't let me. And guess what, my kids didn't watch either. How to build a future market.

 

[JBaker122586]

Or, you know, just use it on Wi-Fi.

The 3G streaming video quality sucks anyway.

That's not true. I get GREAT video streaming quality over 3G.

That said, I'm a heavy user of this app, and I doubt if I've ever exceeded 2 GB in a month.

 

[doboy]

blackouts are only for live viewing!

MLB website states that local market blackouts are only for live viewing and anyone with subscription can view the archived game ~90 minutes after that game ends. It's in the fine prints.

 

[C. Alan]

I too am a cable cutter, and I would gladly pay $125 for an entire season of Dodger baseball (or what will pass for baseball this year ). However, like many others, the backout rules are a deal killer. The only way I can get FoxSports West is with DirecTV, and there is no way in hockypuck that I will pay $60+ per month for ONE CHANNEL!

I am guessing that MLB is leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in subscription losses on the table because of these stupid backout rules. I hate regional sports networks.

 

[LFCRules]

I just bought the season pass on MLB.tv for $125 or £78. It is incredibly cheap for an entire seasons worth of sport.

In the UK if you like baseball you are lucky if there is one game a week on TV at a reasonable time so this app and the MLB.tv service are amazing.

If soccer in the UK had a service like this I would be all over it, but paying Sky TV £20 a month minimum to see 3 games a week maxiumum is just not worth it.

Is it available on the AppleTV in the UK? On the website it quotes these for the premium service:

"Available in the U.S., Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, and Switzerland only."