Apple Reportedly Finalist for MLB's Sunday Night and Wild Card Games

[fenderbass146]

Don't think they are killing sports viewership with the streaming platform deals, they are driving a lot of people to find illegal ways to watch games. Most people I know have found other ways to watch there team. What also harms viewership is how late the game are on at night which prevents the younger fan base from watching, I know plenty of kids who only get to stay up to watch game 7s. I personally will only watch my team if it is on a network I get, the amount of money MLB wants for streaming is too much and most of the season is when the weather is too good outside to be in front of a TV, you can watch your local Little League for free and be outside enjoying the weather.

AGreed, I ust meant whats killing sports is the difficully in general it is for fans, espeically young ones, to watch

 

[djplong]

I'm traveling and I want to watch a game. I brought a Roku stick for when I get back to the hotel and it works perfectly. Ok.. The game.. Where is it? ESPN? Not there. One of the broadcast networks? Not there. Apple? Not there. I think I heard that Prime has games.. Nope, not there. Hmmm.. Oh yeah - TBS carried games... Hmm. Not there. Fox? This is becoming a trend.. FS1? Surprise - not there. Oh yeah.. I forgot.. I went to look at MLB's service - which I got because I have T-Mobile. Not there.

Wait... The Red Sox are in Chicago. I'm in Chicago.. ****!!!! Local ****ing blackout!!!!

In later years, this will be in the textbooks for "How to accelerate the demise of a sport"

 

[Biro]

I'm traveling and I want to watch a game. I brought a Roku stick for when I get back to the hotel and it works perfectly. Ok.. The game.. Where is it? ESPN? Not there. One of the broadcast networks? Not there. Apple? Not there. I think I heard that Prime has games.. Nope, not there. Hmmm.. Oh yeah - TBS carried games... Hmm. Not there. Fox? This is becoming a trend.. FS1? Surprise - not there. Oh yeah.. I forgot.. I went to look at MLB's service - which I got because I have T-Mobile. Not there.

Wait... The Red Sox are in Chicago. I'm in Chicago.. ****!!!! Local ****ing blackout!!!!

In later years, this will be in the textbooks for "How to accelerate the demise of a sport"

Exactly. What’s more, modern technology also gets in the way as well. I live in the New York market but I am a Philadelphia Phillies fan. I also have mlb.tv from T-Mobile - which, because I am out of market, means I should be able to watch the Phillies without a problem. But every time I try to watch a Phillies game on television, I’m forced to use a VPN. That’s because my cable system’s broadband meets up with the wider internet quite a distance from my home - in the Philadelphia market.

If I try to watch the game on my phone, it’s fine because by phone accurately tells MLB about my location through T-Mobile. So I can either AirPlay the game from my phone to my Apple TV box or use a VPN to convince MLB that I am not in the Philadelphia market so that I can directly use the mlb.tv app to watch a game. I have complained to my cable system, the MLB and the Phillies about this situation. I get sympathetic ears but there’s nothing anyone can - or will - do.

But there would be no problem at all if the MLB’s blackout rule were eliminated.