MLB has 2 new national streaming partners
Apple and Major League Baseball announced a new “Friday Night Baseball” package for the 2022 season. Apple TV+, a paid subscription service from the tech company, will have exclusive rights to two MLB games every Friday night during the regular season. The deal reportedly runs for seven seasons. There’s no word yet on which teams will be playing on what night as that is likely to be sorted out once the lockout ends.
According to Mike Ozanian of Forbes, MLB has also reached a two-year agreement with NBC to stream select Monday and Wednesday games on Peacock. ESPN previously carried this particular weekday MLB package.
Overall, the new television rights deals with Apple and NBC is worth a combined $115 million annually, per Forbes. Revenue sharing rules dictate that all national television and streaming revenues are split equally among all 30 teams, which means every team will receive an additional $3.83 million from the Apple and NBC deals. Each team is set take in more than $65 million a year in national television revenue alone in 2022.
For Phillies fans, that means the cost of watching all 162 regular season games on television could rise. Apple indicated in a press release that for a limited time, games on Apple TV+ would be available free of charge. Once Apple’s free-trial period on MLB games runs out, consumers would have to pay the $5-a-month subscription cost to view their favorite team’s game. “Friday Night Baseball” games on Apple TV+ would not be available on local cable or on MLB.tv. Since the previous ESPN weekday television package was not exclusive, it’s likely that the Monday and Wednesday games would still be available on regional sports networks.
Along with the “Friday Night Baseball” package, Apple will also broadcast an “NFL RedZone” style show called “MLB Big Inning” every weeknight during the regular season.
MLB Network is expected to produce Apple’s “Friday Night Baseball” games. Games would also include a live pre- and postgame shows.
“Friday Night Baseball” broadcasts will be available in the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
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