Can Apple Herald a new sports broadcast possibility?

[ttomni6]

If Apple can work this out, what can the sports packages like NHL Center Ice, ESPN+ and others negotiate? From today's Apple event coverage:

Apple said that it will air two exclusive Major League Baseball games on Friday nights, marking Apple’s first entry into live sports.

Apple said it will air live pregame and postgame shows, and it will be free from local broadcast restrictions, and won’t require an Apple TV+ subscription for now.

 

[c-spand]

Are they playing baseball?

 

[ttomni6]

Are they playing baseball?

No, they're not playing baseball. I'm sorry if the bolded part of my original post saying that it will be free from local broadcast restrictions did not register.

The question I'm asking is that if Apple can negotiate a contract that bypasses the local broadcast restrictions - can other services now do this as well!

For example, nobody on DISH gets their RSN's anymore. For us here in Hawaii, California and Alaska, many games on NBATV feature west coast games. Same for MLBTV and some ESPN games that are not exclusive for ESPN. Games featuring those "local" California teams are blacked out for us on these "national" broadcasts.

If Apple can start to get these other services to agree to be free from local broadcast restrictions, there will be a heck of alot of happy DISH subscribers.

 

[c-spand]

i would imagine that we would be paying allot for that to happen.

 

[Juan]

I wish MLB well on their march towards irrelevance

 

[Foxbat]

I saw that in Apple’s presentation and though, “Great timing, Tim. Great idea, but the League actually needs to play MLB games, let alone on a Friday, to make that an attractive feature of AppleTV+.”

 

[Juan]

No, they're not playing baseball. I'm sorry if the bolded part of my original post saying that it will be free from local broadcast restrictions did not register.

The question I'm asking is that if Apple can negotiate a contract that bypasses the local broadcast restrictions - can other services now do this as well!

For example, nobody on DISH gets their RSN's anymore. For us here in Hawaii, California and Alaska, many games on NBATV feature west coast games. Same for MLBTV and some ESPN games that are not exclusive for ESPN. Games featuring those "local" California teams are blacked out for us on these "national" broadcasts.

If Apple can start to get these other services to agree to be free from local broadcast restrictions, there will be a heck of alot of happy DISH subscribers.

Cable channels have had national baseball rights for years and years..tbs for example and ESPN..its not that huge of deal

 

[Yespage]

No, they're not playing baseball. I'm sorry if the bolded part of my original post saying that it will be free from local broadcast restrictions did not register.

The question I'm asking is that if Apple can negotiate a contract that bypasses the local broadcast restrictions - can other services now do this as well!

If they do, Sinclair is completely screwed. *dances*

For example, nobody on DISH gets their RSN's anymore. For us here in Hawaii, California and Alaska, many games on NBATV feature west coast games. Same for MLBTV and some ESPN games that are not exclusive for ESPN. Games featuring those "local" California teams are blacked out for us on these "national" broadcasts.

The trouble is, those games aren''t always (or much ever) going to be local games.

 

[chuckster_dude]

Cable channels have had national baseball rights for years and years..tbs for example and ESPN..its not that huge of deal

Correct. And the NFL is going to have Thursday Night Football exclusively through Amazon starting next year while maintaining games on CBS, FOX, ESPN and NBC. So I can see Apple airing a couple of MLB games per week while other outlets keep whatever MLB packages they have.

This is going to be the norm for sports leagues......spread out the rights over multiple media outlets to milk as much money they can out of all of them at once.

 

[SamCdbs]

To answer the question, no.

Baseball has a standard agreement among the teams. A certain number of games are sold nationally and thus free of “local broadcast restrictions” and the remainder belong to each team within its own market area. Then the packages like MLB.TV and MLBEI (and ESPN+ now) take these in-market productions and sell them out-of-market.

All Apple bought was a package of national games, formerly a part of a package ESPN had (ESPN is cutting back).

MLB lacks the authority to sell its out of market packages without the geographic restrictions. To get that authority, it would have to change the Standard Agreement between the teams, which ain’t happening, and such an act would void the deals with Sinclair, AT&T, and Comcast for the RSN.

Not happening.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Cable channels have had national baseball rights for years and years..tbs for example and ESPN..its not that huge of deal

ESPN's Sunday night broadcasts are exclusive, but their weeknight ones and all of TBS's regular season games were not and were subject to local blackout rules because they were available on your RSN if you lived in the team's area....

 

[Juan]

ESPN's Sunday night broadcasts are exclusive, but their weeknight ones and all of TBS's regular season games were not and were subject to local blackout rules because they were available on your RSN if you lived in the team's area....

And?

Some were exclusive..you made my point..thanks

 

[Juan]

To answer the question, no.

Baseball has a standard agreement among the teams. A certain number of games are sold nationally and thus free of “local broadcast restrictions” and the remainder belong to each team within its own market area. Then the packages like MLB.TV and MLBEI (and ESPN+ now) take these in-market productions and sell them out-of-market.

All Apple bought was a package of national games, formerly a part of a package ESPN had (ESPN is cutting back).

MLB lacks the authority to sell its out of market packages without the geographic restrictions. To get that authority, it would have to change the Standard Agreement between the teams, which ain’t happening, and such an act would void the deals with Sinclair, AT&T, and Comcast for the RSN.

Not happening.

You don't think that rules can't be changed?
The RSN model is currently failing..

 

[cosmo_kramer]

And?

Some were exclusive..you made my point..thanks

Just clarifying your ambiguous statement, that's all.

 

[Juan]

Just clarifying your ambiguous statement, that's all.

Thanks

 

[SamCdbs]

You don't think that rules can't be changed?
The RSN model is currently failing..

It would just take the unanimous agreement of all 30 MLB owners to change a system that has been unchanged since the advent of AM radio, That’s all.

 

[Radioguy41]

 

[Juan]

It would just take the unanimous agreement of all 30 MLB owners to change a system that has been unchanged since the advent of AM radio, That’s all.

Not true
Because the super stations did not adhere to that rule

Also many AM stations went nationwide after sundown..meaning that yankee fans in north dakota could hear evening games on the yankee flagship..you are completly wrong about AM radio

 

[SamCdbs]

True. The “superstations” had nothing to do with the rule at all, nor did clear channel AM radio.

Each team has an, generally too large and often overlapped with other team(s) area marketing zone. They, and not MLB as a group have the EXCLUSIVE right to show their local games in that zone. These maps go back to the dawn of AM radio, and have only been changed due to expansion and relocation.

Changing that system required a unanimous vote of all 30 teams. Period.

 

[Juan]

True. The “superstations” had nothing to do with the rule at all, nor did clear channel AM radio.

Each team has an, generally too large and often overlapped with other team(s) area marketing zone. They, and not MLB as a group have the EXCLUSIVE right to show their local games in that zone. These maps go back to the dawn of AM radio, and have only been changed due to expansion and relocation.

Changing that system required a unanimous vote of all 30 teams. Period.

But there weren't 30 teams when the rules were implemented..so thats not true either but once the RSN's die off..it really wont matter