Apple announced on Tuesday that its streaming service, Apple TV+, will carry Major League Baseball games every Friday night when play resumes.
Apple TV+, which cost $4.99 per month, will stream two games every Friday. The announcement comes on the 97th day of the MLB lockout, in which owners — via commissioner Rob Manfred — have at times claimed they’re losing money. Teams were already set to each make over $60 million annually from national TV rights alone, according to Baseball Prospectus, and that’s before local rights deals that can be even more lucrative.
“Tune in on Friday nights for two games you can only see on Apple TV+,” CEO Tim Cook said during the Apple Event.
The Apple TV+ games won’t be carried by the teams’ regional sports networks. For the Giants, that means select games will be blacked out on NBC Sports Bay Area. In essence, MLB is asking fans to pay more for a product they’re actively holding hostage because owners want even more money.
The deal won’t impact KNBR’s radio broadcasts of Giants games.
Apple is one of the biggest companies in the world. It has roughly $200 billion cash on hand — enough to comfortably buy every MLB franchise.
The deal is the first major exclusive sports rights deal by a streaming service. Many baseball fans already pay for cable to watch their games or MLB.tv, which comes with its own restrictive blackouts.