Major League Baseball now batting on iTunes
Apple Inc. said friday it plans to embrace the 2007 Major League Baseball season by offering highlights for the 2007 season on its ubiquitous iTunes Store, giving fans the ability to catch all the action of their favorite teams anywhere, anytime.
MLB video programming on iTunes will include a daily 25 minute ?MLB.com Daily Rewind? highlight show and two weekly ?Games of the Week,? featuring full versions of the best games from the National and American Leagues.
Customers will be able to download individual episodes of ?MLB.com Daily Rewind? and each ?Game of the Week? for $1.99, or purchase a Multi-Pass for a month of Daily Rewind shows for $7.99 or a Season Pass for every ?Game of the Week? at just $19.99.
?We?re thrilled to be teaming with iTunes to give baseball fans access to MLB highlights via the world?s most popular online TV store,? said Kenny Gersh, senior vice president, business development of MLB Advanced Media. ?We?re excited that baseball fans now have the opportunity to enjoy America?s favorite pastime in a unique way by taking MLB with them on their computers and iPods wherever they go.?
To kick off the 2007 Major League Baseball season, iTunes is offering the ?MLB.com 2007 Season Preview Show? as a free download for iTunes customers. In addition to daily and weekly highlights, baseball fans will also be able to download episodes of the ?MLB.com Baseball?s Best? series showcasing classic baseball games from the past. Individual episodes of ?MLB.com Baseball?s Best? will be available for $1.99.
Apple's iTunes Store features the world?s largest digital media catalog with over four million songs, 350 television shows and over 400 movies. To date, the store has sold over two billion songs, 50 million TV shows and over 1.3 million movies, making it the world?s most popular online music, TV and movie store.
MLB video programming on iTunes will include a daily 25 minute ?MLB.com Daily Rewind? highlight show and two weekly ?Games of the Week,? featuring full versions of the best games from the National and American Leagues.
Customers will be able to download individual episodes of ?MLB.com Daily Rewind? and each ?Game of the Week? for $1.99, or purchase a Multi-Pass for a month of Daily Rewind shows for $7.99 or a Season Pass for every ?Game of the Week? at just $19.99.
?We?re thrilled to be teaming with iTunes to give baseball fans access to MLB highlights via the world?s most popular online TV store,? said Kenny Gersh, senior vice president, business development of MLB Advanced Media. ?We?re excited that baseball fans now have the opportunity to enjoy America?s favorite pastime in a unique way by taking MLB with them on their computers and iPods wherever they go.?
To kick off the 2007 Major League Baseball season, iTunes is offering the ?MLB.com 2007 Season Preview Show? as a free download for iTunes customers. In addition to daily and weekly highlights, baseball fans will also be able to download episodes of the ?MLB.com Baseball?s Best? series showcasing classic baseball games from the past. Individual episodes of ?MLB.com Baseball?s Best? will be available for $1.99.
Apple's iTunes Store features the world?s largest digital media catalog with over four million songs, 350 television shows and over 400 movies. To date, the store has sold over two billion songs, 50 million TV shows and over 1.3 million movies, making it the world?s most popular online music, TV and movie store.
Comments
Word is the Eggshell episode is particularly gripping.
I look forward to that more than baseball.
Especially when you can already get it online via MLB.com (and see the full games live in either teams' broadcast as well as the entire season on demand) for a pretty low price, or get the on-demand cable package....
Highlights are free on the news...
The baseball package is now exclusively on Direct TV.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ttv/index.html
Yeah, I gotta say, this one is almost non-news. Who wants to pay for "highlights" of week-old baseball games?
Especially when you can already get it online via MLB.com (and see the full games live in either teams' broadcast as well as the entire season on demand) for a pretty low price, or get the on-demand cable package....
Highlights are free on the news...
Or day-old hockey.
Or day-old football.
Or day-old basketball.
I'm glad to see Apple developing good working relationships with the sports properties, but I hope all of this is just groundwork for what will eventually be live sports feeds on iTunes that will play over Apple TV.
Also, with Sony TV shows last week, and Complete My Album and MLB this week, I wonder if Apple is getting cranked up for a surprise music/video event or announcement for next week.
The world of baseball sucks.
I would say it applies to most TV...
The baseball package is now exclusively on Direct TV.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ttv/index.html
Not yet. MLB gave the option to the other carriers to come up with a matching offer. It doesn't look promising, however.
I'm glad to see Apple developing good working relationships with the sports properties, but I hope all of this is just groundwork for what will eventually be live sports feeds on iTunes that will play over Apple TV.
All of the sports agencies do exclusive deals for on-demand - and i doubt apple will shell out for exclusive tv rights (even if they did, no sports agency would agree for any price - it would kill their market...)
And the internet rights are retained at this point by MLB, NHL, NBA, etc. The current online offerings are actually available at a low enough bitrate for Apple TV, though