More baseball: Apple supposedly takes away TV rights

It is a fine thing for fans of the American baseball: Apple has been offering customers of the MLB live and later as recording every Friday via its TV app and the browser. Initially there was a free service for everyone interested, now the moderately priced TV+subscription (10 euros a month) is a prerequisite. In the future, Apple could further expand the offer. According to a media report, negotiations with Major League Baseball and previous rights holders are currently running to broadcast on Sundays.

“Leading candidate” in the contract poker

According to the journal Sports Business Journal (SBJ) From the United States, Apple TV+ is now the “leading candidate” in the poker for the MLB license. Accordingly, it is about at least three years of charisma. The rights are currently in the US sports broadcaster ESPN, which mainly belongs to the Disney Company. The big TV broadcaster NBC originally wanted to take over here, according to reports to all ESPN licenses. Apple should be willing to pay more money. In addition, the group would only be sufficient to only buy the rights for Sunday divisions, according to the SBJ.

A possible deal for Apple would have a disadvantage: Already in 2028 all MLB rights would be on the market again. Then the group could lose both its Friday and the additional Sunday rights- or offer for the overall package. At the moment, $ 85 million is to flow for the Friday games alone. In addition to the Sunday games, Apple could also be interested in special series such as “Wild Card” and “Home Run Derby”.

Apple also holds international MLB rights

MLB management should now weigh the various options. NBC, which can be received nationwide, gave the league more national visibility than a streaming broadcaster like Apple TV+. In addition, the international rights that Apple has secured would then be lost: the “Friday Night Baseball” games can be seen in all TV+markets, including Europe.

So far, Apple has not given any information on how many spectators have the broadcast. There are currently no advertising interruptions, but sponsors are built into the show, interestingly, Google was already there.