For many years, St. He played all the Cardinals games on TV. The vast majority was in what is now Bally Sports Midwest, and the biggest task for fans was to switch from time to time to KTVI (Channel 2), ESPN or FS1.
But those times are over, as in recent seasons, Major League Baseball games have only been distributed to streaming services such as Facebook and YouTube. And on Friday night, the impact on the cards will be the biggest so far. The game against their biggest rival Chicago Cubs will only be shown on Apple TV +, which will stream MLB double headlines this season. No BSM or other TV channels.
Anyone with a smartphone can watch it, as well as anyone who has another device connected to Apple, such as a smartphone, computer, and so on. There is no charge to view, but you need an Apple Account with ID to access. (More instructions below.)
This is the most important step in the trend for Cardinals fans, which began in 2018, when Facebook exclusively broadcast two of their games. Two were on YouTube in 2019 and two more in 2021. (None of the seasons cut from the 2020 pandemic were streamed).
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Prior to this year, the impact was relatively minimal for those who were not online – all six affected competitions took place on weekday afternoons.
For some Cardinals fans, it made more of a splash this season as Apple and Paramount became exclusive MLB streamers, and some Cards nightgames were selected for Apple’s exclusive double-headed package on Friday nights. Until now, these were road races against low reds and pirates. And only Peacock’s race was an early alien game against the Pirates on Sunday.
It all ends on Friday, when the only mid-summer St. Cubs season. The opening show of the Louis Visit series will only be shown on Apple TV +, with the first pitch set at 7:15 p.m. (Apple’s second game tonight is in Detroit, Arizona at 8:30 p.m.)
Baltimore Orioles announcer Melanie Newman plays St. In Louis Louise, the analysis will be conducted by former Premier League Chris Young and Yahoo Sports’ Hannah Keyser. Reporter is Bally Sports Brooke Fletcher.
It is not known if the Cardinals will make another streaming performance this season, but nothing is intermittent. Apple’s schedule is set for July and they’re not on it. They are also not in the Peacock slate, which is in place until September 4. Peacock shows the races, which start on Sundays at 11 a.m.
Other BSM series games
Sinclair Broadcasting, owner of Bally Sports Midwest, is in the middle of a 15-year contract for the team’s regional television rights. It will cost Cardinals more than $ 1 billion over the life of the deal, which runs until 2032.
The pact allows only a dozen MLB national partners to show the game, so it could have been much worse for BSM this weekend – one of the most watched series of the summer during the already strong season. BSM. He says the audience for this card is 19% higher than at the same point last season.
Bally Sports Midwest could have lost Saturday’s card-to-call contest to Fox, which shows games regionally over the air that evening, and the game that followed could have been picked up by ESPN for this weekend’s “Sunday Night Baseball” offer.
But neither happened. So BSM has both, 18.15 on Saturday and 13.15 on Sunday. Dan McLaughlin, as usual, plays by the game. Brad Thompson is a commentator on both TV shows, with Jim Hayes and Scott Warmann and Ricky Horton in the studio. Horton is also involved in the broadcast of radio games (KMOX, 1120 AM and team network).
MLB pushes forward
MLB officials know that only the streaming policy has angered some fans. However, at a time when cable subscriptions are falling sharply and streaming is growing in popularity, Commissioner Rob Manfred not only seems to be doing business with Apple and Peacock in the years to come.
“We are always sensitive to the concerns of our fans; I understand the idea that “I’m used to finding a game here and now it’s relocated,” he told a news conference after the MLB’s recent owner meetings. “We wouldn’t have made a deal with either Apple or Peacock if we hadn’t believed that experimenting with such partners on the digital side of the company is critical to our long-term efforts to make games more accessible and more widely available. This is a short-term problem that aims to give us more access in the long run.
These current exclusive streaming deals are bringing unexpected results to the offices too, with Apple reporting $ 85 million a year and Peacock $ 30 million a year. Manfred called them “truly important” elements in a rapidly changing media environment.
“The relationship with Peacock and beyond (Peacock’s parent company NBCUniversal) is important to us in the long run,” Manfred said. “Apple is an innovator and we need to be innovative in our efforts to provide games to fans on the platforms they use and visit often.”
Apple-Peacock’s deals will make their games available to fans in some remote area, where they would normally be excluded from regional television under MLB’s sometimes confusing geographic restriction policy. Apple’s and Peacock’s products are treated in the same way as a nationwide television program on a regular television network with no blackout zones.
“We are concerned about its scale,” Manfred said at a news conference. “We think we have fans who want to watch baseball and who don’t feel they have enough. We have a strong feeling that … (we) should enter the digital space to give fans more and more flexibility to watch games. “
However, this in turn removes them from viewers who would normally receive them but cannot because they do not want or know how to use streaming services. The immediate concern seems to be to deal with out-of-market fans at the expense of regional cable networks and instead of redesigning the rules for territorial blackouts.
“… The point is to give fans who may be outside of traditional cable packages a good chance to see our games,” Manfred said, adding that there are concerns that some potential viewers may not have enough opportunity to do so. . ”
Here’s how to access Friday’s Cardinals-Cubs TV show on Apple TV + about Major League Baseball and Apple. Keep in mind that an Apple account is required:
• Launch the Apple TV app and select a game directly.
• In Apple MLB.TV, tap Apple TV + Game. You’ll be directed to the Apple TV app (if available).
• Go to https://tv.apple.com/ and sign in with or create an Apple ID.
Those who haven’t seen Apple before are encouraged to connect early. The pre-game show starts at 6:30 p.m.
More information about the connection can be found at:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213099
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