Archive for mlb.tv

T-Mobile is still pushing hard on its “Un-carrier” campaign, and their newest venture is a huge boon to baseball fans. T-Mobile and MLB have extended their partnership another three years. This means a lot of T-Mobile branding will be seen on various MLB properties — including things like the All Star Game — but the “celebration” of the partnership brings some big-time savings.

Any T-Mobile customer on the Simple Choice plan will have the opportunity to sign up for a free year of MLB.tv. And from what I’m reading, that doesn’t really include a lot of red tape or hoops to jump through. There is one slight catch, however. The deal isn’t available until April 3rd. This is all well and good for the start of the season, but not so much if one is interested in streaming Spring Training games. To counteract that slight bummer, T-Mobile and MLB are sweetening the pot a little.

The free subscription also comes with complimentary access to the MLB At Bat Premium so that users can get all the additional features of At Bat on their smartphones and tablets. The inclusion of the app usually comes with MLB.tv regardless, but it’s nice to know that there won’t be any sneaky gotchas after signing up.

Also, MLB.tv qualifies for T-Mobile’s (somewhat controversial) Bing On program, wherein customers can stream MLB.tv (along with many other video services) via their cellular connections without it counting toward their plan’s data allotment. T-Mobile customers are free to watch games on the bus, in church, during work, or anywhere else they don’t have access to WiFi without worry of data overages.

The kicker to the deal is that a user’s MLB.tv subscription will be valid for any device, not just their T-Mobile phone. This means fans can still watch on their smart TVs, gaming consoles, or other connected devices using their MLB account. This is a nice pivot from other offerings like Verizon’s NFL package, which allows fans to watch certain NFL content (mainly Red Zone) for free, but only via their Verizon device. T-Mobile’s deal will let people watch via their PlayStation or Roku with no extra strings and, theoretically, they’ll never have to even watch on their phones if they don’t want to.

MLB has seen some big changes recently in terms of their MLB.tv offering. It’s hard to say whether this T-Mobile partnership is an extension of that or not, but it’s certainly a nice added bonus. There are some lingering questions, however. If I purchased MLB.tv already, can I cancel and sign on via T-Mobile? If I cancel my T-Mobile account, does my MLB.tv go away? Details on this are fuzzy right now, so it might be best to stop into a store or call T-Mobile yourself to get the best answers.

Wireless providers are pulling out all the stops these days to convince customers to switch, and if a baseball fan were shopping around for a new carrier, this might be the very thing that puts them over. I doubt the offer will be good next year, but for current T-Mobile customers or people who were already looking to switch, saving over $100 is always a good way to start the season.

One of the more heralded features of Apple’s new iOS 9 was a feature called picture-in-picture (available on iPad only). It allows users to shrink down a currently-playing video down to the corner of the iPad screen so they can use other apps while the video still plays. I certainly piqued my interests — could I finally watch MLB.tv on my iPad with the ability to shoot off a quick tweet or email? On the first day of iOS 9’s public availability, my questions were answered.

Given MLB’s long-standing partnership with Apple, I half expected the feature to be available from the get-go. As I played with the new OS, I found this to not be the case.

Web videos do work pretty well in PiP on iOS9. No MLB At Bat or YouTube support yet, it seems. pic.twitter.com/zrb5oDfzyA

— David G Temple (@davidgtemple) September 16, 2015

However, later that day, the fine folks at MLB Fan Support set me straight.

@davidgtemple At Bat 8.5 has been released to the App Store with PiP support. Please continue to check for availability as the update… 1/2

— MLB Fan Support (@MLBFanSupport) September 17, 2015

@davidgtemple …propagates across Apple's servers. 2/2

— MLB Fan Support (@MLBFanSupport) September 17, 2015

Once I updated the app this morning, I was able to take it for a test drive.

I am tweeting and watching baseball on the same screen. pic.twitter.com/HSBfHGA52m

— David G Temple (@davidgtemple) September 17, 2015

To enable the feature, one only needs to click thte PiP icon when the video is playing. It immediately pops into the corner. Users can then adjust the size of the video, restore to full screen, or close it all together. If you have a new-ish iPad, just update to iOS 9 (if you haven’t already) and update the At Bat app.

The whole experience was very slick during my testing. As someone who likes using my iPad to watch MLB.tv, I’m excited to finally get the ability to use other apps while I’m watching. I often use commercial breaks to send a couple emails or see what’s going on with Twitter.

iOS 9 also offers a feature called slide over, which allows users to bring a condensed view of an app (like Mail or Twitter) onto the screen while their main app remains. I tested this with At Bat as well, but the slide over brings focus to the new app and pauses playback of the video.

Now, when I want to use another app during a commercial or even during a slow part of the game, I can send my video down to the corner of the screen and do what I need to get done.

Yes, it’s a feature that computers could do forever — and almost any device that plugs into a TV can play MLB.tv, freeing up the hands for other applications, but for those of us who like to watch baseball while doing the dishes or cooking dinner, this new way to multitask will prove to be very helpful. MLB Advanced Media has a strong relationship with Apple. Let’s hope that other sports get in on the picture-in-picture action soon.

If we had an InstaTechGraphs section, this news would go there. However, it is worth noting that MLB.tv is having quite a sale to commemorate Father’s Day. This week, one can purchase MLB.tv for $39.99 or MLB.tv Premium for $49.99. That one-time purchase will give you access for the rest of the season. Yes, the platform has its issues and blackout rules still apply, but this is a pretty tremendous deal for baseball fans. The sale ends this week, so get your finances in order.

It’s Baseball Week at TechGraphs. Our writers are sharing the tools they use to follow along in the season. Michael Tunney’s thoughts are below.

For the average baseball fan, an MLB.TV subscription that costs over $100 per season probably seems like an overpriced luxury. But for baseball fanatics, procuring an MLB.TV subscription is a fait accompli, an annual rite of passage. My reasons for not doing so are twofold: 1. the price point and 2. an intense fear that all of my worldly obligations will be thrown to the wind upon receipt of said subscription.

Instead, I have collected a number of means by which I am able to keep up with all the games without throwing my life away in the pursuit of watching all of the baseball things.

First, I use the MLB At Bat app to keep up with individual games, watch highlights, and subject myself to terrible White Sox broadcasts with Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson because I hate myself. I’ve made it clear, repeatedly, on TechGraphs that I’m a fan of Bob Bowman’s efforts with MLB Advanced Media, and find this app gives me 80 percent of what I need to follow any particular game.

For $20 you get a whole season’s worth of radio broadcasts for all 30 teams, Pitch f/x, in-game video highlights, and MLB.TV’s Game of the Day. Instead of listening to tunes or podcasts during the season I usually listen to radio broadcasts of whatever game interests me at the moment, whether it’s a good matchup or one of my fantasy pitchers are on the bump.

Second, Twitter. Not just any kind of Twitter, “baseball Twitter.” I use it to follow all the latest news and deals, and  keep up with injury updates and roster moves. I went through all of my follows and made a baseball Twitter list you can follow here. If you have any suggestion please add them in comments! One of my favorites for keeping up with the annual fantasy closer carousel is @closernews. I don’t know who maintains this feed or why, but I am eternally grateful and it’s one of the reasons I always finish near the top of my fantasy league in saves.

I only participate in one longstanding fantasy league because life, so I’m always checking in on Yahoo’s Fantasy Sports site, as well as their Yahoo! Fantasy Sports app, which can be maddening at times (I missed a Drew Hutchison quality start on Opening Day because it didn’t show he was starting when I checked, but also because I’m an idiot).

I also check Rotographs and Razzball on a regular basis, as well as Buster Olney and Keith Law’s blogs via ESPN Insider. Buster gives a daily rundown of everything that happened in baseball the day before, which I scroll through every morning to check for news on my fantasy team and to stay in the loop in general.

All this baseball buffoonery was put to the test this week as I was on the road, pretending to work in a Santa Monica cafe on Opening Day, and I was able to keep up with everything I needed by toggling between the MLB At Bat app, Twitter, and FanGraphs’ live chat throughout the day. If any readers have suggestions for ways to follow baseball without MLB.TV (or an actual TV) please add them in the comments, along with the best baseball Twitter follows!

(Image via Tony)

While some were crying out for further action on the pace-of-play front, Major League Baseball was busy setting a series of viewership, attendance and app download records. Between press releases from various clubs as well as MLB themselves, baseball’s popularity may not be waning afterall.

Baseball as a whole appears to be in a strong place as before the regular season started, spring training attendance eclipsed the four million mark, setting a new record. Leading up to the games that matter saw seamheads pass the five million download mark across all platforms for the MLB At-Bat in the preseason. That is roughly the equivalent of the combined population of Los Angeles and San Diego downloading the app prior to the first pitch on Sunday night. The Advanced Media portion of MLB — those in charge of the MLB At-Bat app — claim users were up 30% during spring training compared to last year.

As games across the country kicked off, baseball enjoyed more success as MLBAM set another record with 60 million fans turning into games either live, via video-on-demand system. If the preseason 5 million download mark is impressive, Monday saw the At-Bat app accessed an incredible 9.1 million times, crushing the previous single day record by 40%.

Individual teams partook in the record setting celebrations as the reigning American League champion Kansas City Royals reported a record 11.7 local TV rating for their home opener. That is compared to last year’s KC home opener rated at 6.2, however, that came as their fourth scheduled game of the season and was following a rain out and an 0-2 start. Following a flurry of trades and signings, the San Diego Padres and their fanbase entered the 2015 season with much hope. That hope translated to a 34% increase in television ratings for their home opener over last year. Of course all TV ratings must be taken with a grain of salt as those figures do not include the previously mentioned millions of fans streaming games.

Major League Baseball certainly isn’t perfect — instant replay, concussion issues and blackout policies immediately come to mind — but it is clear the sky isn’t falling just yet either.

Major League Baseball’s MLB.TV is the longest running streaming sports platform of its kind. The mobile version, MLB At-Bat has been tasked with keeping up with new versions of Windows, Macs, and most types of mobile operating systems (sorry Windows Mobile users). It is no easy feat and MLB Advanced Media deserves some recognition. The streaming service has had its flaws, but MLBAM just sent out an update to their apps, including compatibility with the upcoming Apple Watch. Released yesterday, MLBAM was gracious enough to give a free two day trial on the Android, Fire OS, iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch platforms. No signup or auto-renewing fee, just a simple choice of which game(s) you’d like to watch.

The features new to this year’s version are things such as pre-game lineup notifications — strictly on the iPhone for now though — which is great for daily fantasy players, as well as a much needed revamp of the Android and Fire widgets. The full list of updates and additions can be found directly on the MLB website, however another feature worth highlighting is for 7-inch Android or Fire tablet owners being able to feature your favorite team. By selecting a specific club the app will showcase scores, news and video. If any of you are fans of multiple teams, the condensed game option is also available during the trial so you can catch up on each game’s signature events.

For those on the fence about purchasing MLB.TV for the first time — or even renewing it as last season there were major bugs early on — this is the perfect opportunity to preview the system at no charge. Each operating system’s apps are compatible with Google’s Chromecast,  Amazon’s FireTV and Fire Stick for straight forward broadcasts from your device to the television. With 24 games to choose from and zero sign up required, watching live baseball has never been easier.

(Header image via MLB)

Will MLB.TV be blackout free? Say it’s so, Joe. According to Forbes, Major League Baseball and FOX are negotiating a deal that would remove blackouts from any games streamed by FOX regional sports networks. Last year, FOX-owned regional sports networks aired 37 percent of all broadcasted games.

The biggest roadblock to a deal is how this affects FOX. If MLB Advanced Media, the digital arm of the MLB, can offer the games on MLB.TV without blackouts, it’d cut in to the amount of viewers on FOX Sports GO, the network’s streaming service, and on foxsports.com. In 2014, the nationally broadcasted games, including the All-Star Game and World Series, streamed to FOX’s mobile app without blackouts. And while they’d attract viewers that don’t subscribe to MLB.TV, they’d still lose a piece of the pie.

The real news here, though, is that blackouts are finally being addressed. And for that, we have to give thanks to the new commissioner, Rob Manfred. As far as we know, Bud Selig never pushed for a resolution. And while Manfred is at least making a deal with FOX  a priority, he does acknowledge the challenges that television territories carry in order to lift blackouts completely.

“Television territories that cause these blackouts are integral to the economics of the game,” Manfred told Forbes. “They’re a foundation of the very structure of the league. Blackouts are actually caused, not by our desire not to cover that area, but by the inability of the rights holder to get distribution in certain parts of the television territories. It’s not solely our issue to resolve. Having said that I am aware of these complaints and whenever we have an issue like this we are constantly evaluating how we do business to make sure we are as fan friendly as possible.”

Maury Brown, the Forbes contributor that broke this story, published a MLB Blackout Map to illustrate the TV territories. “While there has been a thawing of blackouts on the national level,” Brown wrote, “it is local broadcasts that create the most trouble due to territories for each club that started out as over-the-air reach, and ran amok as pay-TV took hold. They are, to the fans, arbitrary, and at the very least, arcane.”

These regional sports networks that run TV territories want to get paid. Ultimatley, this is the problem facing any solution to blackouts. Paul Swydan of FanGraphs dissected this issue brilliantly on Friday, and included his idea of a Super Premium MLB.TV package that would keep the local networks from losing revenue generated by carriage fees (due to lost cable customers) and allow the networks to run their local ads, rather than the MLB.TV ads we get now.

These are complicated issues to work through. But I like I wrote earlier, the real news here is the problem is finally being addressed.

“This reported agreement between MLB and FOX is a nice first step,” Swydan wrote. “Hopefully we’ll see more steps soon.”

Image via Billy Bob Bain

For people who want to stream sports on their computers and devices, baseball fans have it pretty great. MLB.tv was really the first of the big four sports to offer live game streaming via the web, and the progress made by MLB Advanced Media has been strong, if not without its problems. It can be buggy, it can be laggy, but it allows us to watch baseball online with a reasonable success rate. But with all the advancements made for mobile viewing, simple web-based viewing has seemed to take a step backward.

Beyond my work here, I also occasionally contribute baseball writing to our sister site FanGraphs. In some cases, I’m looking to capture a GIF of a certain pitcher or a certain play. I know how to capture and convert the video — I’ve become fairly quick at it over the past few years. But actually finding the video can be troublesome thanks to the jenky way MLB streams games over web browsers.

In the past, MLB used a plugin called NexDef. I’m not privy to the reasons why this particular plugin was utilized, but I can say that it was crappy and unreliable. But it was needed for more advanced features like the live DVR capabilities and the switching of audio commentary. The biggest problem that I had with NexDef is that it very rarely recognized that it actually existed on my computer. It would constantly ask me to reinstall. Constantly. On both Mac and PC. Support was limited to a few sets of instructions on how to remove and (again) reinstall NexDef, but I don’t recall that ever solving the problem.

Last year, MLB.tv seemed to offer a NexDef-less way to view on the web. This was a welcome change, but more issues seemed to arise. Primarily, the time coding seemed to be all over the place. Say I wanted to grab a clip of Giancarlo Stanton hitting a double. I would look up the game logs and find out that he hit one in the bottom of the fifth inning. I would pull up the game online, and use the web player to switch to the fifth inning. I would not end up there. More often than not, the video would display that the game was about to start. Sometimes it would take me to the first or second inning. Sometimes it would thank me for watching, as the game had already ended. This left me to use the scrubber and the score bug on the video to try and find my way to the fifth inning. It was a long and stupid process.

But 2015 is a new year, and with it, MLB is promising a better version of its streaming service. Among the new features is the ability to watch Spring Training games via mobile and connected devices and the ability to sync Spanish-language broadcast audio. But they also list “web-based HD media player” as a new feature. Maybe there is such a thing as Santa Claus. If I can finally watch an MLB game online without wanting to punch my laptop, the 2015 season is already off to a great start. Heck, maybe my Astros will make a run at the postseason. Well, baby steps, I suppose.

I realize that the way I want to use MLB.tv is different from most everybody else. Still, if a product offers me the ability to jump between innings and batters, it should, you know, actually do that. I’m a baseball nerd, and I will probably always buy MLB.tv, warts and all. But if minor tech issues are turning away more casual fans, that becomes a problem. Readers of this site probably have the wherewithal to follow instructions on removing plugins. The average user does not. If MLB has fixed the tech problems that have plagues the site for years, we might finally have the perfect sports-streaming solution. Well, they’d also have to address the blackout rules. But that’s a different post, isn’t it?

(Image via Twitter)