Apple today announced the lineup of broadcasters and production enhancements for “Friday Night Baseball,” which leads off tomorrow, April 8, only on Apple TV+. Fans can access “Friday Night Baseball” games and additional content, including new exclusive programs such as “Countdown to First Pitch” and “MLB Daily Recap,” beginning today in the Apple TV app.
Beginning Friday, April 8, the broadcast team of Melanie Newman (play-by-play), Chris Young (analyst), Hannah Keyser (analyst), and Brooke Fletcher (reporter) will call the New York Mets at the Washington Nationals at 7 p.m. ET; and Stephen Nelson (play-by-play), Hunter Pence (analyst), Katie Nolan (analyst), and Heidi Watney (reporter) comprise the crew that will call the Houston Astros at the Los Angeles Angels game at 9:30 p.m. ET.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, Katie Nolan!
Game assignments for “Friday Night Baseball” broadcasters will be announced on a weekly basis. In her new role with “Friday Night Baseball,” Newman becomes the second woman to lead play-by-play duties for a national broadcast team; she joined the Baltimore Orioles’ broadcast team in 2020.
“Friday Night Baseball” live pre- and postgame coverage will be hosted by Lauren Gardner, along with a rotating group of analysts and former Major League Baseball (MLB) players, including Carlos Peña, Cliff Floyd, and Yonder Alonso.
Scheduled games are available to anyone with internet access, for free, only on Apple TV+. Users can find step-by-step instructions to access “Friday Night Baseball” across devices.
Produced by MLB Network’s Emmy Award-winning production team in partnership with Apple, “Friday Night Baseball” will offer a modern and dynamic broadcast experience that appeals to new viewers and veteran fans alike. Each game broadcast will employ state-of-the-art cameras, including high-speed Phantoms, the high-resolution Megalodon, and more throughout the season to present vivid, live-action shots, and offer immersive sound in 5.1 with spatial audio enabled. “Friday Night Baseball” will also incorporate new on-screen graphics that include innovative new probabilities-based forecasts of different situational outcomes, plus highlights and live look-ins from around the league integrated right into the broadcast. Throughout the “Friday Night Baseball” broadcasts, fans can enjoy on-screen callouts about batters’ walk-up songs from Apple Music, test their knowledge of baseball trivia with help from Siri, and more. And, in a first for MLB games, “Friday Night Baseball” will feature rules analysis and interpretation from former MLB umpire Brian Gorman.
In addition to two marquee games on Friday nights throughout the regular season, fans in the US and Canada can enjoy new 24/7 live programming with MLB game replays, news and analysis, highlights, classic games, and more. Each Thursday, fans can tune in to “Countdown to First Pitch” for a preview of the week’s upcoming games, and every morning to “MLB Daily Recap” for highlights from across the league, both available only on Apple TV+, as well as the “MLB Big Inning” whip-around show featuring live look-ins and in-game highlights every weeknight. Additionally, fans will be able to watch full games, as well as condensed game replays, on demand on Apple TV+ after the completion of the live broadcasts each week.
In Apple News, fans can easily follow their favorite teams and watch personalized MLB highlights right in the News app. Today, fans can find an Opening Day preview curated by Apple News editors, and each Friday, enjoy a curated group of highlights and stories from around the league, and easily tap to watch “Friday Night Baseball” directly in the Apple TV app.
In Apple Music, fans can find exclusive playlists of batters’ walk-up songs from teams featured on “Friday Night Baseball” each week, as well as a collection of classic songs celebrating baseball.
“Friday Night Baseball” games will be available to anyone with internet access across devices where Apple TV+ can be found, including on the Apple TV app on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV 4K and HD, and on tv.apple.com, along with smart TVs, gaming consoles, and cable set-top boxes. “Friday Night Baseball” will be available on Apple TV+ in the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, and for a limited time, without the need for a subscription.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV+, the first all-original video subscription service and home of today’s most imaginative storytellers, offers an award-winning and inspiring lineup of original series, films, and now, sports, beginning with “Friday Night Baseball.” Subscribers can watch Apple TV+ Originals both online and offline — and on demand — on the Apple TV app, which comes preinstalled on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod touch, and Mac, as well as online at tv.apple.com. The Apple TV app is also available on select smart TVs, including Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Sony, TCL, VIZIO, and others; Amazon Fire TV and Roku devices; PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles; Chromecast with Google TV; and set-top boxes including Sky Q, SK Broadband, and Comcast Xfinity.
If impossible to create packages with the same content maybe just create new tiers and problem solved?
Apple TV++ (all exclusives)
Apple TV+ (no exclusives)
Apple TV- (just some)
Tiers = gamemanship. The end user always ends up being the target of an endless barrage of upsell pressure. We shouldn’t be locked into channel-based packages like the antiquated cable network anymore. If there was media consumer justice in the world, there would be a truly a-la-carte option in addition to the obvious “all or none” defaults. Individual choice is precisely what made iTunes a success selling music. If no modern media corporate behemoth will allow a user to buy only what he wishes to consume, and no more, then perhaps it’s time for streaming media regulation to force the issue. The internet has removed the technical barriers to delivering what the people really want — only money grubbing gatekeepers keep forcing users into endless bundles and subscriptions.