News: MLS TV deal with Apple

Discussion in 'New England Revolution' started by NFLPatriot, Jun 14, 2022.

  1. NFLPatriot

    NFLPatriot Member+

    Jun 25, 2002
    Foxboro, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It's possible Brad and Charlie will continue to do the radio broadcasts.

    Apple's MLS Season Pass offers an option to have the radio broadcast as the audio feed for your stream.

     
  2. rkane1226

    rkane1226 Member+

    Apr 9, 2000
    Club:
    Stade Brestois 29
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Wow, all this complex streaming sounds impressive. So I'll be able to choose between English, Spanish and radio (if the Revs have radio in multiple languages will they both/all be available?). If a Canadian team is involved, I can add a Canadian French TV feed and a Canadian French Radio feed? So maybe 5 audio sources to choose from?

    A friend recommended the French Film, "La Fille de Monaco" to me. I rented it on Apple this weekend. Audio track was in French (good! I wanted that). Sub-titles were in ENGLISH and burned in. I couldn't turn them off. I couldn't select any other audio track nor any other subtitle track. I only rented ($3.99) but feel I'd have been disappointed had I "bought" ($12.99) the film. Only NETFLIX consistently offers a broad selection of language and sub title streams in my experience. Not picking on Apple. I rented on Apple because, IIRC, Prime only offered the film in dubbed English.

    Cautiously optimistic they'll make all this work as advertised.
     
  3. Jeremy Goodwin

    Jeremy Goodwin Member+

    SSC Napoli
    Feb 16, 1999
    Club:
    Montreal Impact
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You can watch some (mostly PSG and 30 minute highlights, but they were showing ANC this past week) of BeIN live on BeIN Xtra via the Tubi app (no fee) or OTA (depending where you live in the Boston area, it's on OTA 22.5, but it's a low power station). Paramount isn't a bad deal because you get the UEFA club stuff plus Serie A. SPL has become a bit irrelevant but it's on Paramount.
     
  4. NFLPatriot

    NFLPatriot Member+

    Jun 25, 2002
    Foxboro, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Apple's MLS Season Pass launches one week from today.

    Why I am excited about this, I don't know.
     
  5. Minutemanii

    Minutemanii Member+

    Dec 29, 2005
    Abington MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm excited. I believe that 10 years from now it will be viewed as a watershed moment when the league took more control over their destiny.
     
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  6. ToMhIlL

    ToMhIlL Member+

    Feb 18, 1999
    Boxborough, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    So does this mean that the Revs (and other MLS games) are not available on "regular" TV?
     
    edcrocker repped this.
  7. NFLPatriot

    NFLPatriot Member+

    Jun 25, 2002
    Foxboro, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Unfortunately, yes. The league mandated that all local TV deals not last beyond 2022 in order to make way for this deal, so it's been in the works for years.

    There will be a handful of games aired on FOX/FS1, the rest you need to stream.
     
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  8. frankieg73

    frankieg73 Member

    New England Revolution
    Portugal
    Apr 8, 2001
    St. Petersburg, FL (not my choice)
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    Portugal
    I am viewing it as a watershed moment where they vastly reduced their audience by moving to a pay-per-view strategy. The league's national exposure and their TV numbers are going to plummet. They're sacrificing long-term growth for short-term cash.

    I've watched almost every Revs game since 1998 and I am not buying this MLS package on Apple TV so they've lost me as a fan. I don't live in New England any more so when MLS was bundled with other properties on ESPN+, it was a bargain to pay for that service and also get Bundesliga, La Liga, college football, etc. But now that the rights to soccer leagues are being split apart into different streaming services I have to pick where I want to spend my money and try to find value for my money -- $99 per year for only MLS games is not value for me.
     
  9. Minutemanii

    Minutemanii Member+

    Dec 29, 2005
    Abington MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    They will surely plummet with your demographic. Now, younger people -who's intuition is to stream content- not so much. The younger people represent the future. MLS's broadcast numbers weren't great to begin with and most my Boomer friends (I'm a Boomer too) don't speak the language of soccer. It's weirdly missing from their vocabulary.
     
  10. Minutemanii

    Minutemanii Member+

    Dec 29, 2005
    Abington MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Soon streaming will be "regular TV".
     
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  11. rkupp

    rkupp Member+

    Jan 3, 2001
    I like to record (Tivo) games and be able to skip through the pre-games, halftime, etc.

    My concern is that I won't be able to start watching a game from the beginning, while it's still in progress. Most sports streaming providers don't put it up for replay until the game is well over - and then it becomes a challenge to navigate to the replay without having the result revealed/implied.
     
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  12. Argyle

    Argyle Member

    Jan 31, 2002
    Plymouth, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This is basically my son's argument. He's 24 and he doesn't have traditional cable at the apartment.
    Personally, I have my doubts that it's the right move.
     
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  13. Argyle

    Argyle Member

    Jan 31, 2002
    Plymouth, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm thinking the Fox games will be presented as the MLS Game of the Week, or some such.

    Does anyone know if they'll still be on the radio?
     
  14. BERich

    BERich Member+

    Feb 3, 2012
    New England
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm a boomer who cut the cable about 6 years ago. I don't have a problem with streaming per se; I have a problem with everything breaking down to separate streams and separate charges. Thursday night football on Amazon Prime is an example. And the US men played the other night and it was on HBO, wtf? I know the NFL and NBA have a separate channel that carries all their games, but I don't care, I pretty much only watch my teams if they are playing and I can get that on local TV. I fully understand that today's generation only view shows on streaming services. But my concern is where do you draw the line on paying for each stream and am I also watching commercials? I can't see this growing the game. How do you capture casual fans that might stumble upon a game if they first have to pay for it? I have previously stated that I'm not purchasing the package until after the season has started and that remains my position.
     
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  15. NFLPatriot

    NFLPatriot Member+

    Jun 25, 2002
    Foxboro, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I recently upgraded my phone, and it came with 3 free months of Apple TV+. So far, I haven't seen any mention of MLS Season Pass on the channel. Hopefully that changes on Wednesday.
     
  16. patfan1

    patfan1 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Aug 19, 1999
    Nashua, NH
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  17. rkupp

    rkupp Member+

    Jan 3, 2001
    #67 rkupp, Jan 30, 2023
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2023
    I'm okay with these - at least those that I know - and they haven't added the one person I never want to hear again(!), so there's that.

    What I don't get is what seems to be (an American?) obsession with former players over virtually everyone else. I have to think coaches would be a lot more interesting in analyzing the game than former players, with little coaching experience. What I'd like more of is analysis and observation of the undercurrents of what's going on - we can all see what's happening on the field. What strategies are the teams using, how is one team's strategy affecting the others, what is each team trying to do to create/prevent chances, how do subs or score changes rebalance all that, why is one team being effective/ineffective, what do they need to do to change that, ...

    That's one thing I appreciated from Paul Mariner - who had both the player and coach viewpoint - but there just wasn't enough of it for my taste (usually had to do with teams playing/not-playing a high-line and what needed to be done for that to work).
     
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  18. ToMhIlL

    ToMhIlL Member+

    Feb 18, 1999
    Boxborough, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah, so many ex-players keep uttering the more-than-obvious clichés that it gets beyond ridiculous. I remember a Prem broadcast from a few years ago, the analyst had this brilliant piece of analysis:
    "When yuuur doon bay a gool, yuh gut ta truy an nip one back!"

    Never thought of that tactic before!
     
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  19. rkane1226

    rkane1226 Member+

    Apr 9, 2000
    Club:
    Stade Brestois 29
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I’d call it a fear for me, not just a concern. YoutubeTV supports this (starting late but at the beginning). It shouldn’t be hard.

    Paramount+ is the most frustrating. Technically, they say you can stream all games LIVE. That last word is important. Because when I get home on a Tuesday or Wednesday night after work, I usually can’t find the matches I want for replay. I’m pretty close to cutting my cord to Paramount+.
     
  20. BrianLBI

    BrianLBI BigSoccer Supporter

    Sep 7, 2002
    New Hampshire
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Whoever do you mean? Shep Messing is on the list!
     
  21. Tea Men Tom

    Tea Men Tom Member

    Feb 14, 2001
    #71 Tea Men Tom, Jan 31, 2023
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2023
    I'm in the boomer category and I have my doubts that the Apple deal will be a good thing, but I imagine that MLS has done its resarch and feels like this is the right move. I get ignoring local TV. No one save for those maybe 50+ bother anymore. But what I don't get is the price tag. The product should be easy to access and available on a regular basis - for free - at least the road games - so the casual fan can still keep up with their team or the league in general.

    You should be able to follow your local club without having to pay for the privalege. Maybe you don't get the full bells and whistles package but you should at least get something.
     
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  22. NFLPatriot

    NFLPatriot Member+

    Jun 25, 2002
    Foxboro, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It is... for season ticket holders. I get what you are saying though. I liked having the games on TV38, especially after I cut the cord and got an HD rooftop antenna. But I also missed games due to other commitments, so I like having On Demand options.

    For me, I will get 34 Revs games, plus at least 2 Leagues Cup games, plus playoffs (knock wood), so it comes down to less than $3 per game. When I cancel ESPN+, it will basically balance out to be free. I'm also looking forward to the whip-around show.
     
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  23. Steve_R

    Steve_R Member

    Feb 25, 2001
    Somerville, MA
    I think I'm gonna buy it. Will likely cancel Paramount+ as the only thing I've been watching there is SPL and Serie A once in a while with my son and my younger son likes Paw Patrol, but we an move on from that!

    My question is whether there are any restrictions on log in locations for one Season Pass account. I don't think that's really a thing with any streaming services yet, especially with screen share/apple air play, so I don't think it'll be a problem but curious how they're gonna approach it.
     
  24. rkupp

    rkupp Member+

    Jan 3, 2001
    ;) It would be mean-spirited to name names, right?
     
  25. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    You have to be a little patient. They post the replays but usually takes a couple of hours. For e.g., for Champions League, you probably have to wait until 7:00ish ET.
     

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