Apple TV

Apple doesn't seem interested in the Spanish language rights.

 

I'm curious what "casual fan" looks like to you or MLS. To me, the only type of "casual fan" MLS is likely to get is someone that supports their home town teams regardless of sport. I don't see how random games on non-appleTV gets to those folks, whereas the local broadcasts could. Someone from North Jersey that supports the Jersey-based teams is not likely to be interested in a Sporting Kansas vs. Orlando match... And it is clear that football/soccer fans that only follow foreign leagues don't have much interest in MLS... Maybe MLS can get some college/US National teams fans but I'm again not sure how Montreal vs Miami moves the needle for a watch...

 

Yeah, how I feel about giving Apple my personal $ is comparable to how I feel about getting a paper cut on my eyeball.

 

I think this is something we'll find out. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but all "local" MLS telecasts previously were behind some form of paywall. We'll see what changes, but I don't think anyone here can honestly say the latest iteration of local telecasts on NBC Sports Washington were anything other than amateur hour. That local telecast certainly wasn't going to get local casuals into the DCU orbit -- of course the steaming pile on the pitch didn't help things as well. Some of us will follow soccer telecasts anywhere, I remember watching the InterAmericas cup match from Fort Lauderdale on Channel 53 at the time. Younger generations, like my kids, just consume media in ways I barely understand - with credit to @shawn12011 , that is the demographic MLS and other sports are chasing. I'm just an irrelevant, old, actuarially soon to depart this mortal coil unit to the media companies.

 

The reality of MLS in 2022 is that NO ONE was watching their games. The mythical casual fan pretty much doesn’t exist and you had teams like DCU paying for air time.

If the league marketed this new deal this way, they’d probably be getting a much better reaction:

40% of our games will be available for free to everyone. You can watch on any device. And if you don’t have a smart tv but want to watch on your tv all you have to do is buy a $10 connector cable and you’ll be good to go.

another 20% of our games will be available to Apple TV+ subscribers with no other subscription necessary.

And if you’re a diehard and want every one of your teams games and every game around the league and additional content and a nationwide whip around show, then sign up for our MLS channel through Apple TV

Sports leagues are built around TV revenue and MLS was making basically zero. To really grow, they have to find a way to get that money.

this deal actually makes zero sense for Apple unless one very specific event happens. Because right now they’re going to sell about 10 subscriptions for this service (the vast majority of people who would sign up are getting it for free as a STH).

But if Messi signs with Inter Miami, they will sell a TON of subscriptions throughout the world and MLS has escalators in the contract depending on how many subscriptions are sold.

that’s where this tv deal could get interesting for the league as a whole and the amount of money available to put into salaries.

 

So wait, I'm confused now. 40% of the games are on something other than the Apple TV streaming service?

 

100% of games will be on Apple TV
But not every game will be behind a paywall.

According to reports by the Athletic, 40% of games will be in front of the paywall. 20% will be available if you pay for AppleTV+
The rest you will need to pay for the MLS subscription.

Put another way, all the games will be on AppleTV but you need to understand what AppleTV is.

AppleTV is part “software” and part “programming”

Start with the software. In this instance AppleTV is like Roku. I have a tv that has Roku software. I turn it on and get a menu screen and decide which app to open - Netflix, Amazon prime, YouTubeTV, etc. AppleTV has the same type of devices where instead of the tv running Roku it runs Apple software.

but AppleTV is also an app. I can download it on my Roku device or my iPhone or just go to their url in a browser. The app has content. Some of the content is free. Some (like Ted Lasso) you have to pay for by subscribing to AppleTV+.

For MLS, 40% of the leagues games will be in the free section. 20% will be in the AppleTV+ section.

for the remaining 40% you’ll have to pay the MLS fee and you’ll get every game.

In terms of accessing AppleTv, download the app on your smart TV ((I can download it on my Roku TV) on your phone or go on any browser on your computer.

don’t have s smart tv but want to watch on your tv. A Roku stick is one-time $25. Plugs into a hdmi port on your tv. Or by a connector device and plug your phone into a hdmi cable. This, of course, assumes you have an internet connection..,

 

Here are links to the Athletic article that talks about the AppleTV deal and the 40% and if (like me) you're not a subscriber, you can get a lot of the details on the podcast that talks about the article:

Article:

There will be issues. The short runway to next season will lead to difficulties. People aren't in the habit of going to Apple TV for live sports.

Ultimately, I think it'll serve current MLS fans. Will it help get new fans in the building? More skeptical. https://t.co/JevGOJTqgz

— Sam Stejskal (@samstejskal) October 27, 2022

Podcast:

🎙Allocation Disorder🎙

Fun show. Fun show! @PaulTenorio and I laughed a lot.

✔️Apple TV details
✔️New playoff format? Let’s up regular season stakes instead
✔️Olsen to Houston? Blah
✔️Nancy to Crew? Very intrigued
✔️Conference final preview

Listen: https://t.co/D8RemJfuxh

— Sam Stejskal (@samstejskal) October 27, 2022

 

So it’s not going to be like the MLB deal where you had to be an AppleTV+ Subscriber to get the “free” games?

I’m confused.

It’s borderline FloSports right now. From a slapdash production setup to promises that won’t be fully delivered on day one.

Thx,

Jay!

 

Sorry, I'm not being clear.

Assuming I would want to do it, to download the AppleTV app requires purchasing either an Apple device or a smart TV -- so I wouldn't describe it as "free to everyone". By Apple's choice, there is no AppleTV app for Android phones (or for my Linux desktop, but I would never have expected that anyway) -- Apple makes a humongous freaking metric fuckton of money off free software, but doesn't do much to give back to the community they exploit, because that's what they do. Which leaves watching through a browser. To watch through a browser, Apple's website seems to indicate that you must subscribe to AppleTV+. Which is not free to everyone. For people who do not have Apple devices or smart TVs, it apparently will cost them additional money to watch the matches.

 

Assuming you have high-speed internet (yes, I know an assumption), you can buy a Roku stick, or Amazon Firestick, or GoogleTV stick for about $25 and boom, now you have a "smart TV."

Yes, this isn't free. But it isn't an outrageous expense either and there are plenty of other benefits.

Incidently, I looked it up and the latest research says 87% of US TV households own a connected tv (either a smart TV, streaming stick, or game console that allows them access to the various streaming apps). Story here: https://thestreamable.com/news/surv...dults-own-connected-tv-46-percent-watch-daily

Perhaps not free to "all" but pretty close...

If this is correct, that you need an AppleTV+ subscription to access AppleTV through a browser, that would definitely impact what is available to the 13% of households that don't have access through a smart device.

Ultimately, I guess my point is that for the vast, vast majority of people (but you are correct technically not "everyone") there will be a lot of games available for free or a very minimal cost.



For me personally, a couple of years ago I "cut the cord" from cable to YouTubeTV. As a result, I pay less, get what I think is a better product, but don't have access to MASN which shows the NATS games. I don't care about baseball at all so that didn't matter to me. If I was a diehard baseball fan I suppose I probably would have made a different decision.

If you're a diehard MLS fan and want to watch a bunch of games but don't want to shell out for AppleTV+ and/or the MLS app, spend $25 and turn your "regular" TV into a "smart" TV. It's a choice to make. Is $25 worth it (again, assuming the high-speed internet is already there) to get to watch a bunch of MLS games or not? Different people will have different opinions...

 

I don't have the actual contract in front of me to read but the impression I got from the Athletic reporting was that 40% of the games would be "in front of the paywall" which to means you don't have to have an AppleTV+ subscription to watch those. Maybe I'm understanding it wrong...

 

That’s where I’m confused. No one has actually come out and said it. They just say “in front of paywall.” Which paywall isn’t defined.

Thx,

Jay!

 

Well... they say 40% in front of paywall, 20% more if you have an AppleTV+ subscription (behind paywall 1), and the rest through the MLS app (paywall 2). Since they mention the 20% more to AppleTV+ subscribers, that presumably means the other 40% are available to people without the AppleTV+ subscription.

 

We do.

Wouldn't that require a USB port on the TV? Do dumb TVs come with USB ports these days?

Our TV is not so ancient as to have a CRT; but it is 16 years old, can't do 1080p (just 1080i), and the only inputs are HDMI, Component Video/YPbPr, and direct coax from e.g. an old cable box (thankfully never needed). No USB/FireWire/Thunderbolt/microUSB/anything else. We haven't replaced it because we've never felt the need: it works as well as it did when we took it out of the box, and until now there's been nothing I've wanted to do with it that I couldn't do. Especially given the fact that we don't watch a lot of TV -- heck, I went from 1990-2006 without even owning a TV. I've never felt the need to own the latest shiny-but-ultimately-disposable consumer device, thank goodness; so as long as it works, I'd be inclined to hang onto it.

Yeah, I confess I forgot about the capabilities of game consoles. I'm not sure I know that many people with IoT TVs; but most people I know (although not us) seem to have a console of some sort these days.

 

You say this based on what? You don't know that it will be a "slapdash production setup" and while I'm sure they will have some kinks to work out one thing I know is this:

Apple is not FloSports.

With a 2.2 million market cap they are the most valuable company in the world. It borders on the absurd to suggest this will be a Flo-style mess when Apple is more than capable of throwing money at potential problems. This is just unsupported runaway negativity.

 

This thread has big old man yells at cloud energy.

 

I prefer to yell at my TV...