MLB At Bat Updated for the 2013 Season, Local Game Video Still Blacked Out

by

Major League Baseball has updated its MLB At Bat app for the 2013 baseball season, refining the app in several areas and adding multi-platform access for subscriptions purchased through the MLB At Bat's In-App Purchase mechanism. The app provides baseball fans with access to subscription-based live game radio and television broadcasts, MLB GameDay play-by-play service, and more.

There are several subscription levels depending on whether the user wants streaming television broadcasts, or just the radio broadcasts. The app itself, a universal app designed for both the iPhone and iPad, is a free download and offers free league-wide scoreboards and limited access to news and non-live video content from Major League Baseball.

Mlbscreenshot
There are two main subscription packages. The high-end $130/season MLB.tv Premium offers everything: live home-and-away television broadcasts for "out-of-market" games (that is, users can't watch their local team's television coverage) as well as live game home-and-away radio broadcasts, and the ability to watch on mobile devices, PC's, the Apple TV, and consoles. Users can also watch a growing number of archived classic games. MLB.tv Premium can be purchased through the MLB website or via in-app subscription for $25/month.

The cheaper At Bat 2013 product, which is available as an in-app purchase for $20/season or $3/month, offers both home-and-away radio broadcasts with no blackout restrictions.

New for this year, subscribers who purchase MLB.tv Premium or At Bat 2013 through IAP will get to access in-game audio or TV broadcasts not only on the iPhone and iPad, but on Android devices, as well as Macs and PCs and consoles (as applicable).

Ipad News1
MLB Advanced Media has promised more upgrades to the app before opening day at the beginning of April, and told MacRumors that the company is aware that customers would very much like to stream local games without blackout restrictions, but that the content deals to allow that are extremely complex and difficult to negotiate.

MLB At Bat is a free universal download from the App Store for iPhone and iPad. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

Diode Avatar
Diode
146 months ago
Dear MLB teams (as blackout restrictions aren't under jurisdiction by the MLB itself):

Please allow MLB at Bat to at least just stream the feed from your stupid local sports network created solely for your team.

Thanks,
Baseball fans everywhere
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mattwolfmatt Avatar
mattwolfmatt
146 months ago
I am a huge baseball fan, and I was living in another city and faithfully plunked down the $150 or so a year to watch my team. Now that I moved back home to where my team is . . . I can't watch my team and MLB gets $0.

Thanks, MLB?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PantherCreek Avatar
PantherCreek
146 months ago
I really wish that AtBat wouldn't black out local games. I've gotten rid of cable and still can't watch games from my local team as they're happening even if I pay their $130.00 subscription.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
grapes911 Avatar
grapes911
146 months ago
I really wish that AtBat wouldn't black out local games. I've gotten rid of cable and still can't watch games from my local team as they're happening even if I pay their $130.00 subscription.
Networks pay a lot of money to exclusively carry games in local markets. It's not going to change any time soon.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
azentropy Avatar
azentropy
146 months ago
Networks pay a lot of money to exclusively carry games in local markets. It's not going to change any time soon.

They could very easily stream the local networks actual feed with commercials and all to those who in local markets. Problem solved.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
oneMadRssn Avatar
oneMadRssn
146 months ago
This blackout nonsense has to end. It does nothing but hurt the consumers: the fans. I get that it's so that it's so mlb.tv doesn't compete with local cable companies, but it's still ridiculous. Let me put in my local cable company login information (like HBOgo does) and prove that I'm a subscriber to let me watch local games then. Or increase the price for unblacked out access.

Again, this restriction only hurts the real fans.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Read Full Article • 276 comments
Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
Read Full Article • 83 comments
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
Read Full Article • 416 comments
iPad And Calculator App Feature

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
Read Full Article • 222 comments
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
Read Full Article