Tonight (Friday)'s game exclusively on Apple TV

[nevadaO]

4 hours ago, Jagwar said:

I've also tried multiple VPN apps/services that are supposed to trick the blackout gods on my Firestick, but MLB seems to have figured those out.  

I use a VPN on my Fire stick. What you have to do is (every time, unfortunately) go into your applications, force stop the MLB app, clear the MLB app cache, and then start your VPN and load up the app. 

It's ridiculous.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

45 minutes ago, nevadaO said:

I use a VPN on my Fire stick. What you have to do is (every time, unfortunately) go into your applications, force stop the MLB app, clear the MLB app cache, and then start your VPN and load up the app. 

It's ridiculous.

The MLB officials that are wondering why younger fans aren't watching baseball in similar numbers as previous generations are the same people enforcing these ridiculous restrictions on streaming. 

I guarantee a good percentage of fans torrenting games would pay for the MLB.TV app, but don't because they're considered 'in-market' and every game they want to watch is blacked out on MLB.TV. 

[byrdz]

If you have Roku you can add AppleTV to it but I think you will still need a subscription. Worth a try either way. But you don’t need the actual AppleTV box.

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Just Regular said:

I think the odds are in your favor the monetization tipping point isn't going to be a May Orioles game

You're assuming some kind of logic out of an organization that blacks out the Orioles from MLB.com in Asheville, NC.  Or like six teams in all of Iowa, a state with no MLB team.  That combination of spite, greed and incompetence is capable of almost anything.

[DrungoHazewood]

37 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

The MLB officials that are wondering why younger fans aren't watching baseball in similar numbers as previous generations are the same people enforcing these ridiculous restrictions on streaming. 

I guarantee a good percentage of fans torrenting games would pay for the MLB.TV app, but don't because they're considered 'in-market' and every game they want to watch is blacked out on MLB.TV. 

They're not concerned about any of that since the average MLB fan is 88 years old and hasn't gotten the hang of touch-tone dialing or setting the clock on their VCR yet, so they don't even know streaming is a thing.  Much less streaming blackouts.

[OriolesMagic83]

MLB has to be about the only sport that figures out ways for fans not to watch their product.  I feel like we are in that time long ago when the internet was just invented and only nerds had access.  Well with baseball's aging fan demographic, a lot of their customers might not be internet savvy.

[OriolesMagic83]

There will probably be hundreds if not tens of O's fans glued to their Apple Tv's to watch the game.

Next up, O's games exclusively on the quilting network and the D&D games network.  Got to reach every corner of the universe with O's ball games.

 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

12 minutes ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

MLB has to be about the only sport that figures out ways for fans not to watch their product.  I feel like we are in that time long ago when the internet was just invented and only nerds had access.  Well with baseball's aging fan demographic, a lot of their customers might not be internet savvy.

Plus MLB wants to keep milking those lucrative local cable television contracts for as long as possible even with younger people cord cutting.

MLB must think they have a solid of enough fanbase that they'd rather funnel fans into subscribing to cable or satellite over making in-market streaming a viable option. 

[DrungoHazewood]

30 minutes ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

MLB has to be about the only sport that figures out ways for fans not to watch their product.  I feel like we are in that time long ago when the internet was just invented and only nerds had access.  Well with baseball's aging fan demographic, a lot of their customers might not be internet savvy.

Not exactly.  In the UK big soccer matches are often not televised.  I don't know all the details, but I saw many Spurs fans posting their bitterness over not being able to watch the season-ending match against Norwich without a VPN.  Someone in North London couldn't watch the game legally while I could in Maryland, while the guy in London could watch the O's while I can't.

[NashLumber]

2 hours ago, nevadaO said:

I use a VPN on my Fire stick. What you have to do is (every time, unfortunately) go into your applications, force stop the MLB app, clear the MLB app cache, and then start your VPN and load up the app. 

It's ridiculous.

I have a similar process to make sure I can watch MLB-TV on my Mac Mini through an HDTV screen I use as my TV monitor for streaming movies, baseball etc. I just have to make sure I turn off the VPN for my streaming channels as many of them are not available in the UK (or the same movie choices) which is where I have my VPN set for baseball. It is kind of convoluted.

The only game I missed all year was the Wednesday one due an inability to log in. But as mentioned, we tested it with my wife's iPad sans VPN for her MLB account (she uses to buy game tix) and she was unable to log in as well. 

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

The MLB officials that are wondering why younger fans aren't watching baseball in similar numbers as previous generations are the same people enforcing these ridiculous restrictions on streaming. 

I guarantee a good percentage of fans torrenting games would pay for the MLB.TV app, but don't because they're considered 'in-market' and every game they want to watch is blacked out on MLB.TV. 

I would be first in line for the MLB.TV app but the games I want are blacked out.  I'd gladly pay whatever they'd want to charge to ditch DirecTV and just have the MLB.TV in order to watch Orioles games without having to jump through my own asshole to figure out a VPN workaround (even though, I admit, when I had it working well I felt like I was sticking it to the man a little bit and that was fun).

MLB.TV is actually really cool but the blackouts are just stupid.  And there's no good reason for them.  None.

[NCRaven]

Well, if you have an iPhone and the Apple TV app, they are offering a 7 day free trial right now.  Took me 30 seconds to subscribe and I plan to unsubscribe immediately after the game.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

5 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

Well, if you have an iPhone and the Apple TV app, they are offering a 7 day free trial right now.  Took me 30 seconds to subscribe and I plan to unsubscribe immediately after the game.

You shouldn't have to do that for tonight's game since the MLB Friday Night Games are still free. That reminds me I need to make sure it's working on my Apple TV since I don't use it for Apple TV+. 

[NCRaven]

So, I am watching the first episode of Long Way Up, a documentary about Ewan MacGregor's ride from the southern tip of South America north to Los Angelos on Harley Livewire electric motorcycles.  In the first 6 minutes, it got stuck buffering twice.  If MLB decide to go 100% streaming, I'd have to shoot someone.  Oh, I wouldn't buy an e-bike, but it's an interesting story.  He's filmed two other major trips on bikes over the past 18 years.  Wish I was a little younger, a 13,000 mile ride would be awesome.

[OriolesMagic83]

Is it possible to use Apple TV on a laptop, or do you need a smart TV or iPhone?