Major League Baseball game are officially headed to Apple. Plus: the men’s NCAA Tournament returns to its usual schedule; the USFL has announced its TV windows.
Apple announces deal for Friday MLB doubleheaders
Apple officially announced Tuesday that it has acquired a package of Major League Baseball rights that will include weekly Friday night doubleheaders and a nightly wraparound show on the Apple TV+ streaming service whenever the season begins. MLB owners have locked out the players, shut down the league and canceled the first week of games in an effort to secure a more favorable collective bargaining agreement.
According to Sports Business Daily, the deal is for multiple years but financial terms were not available. MLB will produce the games, which will be exclusive to Apple and unavailable on local RSNs.
Per the aforementioned report, MLB is said to be working on securing a second streaming deal with NBC’s Peacock service. The New York Post previously reported that MLB was pursuing what was characterized as a joint deal with Apple and NBC that would include games on Apple TV+, Peacock and the NBC broadcast network. [Apple PR 3.8, SBJ 3.8]
Men’s NCAA Tournament returns to usual schedule
The men’s NCAA Tournament is returning to its usual scheduling matrix this season, according to the programming schedule released by CBS and Turner Sports on Tuesday. The first two weekends of play are set to run Thursday-Sunday, preceded by the “First Four” on back-to-back nights Tuesday, March 15 and Wednesday, March 16. Last season, all four “First Four” took place on the same Thursday, followed by the opening weekend on a Friday-Monday and the second weekend on a Saturday-Tuesday.
The Final Four and National Championship return to Turner Sports this year for the first time in four years. (Turner was set to carry the event two years ago, but the tournament was canceled at the last minute.) Notably, those games are listed as airing solely on TBS. The previous times Turner carried the Final Four, it aired “Teamcast” coverage with the main broadcast on TBS and home-team focused simulcasts on TNT and TruTV.
It is not clear whether Turner plans to offer any alternative broadcast of the Final Four and National Championship this year.
In other NCAA Tournament news, Reggie Miller is returning to the broadcast booth after skipping last season; Turner newcomer Nabil Karim will debut as an Atlanta-based studio host; Andy Katz will shift from the studio to a sideline reporting role. [CBS/Turner]
USFL announces TV windows, with five primetime slots on broadcast TV
The USFL television schedule, which was released Tuesday, includes five game windows scheduled for primetime broadcast television: the April 16 New Jersey-Birmingham season opener on NBC and FOX, a to-be-announced game on FOX two weeks later, a post-Preakness window on NBC May 21, a playoff semifinal on NBC June 25 and the July 3 championship on FOX.
As previously noted, FOX (14) and NBC (9) will combine to air 23 of the 43 total games, including the season opening simulcast April 16. USA Network (9) and FS1 (8) will carry seventeen. Four games will air exclusively on NBC’s Peacock streaming service. [USFL]
