Sportsnet announces big news regarding AppleTV+ Friday Night Baseball
Photo credit: https://tv.apple.com/
Sportsnet announced that the AppleTV+ Friday Night Baseball broadcast of the Toronto Blue Jays versus the Kansas City Royals will be simulcast.
The Blue Jays' potential post-season clincher will air on Sportsnet.
Thanks to some last-minute negotiations, the blackout has been lifted for a good chunk of the team's fans who faced the potential of being in the dark for one of the Jays most-anticipated game of the season.
Sportsnet will produce Blue Jays Central pre-game at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT as well as post-game while carrying the Apple TV+ production of the game broadcast.
MLB, Rogers Communications and AppleTV made last minute negotiations to remove blackout for Fridays game between the Blue Jays and Royals
Friday's contest in Kansas City, which looms as a potential playoff-clinching date for the Jays, no longer is an exclusive Apple TV+ contest thanks to some last-minute negotiations from multiple parties.
"This is a really exciting time of year for Blue Jays fans, and we wanted to try and find a way for Canadians to watch Friday's game on Sportsnet, especially at this pivotal moment of the season. In working with the Blue Jays, Major League Baseball and Apple TV, glad we found a way," a Rogers spokesperson said.
Instead, the Apple TV+ feed of the Jays-Royals game will be simulcast on the streaming service as well as the usual Sportsnet feeds, thus giving all Canadians access to what is seen as a potentially critical late-season contest.
When it became apparent that the Blue Jays' post-season spot could be locked up on the Friday Apple TV+ broadcast, both Sportsnet and the team approached MLB to engage the streamer on a potential deal.
The move didn't come without a price, however. A source familiar with the negotiations to make it happens said that, in exchange for the simulcast, next Friday's Jays-Rays game from the Rogers Centre will be added as an Apple TV+ exclusive.
It remains unclear if or how the Blue Jays could sew up their spot Friday when they begin a three-game road series against the Kansas City Royals.
Entering Thursday's action, Toronto's magic number for a playoff spot sat at three - with any combination of Blue Jays wins and Cleveland Guardians losses inching that number closer to zero.
If Toronto wins and Cleveland loses on Thursday, the Blue Jays would reach the post-season with another victory Friday.
In the scenario where only one of those things happen, the Blue Jays would need a win and a Guardians loss Friday to secure their spot.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 18 | 272 ANSWERS Sportsnet announces big news regarding AppleTV+ Friday Night Baseball Are you happy that AppleTV and Rogers made a deal to broadcast Fridays game on both networks? | ||
| Yes | 235 | 86.4 % |
| No | 37 | 13.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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