MLBAM and Twitter Reach Agreement to Stream Out of Market Games over the Social Media Platform

Twitter announced on Monday that it will live stream out of market games from the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball. 

The MLB, NHL and 120 Sports streaming rights through the social media site, reached the agreement on Monday through Twitter’s new partnership with MLB Advanced Media. 120 Sports and the OTT Network will produce a nightly highlight show, titled “The Rally” over the social media platform as well.  

Twitter’s Chief Financial Officer, Anthony Noto said, “Twitter is the fastest way to see what is unfolding in MLB and the NHL. MLBAM has pioneered streaming live digital video and we could not be more excited to partner with them on live games as well as ‘The Rally,’ giving our audience the live sports events they are already talking about on one screen on Twitter.”

Kenny Gersh, Executive Vice President of Business Operations for MLBAM said, “Twitter has long been a great partner and platform for both baseball and hockey fans as they follow their favorite teams and players every day. We know fans will embrace what this wide-ranging partnership will brings, expanded and reliable access to baseball and hockey and the introduction of Twitter’s first daily live highlight show delivered intuitively to a platform where they are actively engaged with the games.”

Stephan McArdle, NHL Executive Vice President of Digital Media and Strategic Planning said, “Twitter has become a crucial and engagement tool for hockey fans to enhance their NHL viewing experience and stay connected to the game on and off the ice. We are excited that the fans will now be able to now enjoy live games through our partnership with Twitter.”

 

The live streamed out of market games, for MLB and the NHL, will be broadcasted once a week to all logged-in as well as logged-out Twitter users, within the United States. A schedule for what games will be live-streamed, will be released at a later time. 

“The Rally,” which will be produced by 120 Sports every night, will include highlights as well as perspectives from many sports across the Twitter network. The program will utilize a format that will integrate with Twitter’s platform. They will use the Twitter-based data to show the trending topics, while helping to add other interactive aspects to add to the conversation. 

Jason Coyle, President of 120 Sports said, “’The Rally’ on Twitter, will combine the production and editorial values of television with the speed and interactivity of digital media. We are excited to bring this first of its kind programming to Twitter as we continue the push of 120 Sports beyond the limitations of traditional media, infusing real-time, scaled fan sentiment and feedback into the sports conversation every night.”    

FOX Sports Regional Networks will also begin live-streaming of their local NHL telecasts beginning in the 2016-2017 season. As part of the agreement between FOX Sports and the NHL, games broadcasted on their regional sports networks will also be made available through FOX Sports GO to customers, through their local pay television provider. 

The agreement also allows the distributors, as well as streaming services, deliver NHL games over their digital platforms. 

David M. Proper, NHL Vice President of Media Distribution and Strategy/Business Affairs said, “We are pleased that hockey fans that subscribe to FOX Sports Regional Networks will now have more ways to follow more of their favorite NHL teams. We believe that accessing accessibility to NHL games, benefits not only fans, but the league and its partners.”  

Jeff Krolik, President of FOX Sports Regional Networks added, “We see in-market streaming as a valuable extension of the customers’ pay-TV subscription. We are happy to partner with the NHL to bring in-market streaming to hockey fans, and we look forward to collaborating with the league on this effort.”

FOX Sports GO, a live streaming platform that showcases over 3,000 events per year, is currently available on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon App Store and Windows App Store for all of their mobile devices. FOX Sports GO is currently available to over 95 million customers throughout the United States. 

FOX Sports Regional Networks have rights with 12 teams in the NHL, which includes the Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning. This past season, FOX Sports Regional Sports Networks broadcasted over 900 games.