This article has been an annual tradition for many years, rounding up the MLB.TV offerings for UK-based fans. Yesterday’s announcement of the 2020 MLB.TV packages meant I needed to write up this year’s edition; however in truth, the excitement in doing so is not what it once was.
That’s not to suggest any reduction in my love for the service, or for baseball more widely. As I’ve written many times before, there are a lot of things I would give up if money was very tight before I even gave a thought to maybe cancelling my auto-renewal.
No, the issue here is that MLB.TV is so good that there is little scope for improvement.
Ten years ago this part of the pre-season was eagerly anticipated because we were waiting to find out what new features would be introduced. From promise of a potential HD-type quality, to Mosaic allowing you to watch multiple games at the same time, there was always something to get excited about. There were a few mis-steps along the way, such as the switch from Adobe Flash player to Microsoft Silverlight that soon gave way to HTML5, but generally the changes worked out for the better.
MLB Advanced Media were so successful in their development of their streaming capabilities that they become a lucrative world leader in the technology. For MLB.TV, they aced their refinement of the service over the first 10 years or so (2005 was the first year I bought it) so that, beyond technical tweaks behind the scenes and support for new connected devices, there isn’t much that they can add.
What do you want for your money? The ability to watch MLB games live or on-demand at a good video quality for a fair price. That’s exactly what we’ve had for years and that’s what we’re going to get in 2020. (And, just to be very clear, this is not a complaint!)
I’m sure there will be extras that could be introduced in the years ahead, especially in regard to incorporating StatCast data and graphics; however there’s nothing that the service really lacks. The biggest issue is the black-out rules in North America that block access to games depending on your location, often to a ridiculous extent. That situation has evolved slightly in recent years with some Regional Sports Networks allowing streaming access to the games if you are paying for their TV package, yet there is still plenty of way to go in knocking down what feels like an arcane policy.
It’s not a policy that applies to us, though, so we’ve always been able to access the full list of games, and that’s the case again in 2020.
This year, the US price has increased by $3 to $122. We have to add 20% VAT on to that so it works out at approximately £112.70 GBP, just a couple of pounds more expensive than last year.
It’s not yet entirely clear if the single-team package ($94, so approximately £86-£87) will be a North America-only product, but that’s been the (annoying) situation in recent years so I would assume so unless and until MLB officially confirms otherwise.
No great fanfare, no amazing new features, no complaints.
Just Spring Training games, every one of the 2,430 regular season games and all of the play-offs too live and on-demand for approximately £113.
I have noticed an additional audio feature. It is team specific but you have the option to just hear a trash can being bashed on every off-speed pitch. Which is a handy ?
Going to be a long season for Astros fans!
I wish they would give us the option to buy MLB Network as an extra, that would be cool.
But, roughly the same price as last year with the same great coverage, it’s a no-brainer and spring training is just around the corner!
I agree its a no-brainer – but as John says, I would really like to be able to watch the MLB Network as well…just for 24/7 total immersion in baseball! Is there no way to see it? Does anyone know whether signed onto At Bat subscription on a laptop (via a VPN tunnel?) would work.
Unfortunately MLB Network don’t stream their programs free to air even in America. You need to have a login with a US TV cable company.
Hi Matt, always look forward to this article every Feb, long my the tradition continue!
Did we find out if the single team options is available for us this year? And if so does that include the playoff games for that team if applicable? Not that that matters for me mind, being a Phillies Phan.
https://www.amazon.com/MLB-Advanced-Media-L-P/dp/B07XYHW8FK/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=mlb+skill&qid=1581630781&sr=8-3
This is another feature we miss out on. Currently I have to connect my iPhone/iPad via blutooth to my Alexa speaker. Then I can play the radio, or game audio, through that speaker. If we had this ‘skill’ for our Alexa speakers we could simply say ‘Alexa, play the Giants game’. I emailed MLB/Amazon this time last year and they had no plans to bring that skill to Amazon UK
2020 MLB.TV Spring Training Broadcast schedule…..
https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/springtraining
Sorry. To be clear this page will update with this years fixtures but currently still showing 2019
Finally new 2020 dates and times
https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/
https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/spring-training?affiliateId=mlbMENU
Thanks Tom!
Thanks for info. Does anyone know if you can watch mlb.tv via a smart TV in the UK? The Playstation only seems to work in other territories. Some Samsung TV’s might but not mine unfortunately!
Smart TV’s are very mixed, based on comments I’ve had from others. Some models work, some don’t, and it’s quite common that support gets phased out, so where it worked in previous years you suddenly find it’s no longer available!
You’re right that PS4 won’t work in UK (no idea why it isn’t available that way!). Tends to be that if you want it to go through your TV the best bet is to look around at some of the cheaper streaming options that definitely work for MLB At Bat in the UK (Fire stick, Roku etc) and see what deals are out there.
Thanks Matt!
If anyone is interested and you haven’t subscribed before. Here are the details of the add-on Minor League TV package…
MiLB.TV: Watch the Stars of Tomorrow Today
Dear MiLB.TV Subscriber,
MiLB is pleased to announce our live-streaming service, MiLB.TV, for the 2020 Minor League Baseball season. As a 2019 MiLB.TV Yearly subscriber, your subscription will automatically renew for the 2020 season on March 24. Get ready for Minor League Baseball Opening Day on Thursday, April 9!
With MiLB.TV enjoy more than 6,500 games live and on-demand, with as many as 90% of streams now available in high definition. Your subscription includes games featuring affiliates from all 30 Major League clubs and home games from more than 100 teams, including all 30 Triple-A teams. In addition, many special events are part of your subscription, including the Triple-A All-Star Game, Eastern League All-Star Game, Southern League All-Star Game, Texas League All-Star Game and select playoff games, including the Triple-A National Championship Game.
In addition to watching games on your desktop, MiLB.TV users can enjoy portability to compatible Apple® (iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch® iOS 12.0 or higher) and Android® devices by downloading MiLB First Pitch, Minor League Baseball’s free app available in the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.
There is no action required for you to continue your subscription. Your credit card on file with us will be automatically charged the bundle renewal price of $25.00 on or about March 24, 2020. Your renewed subscription will remain valid with full access to on-demand video archives until March 31, 2021. Your subscription will automatically renew annually on or about March 20 at the then-current year’s regular full yearly price.
To ensure uninterrupted access to your MiLB.TV subscription, in the event we are unable to process charges to your primary payment card we will charge the alternate card(s) saved in your MiLB.com Payment Profile.
To update or confirm your credit card information, please click here.
If you do not wish for your subscription to renew for the 2020 season, please visit the “Subscriptions” tab within your MiLB.com account or contact MiLB.com Customer Service at 1-866-644-2687 (or by email at customerservice@website.milb.com) no later than March 18, 2020. Cancellation requests received after March 18, 2020, will be handled in accordance with the MiLB.TV Terms of Use.
Thanks for subscribing to MiLB.TV. Enjoy the upcoming season!
Sincerely,
MiLB
http://www.MiLB.com
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If anyone is looking to cancel and get a full refund on their 2020 subscription you can do so via email.
customerservice@website.mlb.com
A refund takes 5-7 days via your original payment method so make sure it’s still up to date.
You can subscribe again when the season returns. I put my request through this afternoon and got confirmation a couple of hours later.
How does everyone feel about the ‘new’ sub offered for the 60 game season? As someone who cancelled their sub at the start of covid and got a full refund, I got an email with a pro-rata offer for $59.99. I’m happy to pay. The biggest issue is will there even be a season? The testing protocol seems a bit hit/miss to put it mildly. Test results taking 3 days to get back which makes them virtually worthless. With the virus spiralling out of control in most states should they simply cancel the whole thing?
Tom, we did the same. Got a full refund. But when we try to subscribe again now we are stopped at the billing address section. We can put our UK address in but the section insists we put in a US state, and we cannot go any further. How do you manage to get MLB TV in the UK please?
Sorry for the late reply Toni. Even though I cancelled my sub I still had an account on http://www.mlb.com. Through that there is a Subscription tab where your card details are stored. Is it when you are at that point that you have the address problem? When I go in just now I see my current mlb.tv sub and my exisitng stored card. If I add a new card I am shown my Billing details and one of those options on the bottom right is to choose a Country. I will say however the layout has changed completely from when I made my MLB/MLB.TV account all those years ago. I was able to re-start my sub because I got an email offering me a discount to come back for the short season…so I never needed to go in and start again if you see what I mean. I simplhhy clicked a link and was shown the discount price and as my card was on file it went straight through. Maybe you need a live MLB account and a card on file with them? Hope this helps. If it’s any consellation as a Boston fan I want my money back already!!!!
Mlb.tv is perfect? Have you tried syncing the radio broadcast audio with the video? Impossible. I subscribe to many on-line sports services and mlb.tv is the most basic, error prone and minimal coverage (eg: where is mlb network tv?) of the lot of them. Very poor.