MLB.TV Premium offers

The launch of this year’s MLB.TV subscription packages prompted joy and relief for many baseball fans. Joy because the news is always a much-anticipated sign that the new MLB season is not far away; relief because the prices remained at a very reasonable level.

That is not the end of the good news from MLB.com though.  In an attempt to make the MLB.TV Premium package all the more appealing, two special offers have been introduced: one of which should be available to British fans. 

MLB.TV Premium is, as the name suggests, the top package available.  For twenty pounds more than the standard MLB.TV subscription, you benefit from additional features such as a HD quality picture, the multi-game view of Mosaic and extras such as a fantasy player tracker that alerts you when your players are about to come up to bat.

It’s an excellent product that builds on the standard service (which is great on its own) with additions that genuinely make it a high quality option.  However, some may view the additions as optional extras that they could live without and, in this credit crunch climate, the prospect of saving a bit of money makes it tempting to stick to the basic set up instead.

MLB.com naturally wants you to go for the Premium package if you can and they have joined forces with NHL.com and ESPN.com to encourage you to do so.

They announced details of a tie-up with NHL.com’s GameCenter LIVE service on Monday, offering the option to add coverage of NHL games to the Premium subscription for an extra $30 (£21).  Fans of both sports would have been jumping up and down at the prospect, but sadly this deal is only available to Stateside customers. 

Thankfully, international fans were not to be left on the outside looking in completely. Later that day MLB.com announced a second deal that allows you to buy a joint subscription for MLB.TV Premium and ESPN.com’s Insider content.  Normally costing $40 (£28) for the year, the Insider subscription is available at half the price if bought together with Premium for a total fee of $130 (£92).  There is no mention of any conditions, so it appears as though this deal is available to everyone regardless of where you live.

As the story on MLB.com states:

“ESPN Insider delivers the best in predictive analytical content including exclusive professional level scouting information and the best in Draft coverage from ESPN Scouts Inc., Buster Olney’s award-winning blog, and the latest buzz on athletes and teams in Rumor Central. In addition, Insider features exclusive video (including on-demand episodes of Baseball Tonight, Pardon The Interruption, Around the Horn and more), access to ESPN The Magazine through a regularly-updated digital edition, Insider-only chats with athletes and celebrities, special access to ESPN Radio and first-look offerings from ESPN”.

I’m not an Insider subscriber, but I can definitely see the appeal. On most occasions that I browse the MLB section of ESPN.com, I click on something that looks interesting only to be told that the full feature isn’t available to me because I’m not an Insider. 

Of course, the Insider subscription covers the whole ESPN website, not just the MLB section.  As I only have a passing interest in other North American sports, it’s never quite seemed worth the money for me to sign up only for the baseball content.  Other baseball fans may disagree with that, particularly those who enjoy Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn and who don’t subscribe to ESPN America (the new name of the NASN channel).  They can watch the programmes on-demand via the web instead through the Insider deal.

Whether this offer will encourage more people to sign up for the Premium package is debatable.  Cost is always going to be the big factor.  Even if you’re getting more for your money, that doesn’t change the fact that you will have to find some extra funds to cover it.  Personally I am thinking of downgrading from Premium to MLB.TV as I rarely used the additional features last year.  Although the ESPN Insider offer is another factor to consider, I don’t think I’m going to change my mind as a result.

But if you are already going to opt for the MLB.TV Premium subscription then this could work out as a real bargain.  At little more than one pound extra per month, it looks like money well spent even if you only stick to the MLB coverage. 

The ESPN Insider deal (and the NHL deal) will be available to buy from next Monday (16th).  There are no details yet about how this will work for existing Premium subscribers who have opted for their subscription to automatically renew.  Presumably, more info should be available next week.

MLB.com have always been good at providing their customers with a variety of options when it comes to their subscription products and they are continuing this very helpful approach with these two deals.  Although the NHL deal isn’t available to us Brits, it’s well worth taking a look and seeing if the ESPN Insider deal is for you.