Major League Baseball’s opener was met with widespread criticism on Wednesday as fans came to realize the New York Yankees-San Francisco Giants game was being streamed on Netflix rather than basic cable.
‘Netflix broadcasting a baseball game to the whole country in an absurd marketing stunt at the start of the MLB season,’ one critic wrote on X.
The streaming service’s exclusive coverage of MLB’s opener was used to promote another season of Netflix’s Addams Family spinoff, Wednesday.
‘It was a bad decision to put the mlb opener on netflix,’ another added. ‘[For] the first time in thirty years I [don’t] get to see opening day. thanks guys.’
Like NFL and NBA fans, who have been pressed to add other subscription streaming services on top of expensive cable plans, baseball devotees were unhappy at the prospect of another monthly bill. Many simply refused to watch rather than pay for plans ranging from $7.99 to $24.99 per billing cycle.
‘Looking forward to NOT being able to watch my Giants play the Yanks on opening day tonight thanks to Netflix, despite paying the annual fee for the baseball app,’ one fan wrote on X, referring to MLB.TV’s $29.99 monthly plan. ‘MLB is just as bad as football. Gotta have like 4 diff streaming services if you wanna actually see all games.’
‘I’ve paid for an @MLBTV subscription for over 15 years now,’ another added. ‘@MLB fans pay $150 per season for a subscription to @MLBTV. And now the regular season opener is exclusive to @netflix.’
That fan then took aim at commissioner Rob Manfred.
‘Hey Manfred,’ they wrote, ‘quit f***ing the fans.’
MORE TO FOLLOW…
MLB’s opener was met with widespread criticism on Wednesday as scores of fans came to realize the New York Yankees-San Francisco Giants game was being streamed on Netflix
NFL quarterback and former Florida State pitcher Jameis Winston interviews New York Yankees slugger and Bay Area-native Aaron Judge during Netflix’s broadcast
