At last, Root Sports and the Mariners announce blackout-free in-market streaming for $19.99 a month
The dream of actual, straightforward streaming is realized.
The Seattle Mariners and Root Sports announced Friday morning that they will offer in-market, blackout-free streaming of Mariners games all season through a Root Sports streaming app. The deal will cost $19.99 per month, and will require no cable or satellite tv subscription, offering for the first time in club history the opportunity to watch M’s games in market via streaming instead of requiring a cable (or cable-equivalent) bundle package.
Of additional note, the M’s will be viewable in-browser as well as on smart TVs with a downloadable app. The service is also available to be subscribed to via the Root Sports Stream app on mobile.
ROOT SPORTS Stream is available via web browser at RootSportsStream.com, as well as on mobile/tablet devices and connected TV platforms including iOS, Android, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and coming soon to Roku.
The change is immense, and in keeping with a wide range of MLB clubs announcing similar direct streaming options in-market. MLB has bent at last in recent years to the reality that the cable model is fading, a model which inspired massive growth in the financial value of clubs, spurring huge profits for ownership groups and a steady growth in payrolls as well. This deal, as noted, has a massive potential for undercutting hefty costs for folks who utilized cable and cable-like services for the Mariners primarily.
If this has thus far sounded like an advertisement for the application, well, yeah kind of. But only because I have been waiting and hoping for something like this for as long as I’ve watched the team. If you’re interested in signing up, the link here has details.