Amazon to Show Yankees Games in First Move as Channel Owner
Amazon.com Inc. will stream 21 New York Yankees games this season to Prime subscribers
(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. will stream 21 New York Yankees games this season to Prime subscribers, making its first move as a part-owner in the team’s cable network.
The first Yankees game to stream on Amazon will be April 17. Future games will feature high-profile match-ups, including three against the Boston Red Sox and two against the Houston Astros.
But Amazon’s broadcasts will be limited in reach and not exclusive. The games will only be available to Amazon subscribers in the area where many Yankees fans live: New York, Connecticut, northeast Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey. And they will be simulcast on local channel WPIX and other TV broadcasters.
In an interview, Marie Donoghue, Amazon’s vice president of global sports video, said the Yankees games will be the company’s first foray into local sports streaming.
“We want to bring value to Prime members and enhance their membership, and that’s our primary goal here,” Donoghue said.
Unlike Amazon’s broadcasts of Thursday-night NFL games, its Yankees streams won’t include a commerce tab to let fans buy the team’s gear on the Amazon e-commerce site. Donoghue said there are no plans to facilitate sports betting during the Yankees broadcasts.
In August, the Yankees joined forces with Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. and Amazon to buy the team’s cable network in a deal valued at $3.47 billion. The group, which included RedBird Capital Partners, Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities business and Mubadala Capital, bought the 80% stake from Walt Disney Co.
Seattle-based Amazon has been trying to supplement its video-streaming service with live sporting events for the past few years. In addition to its deal with the NFL to stream Thursday-night football games, in 2018 it made a similar agreement for Premier League soccer matches in the U.K.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gerry Smith in New York at gsmith233@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, John J. Edwards III
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