SAN FRANCISCO– Twitter today announced that it will live stream weekly out-of-market Major League Baseball (MLB) and National Hockey League (NHL®) games. 120 Sports, the OTT network, will also produce an exclusive, nightly multi-sports show called “The Rally”, the first such show to air live on Twitter. MLB, NHL and 120 Sports streaming rights come from Twitter’s new partnership with MLBAM.
“Twitter is the fastest way to see what’s happening in MLB and the NHL,” said Anthony Noto, Twitter’s chief financial officer. “MLBAM pioneered live digital video streaming and we couldn’t be more excited to partner with them on live games as well as ‘The Rally,’ bringing live sporting events to our audience. which they are already talking about on a single screen on Twitter.”
“Twitter has long been a great partner and platform for baseball and hockey fans as they follow their favorite teams and players every day,” said Kenny Gersh, executive vice president of business for MLBAM. “We know fans will appreciate what this far-reaching partnership brings – expanded and reliable access to live baseball and hockey and the introduction of Twitter’s first live daily broadcast streamed intuitively on a platform where they actively participate in the games.
“Twitter has become a crucial forum and engagement tool for hockey fans to enhance their NHL viewing experience and stay connected to the game on and off the ice,” said Stephen McArdle, vice-president. Executive Chairman of NHL Digital Media and Strategic Planning. “We’re thrilled that fans can now enjoy live NHL games through our partnership with Twitter.”
Weekly live streams of out-of-market MLB and NHL games will be available for free to logged-in and logged-out Twitter users in the United States. MLB games will also be available worldwide, except in certain international territories. An MLB and NHL game schedule will be available at a later date.
Twitter will also livestream “The Rally,” a nighttime show produced by 120 Sports that will feature highlights and expert views on multiple sports exclusively for Twitter users in the United States. “The Rally” will use a distinct format designed to integrate with Twitter’s platform, using Twitter-based data to determine live trending topics as well as adding other interactive elements for instant conversation and analyzing the moments that matter most to sports fans – spanning professionals in college to action in Olympic sports and more.
“‘The Rally'” on Twitter will combine the production and editorial values of television with the speed and interactivity of digital media,” said Jason Coyle, President of 120 Sports. “We are thrilled to bring this unique programming to his genre. to Twitter as we continue to push 120 Sports beyond the confines of traditional media, infusing real-time and at scale fan sentiment and commentary into the sports conversation every night.”
