Twitter has signed a deal with Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), which will allow the social network to livestream MLB and NHL games on its service. Twitter is even getting its own version of “SportCenter” as well.
Twitter will be airing a live MLB game and a live NHL game that anybody in the US can check out for free once a week. Unfortunately, people aren’t going to be able to watch their hometown teams, as Twitter will be airing only out-of-market games. In that case, you’ll have to watch the game on the television instead. Folks in certain countries outside of the US will be able to watch MLB games as well.
During the games on Twitter, some of the ads that are aired on regular TV broadcasts will be carried online, but Twitter and MLBAM will be teaming up to sell a not-yet-decided percentage of the ads that will only air during the Twitter livestreams and will share the revenue from those ads.
According to a spokesperson, Twitter’s still working out the time when these games will air on Twitter, and whether thy’ll e including playoff games. A schedule isn’t being released by Twitter yet. It’s possible people are going to be able to watch live NFL, MLB and NHL games on Twitter this October. Right now, that’s three of the four big American sports being broadcast on Twitter. Will Twitter be able to get the NBA to expand its recently renewed deal with Twitter? We’ll have to see.