New York Yankees Fan Looking To Watch This Week? Make Sure You Have At Least 4 Streaming Services

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Just last week, the NFL announced it is going to exclusively stream a Wild Card game this season. And I wrote at the time: "Streaming isn’t going anywhere. It’s clearly the future of broadcasting. However, the future may be coming a bit too quickly." That sets the backdrop for the New York Yankees' week.

On Sunday, the Yankees faced the Cincinnati Reds. The game started at an unusual time: 11:35 a.m. Eastern time. Why? Because NBC's streaming service, Peacock, had exclusive rights to the game and wanted it to start in an exclusive window.

On Monday, the Yankees are off. So, fans don't have to click around to find the game. And Tuesday night, they host the Baltimore Orioles. Not tough lifting for Yankees fans there, either. That game appears on the YES Network, the usual home of Yankees broadcasts.

Albert Abreu #of the New York Yankees pitches in the sixth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park during a game streamed exclusively on Peacock. The Yankees are set to air on four different streaming networks this week.

Albert Abreu #of the New York Yankees pitches in the sixth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park during a game streamed exclusively on Peacock. The Yankees are set to air on four different streaming networks this week. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

But Wednesday, Amazon Prime has the exclusive rights to Yankees vs. Orioles. If you're counting, that's three services in three games, two of which are only available as streaming options.

On Thursday, for the series finale against the Orioles, the team returns to YES Network. OK, no worries there.

But Friday, the team's home set against the San Diego Padres airs exclusively on Apple TV+. If you're counting at home, that's four networks for five games in six days.

Fortunately for Yankees' fans, the team returns to YES for the rest of the month of May. But for their first series in June, against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Yankees play on YES then FOX then ESPN. At least those are all available on linear cable.

This all leads to a bigger issue in the streaming wars: content is so fragmented these days. The idea that a fan of a baseball team needs to have access to either four different streaming services or three streaming services + cable is mind-bending.

The whole idea behind streaming was to save money vs. cable. Except, with the crazy saturation of the market, it's far more expensive to subscribe to multiple streaming services than cable ever cost.

And, because everything is Internet-based, the cost of Internet is very high. Especially since you need a connection strong enough to stream live video.

The future is here, alright.

And it came a little too soon.

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Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to Outkick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named “Brady” because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.