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Apple TV+ lineup includes Friday Night Baseball, just in time for lockout

Apple TV+ is getting a slew of new original films, but it's also jumping into live sports for the first time... assuming that a baseball season happens.

Ozzie Mejia

March 8, 2022 10:13 AM

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Tuesday's Apple Event began with an overview of what's next for Apple TV+. As expected, that includes a slew of original films. More surprising, that lineup will also include Apple's first jump into live sports with Major League Baseball. Friday Night Baseball will debut this season, just in time for MLB to lock out its players and potentially cancel its season. D'oh...

Friday Night Baseball will mark Apple TV's official leap into live sports, where Apple TV+ subscribers will presumably be able to catch one marquee game every Friday. Blackout restrictions will presumably apply, as is the case for cable and over-the-air networks. This would be an exciting development if it didn't look like the 2022 MLB season was on life support. In fact, shortly after Apple made this announcement, The Athletic reported that the league was on the verge of cancelling more games. Welcome to Schrödinger TV+, where the first leap into live sports is both simultaneously alive and dead, at least for now.

In terms of actual things that will air, Apple aired a sizzle reel for a handful of original films coming to its service. This includes the Ryan Reynolds/Will Ferrell comedy joint Spirited, the animated family movie Luck, the Henry Cavill spy thriller Argylle, and more. Quick cuts of stars like Tom Holland, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, and many others rounded out the video package. The Apple TV+ original film lineup will complement the service's acclaimed TV lineup, which features shows like Ted Lasso and Central Park.

No actual Apple TV model was revealed during Tuesday's event, but that will likely come at a later date given that the Apple TV 4K isn't even a year old. In the meantime, Apple TV+ remains at $4.99 per month with a free 7-day trial, just as it did when it first debuted in 2019. That, in itself, is pretty remarkable, live sports or no.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?