MLB Partners with YouTube TV for World Series Broadcasts

Cable cord-cutters rejoice:

YouTube TV Teams Up With Major League Baseball for World Series Coverage https://t.co/rgvxirogth pic.twitter.com/YRxNeDZCGM

— TheWrap (@TheWrap) October 3, 2017

More from The Wrap:

Last year’s World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians was an epic, seven-game matchup between two of the games most storied franchises. But with baseball having an average viewer age of 57, too many young fans, many of whom don’t watch traditional TV, didn’t get to see it. This year, YouTube TV is on deck to fix that.

Tuesday, YouTube and Major League Baseball announced a multi-faceted partnership for the 2017 World Series, which will make YouTube TV, Google’s live-TV subscription service, its presenting sponsor. YouTube TV will receive national ad spots and on-air callouts from the broadcast team on Fox, and will likely incorporate players in its promos.

And with YouTube TV’s $35 cable replacement service available in 49 markets covering two-thirds of U.S. households — and including all four major broadcast networks — the majority of cord-cutters in America can watch baseball across their devices without needing a cable subscription or a reliable place to receive an antenna signal.

As everyone knows, it is us sports fans who are keeping the dinosaur cable television model alive. Its death is oft-rumored, but isn’t coming quickly enough.

I have dabbled with various cord-cutting options off and on for the last five years and keep going back to one of the dishes or cable. Most of the online services offering sports packages still suffer from reliability issues. Without naming names (they may have gotten better), I was using one very popular service last year for a while and gave up after it froze up on me three different times during critical junctures in games.

What sports fans have long needed are more a la carte or no-commitment options like this. $35 for a month to watch the World Series is a vast improvement over almost any options that have been available to this point.

The day all sports fans can finally be free from the yoke of cable seems to have just gotten closer.

Hurry.