Apple TV-owning baseball fans who are gearing up for a new season will be happy to hear Advanced Media (MLBAM) has updated their MLB.com At Bat Apple TV app, adding long-awaited new features such as split-screen viewing, stats overlay, and more.
Arriving in time for the start to the regular season in April, MLB.com At Bat version 2.0 offers the truly interactive app experience promised by MLBAM when the company demoed the software at the fourth-generation Apple TV unveiling last September. Prior to this week’s update, the tvOS version of At Bat was, for the most part, a port of the Apple TV channel offered on Apple’s third-generation set-top.
The updated app offers a number of interactive features, sure to please any hardball nut, including real-time game and player stats, highlights, and simultaneous split-screen viewing of two games. In addition to live coverage of out-of-market games, viewers will also be able to access HD replays on-demand.
MLBAM says the new app offers a new live streaming technology that gives the “best picture quality ever.” During a demo of the upcoming app at the fourth-generation Apple TV event, the company noted At Bat would stream content at 60fps on supported televisions. Streaming video is notorious for not smoothing out fast moving action, such as that found in sporting events. (Yes, even baseball. – Ed.)
While the MLB.com At Bat app is free to download on the tvOS App Store, watching anything more than just game highlights will require an MLB.TV subscription of one kind or another, which are offered as in-app purchases, ranging from $2.99 to $24.99, depending on coverage.
