Yankes Fans Pound Amazon Prime Coverage

 It has been a tough couple weeks for streamers of late. The trouble seemed to start with the lackluster rollout of Apple TV+'s MLB coverage, which was decried by fans for either its glitchy interface or the quality of the broadcast teams in general. 

Then came the news that Netflix, the streaming giant that really started us all down this path of pay-to-watch content platforms reported a lose of over 200,000 subscribers, creating a sell-off of its once powerful stock tumbling downward to $215 a share. This for a stock that at one point was closing in on $700 a share back in November. 

Add that to the whole Disney vs. Ron deSantis controversy down in Florida, and the apparent disgust that NBA legend Jerry West, and others have for the HBO Max series "Winning Time," which is very, very, very loosely based on the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s to the point West's own attorney's are asking for a retraction of his portrayal on the show. 

In case you are wondering West is portrayed as a rageaholic on the program, something that many have said is not like him at all. 

Now, Yankees fans are upset over the Bronx Bombers package on Amazon. Unlike Apple TV+, the Amazon stream is the actual YES Network broadcast, although instead of it appearing on the YES Network, or WPIX Channel 11, the game was exclusively on Amazon. 

Last night's Yankees win over Cleveland was the first of 21 exclusive games on the streamer. 

The reactions speak for themselves. 

 

People are clearly upset about having to pay more money for a streaming service just to watch a Yankees game. Others complained of lagging or inability to access the stream if they were out of the NYC market. Not good. And especially for a service that is spending millions upon millions on ramping up its sports coverage, particularly with the NFL later this year. 

It will be fascinating to see what the reaction will be to Thursday Night Football later this year. If fans in home markets can not access the stream of the game, or if the game is only available on Amazon there will be plenty of screaming.