Facebook is exclusively live streaming in the US all 32 games from the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s 2019 Premier12 national team baseball tournament, which started on Saturday in Mexico.
The WBSC announced the final broadcast and streaming partner line-up, plus the launch of a mobile app and online shop, on the opening day of the tournament. The main media partners are:
- Australia – pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports
- Canada – public-service broadcaster CBC
- Cuba – national network Tele Rebelde
- Dominican Republic – pay-television broadcaster CDN SportMax
- Europe (multiple territories) – Olympic Channel
- Italy, Portugal – pay-television broadcaster Eleven Sports
- Japan – free-to-air broadcasters TBS and TV Asahi, pay-television broadcaster J Sports, and OTT service SportsNavi
- Latin America – (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) – pay-television broadcaster Claro
- Mexico (regional) – Canal 6 GDL
- Netherlands – public-service broadcaster NOS
- Puerto Rico – free-to-air broadcaster MegaTV
- South Korea – commercial and pay-television broadcaster SBS
- Taiwan – pay-television broadcaster VideoLand
- US – Facebook
- Venezuela – free-to-air broadcaster TeleTuya
Outside these territories, coverage is available on the WBSC YouTube channel. Live streaming coverage is also available in certain markets on the WBSC’s GameTime mobile app and website.
WBSC said the media partnerships meant that the 2019 Premier12 would have stronger coverage than the inaugural edition in 2015, which generated $131m in brand exposure for sponsors and had a potential global broadcast reach of 253.7m households.
Content on the newly-launched Premier12 app, which is available on Apple and Android, will include results, highlights, highlights from the 2015 tournament, news and analysis, photos, and personalised notifications for particular games or teams. Users will also be able to buy game tickets and shop for Premier12 merchandise.
The Premier12 is taking place from November 2 to 17, with games hosted in Mexico, Chinese Taipei, Japan and South Korea. Twelve teams are taking part – the four hosts plus Australia, Canada, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and the US.