Tim Cook & Co really wants Apple TV Plus to be considered one of the best streaming services, at least if the latest reports are true According to a new report, Apple is in "serious talks" with Major League Baseball, with the goal of broadcasting a live stream of MLB starting with the upcoming season, which begins this March

The news comes from the New York Post, which reports, "The package MLB is trying to sell is the weekday national games that ESPN recently gave away Those are Monday and Wednesday games, and it is "unclear at this time" whether Apple can gain further exclusivity for those streams on regional sports network blackouts

The news is sort of inevitable Amazon Prime Video and pro football have a long-standing working relationship, and the service will be the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football NFL live streaming this fall This deal between MLB and Apple is not expected to be as valuable as that agreement

Apple has been hoping to get into live sports streams for some time Reports last summer indicated that the tech giant wanted to get its hands on the NFL's Sunday Ticket, which is currently dominated by DirecTV However, no one has yet signed a Sunday Ticket deal for 2022-2023 [With many of the newest streaming services (the big boys like HBO Max, Disney Plus, Netflix, and Hulu seem cool with not getting into this game) getting into the sports stream business, this deal won't be a huge shock [It's not just the aforementioned NFL situation on Prime Video; Peacock will host Super Bowl 2022 (and already has a pseudo-sport called WWE) and the Winter Olympics Paramount Plus has NFL games thanks to the local CBS network, as well as Champions League games

And it is obvious why some services feel the need for sports and others do not: Peacock, Paramount Plus, and Apple TV are services that may not always feel necessary The latest on "Ted Lasso" and "Girls5Eva These are services that can be cancelled once the season of "Ted Lasso" or "Girls5Eva" is over

And the companies behind these services don't want that image for their products: by adding games throughout a single sports season, even in months when Peacock or Apple TV Plus has no new series, Peacock or Apple TV Plus could become a necessity and debut major programming in the off-season; with MLB games, Apple TV Plus has a stronger chance of being considered one of the best streaming services (yet)