Apple has announced a start date for Friday Night Baseball on its Apple TV+ streaming service: 8 April 2022. 

During its last launch event, Apple revealed it secured the rights to a Friday-night package of Major League Baseball games. Apple TV+ will now broadcast MLB games, potentially helping the streaming service to lure in more subscribers. It should also help it better contend with Amazon, which has the solo rights to stream the National Football League's Thursday Night Football.

Apple's Friday Night Baseball deal is described as a" weekly doubleheader with live pre- and post-game shows" that will be available in eight countries exclusively on Apple TV+ as soon as the regular season begins. The first two games to kick-off will be the New York Mets against the Washington Nationals at 7pm ET and the Houston Astros against the Los Angeles Angels at 9:30pm ET. 

Streaming will be available for anyone with Apple TV+ in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and South Korea. In the US and Canada, Apple's deal includes access to a 24/7 livestream with replays, highlights, and other programming. If you don’t pay for Apple TV+, Friday Night Baseball will still be available without a subscription "for a limited time", Apple said.

To watch all the marquee games, load the Apple TV app on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV 4K and HD, or on tv.apple.com. The app is also available on select smart TVs, gaming consoles, and cable set-top boxes.

For more about Apple TV+ and how it works, see Pocket-lint's guide.