SI TV, MLB To Turn Something Old Into Something New First offering will be a doc on 1978's Yankees-Red Sox AL East pennant battle By Troy Dreier, Contributor, Streaming & Digital
Monday, May 21, 2018 - 10:16 am
Print This Story
Story Highlights
Although not every platform can win live-streaming rights to major sports events, that's not the only way to attract sports-loving fans. Sports Illustrated's SI TV has signed a deal with MLB that turns archive content into must-watch programming.
SI TV launched in November when the sports magazine made a play for the OTT space. A subscription is $4.99 per month direct or through Amazon Prime Channels; an ad-supported version is offered on FuboTV.
SI TV, which launched in November, has struck a content partnership with Major League Baseball.
SI TV and MLB's deal, which will run for slightly over a year, includes creation of two documentaries as well as access to full games and original titles from the MLB archives. The first new documentary will be 14 Back, which will look at the iconic American League East pennant battle between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox in 1978. Directed by 10-time Emmy-winner Jonathan Hock, it will culminate with Bucky Dent's famous home run in the seventh inning of the deciding game.
14 Back is a true partnership, with both SI TV and MLB taking a hand in its creation. The production team is sitting down with several of the leading voices of that era, including people who lived the events and people who witnessed them. The team is currently about two-thirds through principal photography.
14 Back actually originated with our Editor-in-Chief Chris Stone, who may or may not have grown up as a diehard Red Sox fan, right in that era, and Jon Hock has been pretty vocal about speaking of his childhood as a diehard Yankees fan right in the heart of that era, says Josh Oshinsky, VP, programming, SI TV. The first time we got the two of them together to talk about the project, it was pretty clear we had the right team in place, with the ultimate knowledge base of a Yankee fan and the ultimate knowledge base of a Red Sox fan combining. We think we have something pretty special.
SI TV plans to start releasing shoulder content through its social-media channels in the weeks before the 14 Back debut. Oshinsky is staying mum about who's involved until then. The doc is set to premiere on Oct. 2, the 40th anniversary of that tie-breaking game. The two companies haven't yet decided what the next documentary will be.
SI TV has thought of a clever way to present archived games from the MLB library: it's asking the pros to pick their favorites. The first selections make up the Ace's Choice series, with four of baseball's greatest pitchers - Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, and Randy Johnson - selecting their favorite moments. The games will be presented as they originally aired, and fans will be able to hear commentary from the aces either alongside the games or through social channels (SI TV hasn't decided yet).
Future series might focus on top sluggers, top postseason experiences, or unlikely heroes. One of the joys of being at Sports Illustrated, Oshinsky says, is being able to get in a conference room and white-board ideas with the world's top baseball experts. By presenting archive content in new ways, he hopes to show how enduring these moments are.
SI TV's Josh Oshinsky says of using existing MLB shows and documentaries, We think that these games are of interest to all ages and all eras of fans of this sport.
We think that these games are of interest to all ages and all eras of fans of this sport, he explains. Pedro Martinez is relevant every single day, if you're a baseball fan. All of these folks, these names, are names that are timeless. And the ability to re-watch Pedro vs. Roger Clemens from May of 2000 is an experience that nobody else is providing,
SI TV will also present existing shows and documentaries from MLB's library, but exactly which titles is still being worked out. Look for them to show up in the next couple of weeks. If die-hard Mets fan Oshinsky has anything to say about it - and he certainly does - selections will include a few titles about a certain Amazin' team from Queens.
The documentary that we produced with Major League Baseball at Sports Illustrated, Loyal 'Til the Last Out, is something that we're really excited to be adding to SI TV. That was around the 7 Line Army, the wildly popular and insane and fun group of [Mets] fans. We'll also be looking to bring back some stories from 1986 and most likely a documentary that Major League Baseball did in 2015 called Tears of Joy, which featured interviews with Jim Breuer and Hank Azaria and a number of super-famous Mets fans that chronicled their run to the World Series.
Are those personal selections? Maybe I had something to do with it, he says with a smile.
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
23/10/2025
A deadline is looming for a new carriage deal between Verizon's Fios TV and Nexstar, with both Verizon and the pay TV-backed American Television Alliance bl...
23/10/2025
NEW YORK During a high-profile session at NAB Show New York, new survey data was shared that revealed significant public concern over artificial intelligence (A...
23/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. and NEW YORK Fox Weather has tapped T-Mobile has as its preferred communications provider and announced that all Fox Weather reporters are being...
23/10/2025
PBS and Amazon Web Services have announced the network is using generative AI to provide enhanced search results to viewers on the PBS App and PBS LearningMedia...
23/10/2025
Series three of the award winning, hit comedy entertainment series The 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock In is back on your screens, celebrating the very best of all t...
23/10/2025
Performances by Michael Flatley, Andy Irvine, Cuckoo's Nest, Foster and Allen and more
Friday 24 October, 8pm on RT One and RT Player
Fleadh Cheoil re...
23/10/2025
The nights grow longer and the shadows get bolder with Vampire The Masquerade: B...
22/10/2025
Prime Video Inks Deal To Present NFL Black Friday Game Worldwide By SVG Staff
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 - 10:06 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story ...
22/10/2025
NBA Tip-Off: ESPN Goes 1080p HDR End-to-End, Flipping HDR Switch on REMI and REM...
22/10/2025
FloSports Empowers Division II, III Athletic Departments With Turnkey Production...
22/10/2025
Wall Street Video Summit Debuts, Bringing Together 200 Financial Enterprise Vide...
22/10/2025
Dueling Pianos: International Chopin Piano Competition Is as Competitive as a Ba...
22/10/2025
In 1995, a young Colombian artist released an album that would change Latin pop ...
22/10/2025
Over the past few months, a photovoltaic system has been installed on a three-he...
22/10/2025
The Orion spacecraft for NASA's Artemis II mission is stacked on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kenn...
22/10/2025
L3Harris' Hybrid SATCOM is resilient by design, offering path diversity that eliminates vulnerabilities by routing data across the best available networks i...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. Organizers of NAB Show New York said they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countries along with 260 exhibitor...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Masque Sound, a leading theatrical sound reinforcement, installation and design company, supplied an extensive gear package of professional-grade equipment for ...
22/10/2025
Lightware, a global leader in signal management and AV connectivity solutions, is seeing strong market momentum for the UCX-3x3-TPX-RX20, a compact transmitter-...
22/10/2025
MELVILLE, N.Y. Chyron has released PAINT 10.2, the latest update for its telestration platform, adding support for SMPTE ST 2110 IP workflows, expanding brandin...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON Run3TV today said NBCUniversal is joining as an investor in the ATSC 3.0 Framework Authority, which develops the Run3TV NextGen TV application platfo...
22/10/2025
ATLANTA swXtch.io will feature two new networking solutions extending the company's reach across more cloud and on-prem workflows at NAB Show New York, set ...
22/10/2025
The Warner Bros. Discoverys HBO Max streaming services has increased prices for all its streaming tiers effectively immediately for new customers. Existing cust...
22/10/2025
LOS ANGELES OpenDrives has signed a new distribution partnership deal with Versatile Distribution Services (VDS) to strengthen its channel and streamline how it...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Samora Pinderhughes Brings Immersive Sound to Berklee's Signature Series The artist and composer, who's worked with Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Co...
22/10/2025
BMI Day at Berklee Celebrates Composer Fil Eisler and Awards Scholarship to Stud...
22/10/2025
October 22nd, 2025 TRIBECA ANNOUNCES STAR-STUDDED LINEUP OF MEMBERSHIP EVENTS F...
22/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF cooperate in drone defense Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF partner to deliver a comprehensive drone defense solution combining Rohde & S...
22/10/2025
European Broadcaster Upgrades To Grass Valley's NativeIP LDX 135 Cameras And...
22/10/2025
Everyone Gets a Better Deal on Verizon with New FOX One Perk The $15 FOX One streaming service perk is yet another way Verizon continues to add savings for cu...
22/10/2025
First Look Hidden Assets Series 3
Premieres on 9th November 9:30pm on RT One & RT Player
WATCH HERE Promo Link: Hidden Assets Series 3 | RT
The Crimin...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Although AES Show Is on Its Own, Audio Will Be a Major Part o...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Business of Broadcast and Media,' Future of Content'...
21/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Ethan Folz, Senior Director, Digital Operations and Quality of Ex...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: Livestream Offers Graphic Overlays, Predictive Gaming, Ancil...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: At the Front Bench With Producer Frank DiGraci and Director ...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: NBC Sports, NEP Build Ultra-Flexible Production Plan That Se...
21/10/2025
Indigenous storytelling has been at the heart of the work of the Sundance Instit...
21/10/2025
Top L-R: Mysterious Skin, American Dream Second Row L-R: Little Miss Sunshine, D...
21/10/2025
Last week, Spotify and Columbia Records transformed Pier 4 at the Brooklyn Army ...
21/10/2025
SBS Learn's Dharug Ngurra resource empowers classrooms to meaningfully celeb...
21/10/2025
As global operators simplify and evolve their digital platforms, NPS improvement...
21/10/2025
Critical Design Review completion is a key milestone on the path toward Wideband Global Satellite Communications certification for the network in 2026, opening ...
21/10/2025
New Australian undersea training range to implement and improve warfighting tactics, proficiency and safety; enable joint/allied training that contributes to pr...
21/10/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
21/10/2025
September, the beginning of autumn, brought an expected revival to the TV market, largely due to the new fall TV schedules. The time spent in front of the TV sc...
SI TV, MLB To Turn Something Old Into Something New First offering will be a doc on 1978's Yankees-Red Sox AL East pennant battle By Troy Dreier, Contributor, Streaming & Digital 
