Major League Baseball is reportedly discussing the possibility of licensing the streaming platform MLB.TV. Per a report from Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, the league has discussed the possibility in talks with broadcasters/streamers. It’s unclear how MLB.TV consumers would be impacted if any deal is struck.
There are several moving parts in the league’s media strategy, most of them connected to the gradual pivot from regional sports networks (RSNs) to direct-to-consumer streaming. RSNs have been a massive part of the league’s business model for years but that has been chipped away at recently. Prior to streaming, many people ordered cable bundles which included baseball broadcasters, even if they didn’t watch the sport much. This was a big part of each club’s annual revenue streams and in some cases still is.
But with cord cutting and streaming, the league and teams have had to adjust. Main Street Sports, formerly known as Diamond Sports Group, was in bankruptcy for much of the past two years. They recently emerged from that status but with a smaller portfolio of MLB clubs under contract. Going into 2025, there are five teams that have no RSN deal and have MLB handling their broadcasts and streaming: the Guardians, Twins, Padres, Diamondbacks and Rockies.
Even the clubs that still have deals with Main Street aren’t committed for the long haul. It’s been reported that none of the current contracts go beyond 2028. MLB’s national deals with Fox and Turner are also set to expire after 2028. The same was true of ESPN, though that deal recently fell apart when both sides agreed to opt out, though ESPN is still broadcasting games through the 2025 season.
In addition to TV broadcasts, most clubs also have a direct-to-consumer streaming option of some kind. This week’s report from Marchand indicates that there are only three club that don’t have such a product available: the Astros, Nationals and Orioles.
MLB.TV has been around for decades, offering baseball fans the chance to pay one fee for the opportunity to stream all games, with some exceptions. Certain games have been carved out of MLB.TV if offered as exclusives on other platforms, while local blackout rules have also been in effect.
The hope of the league and commissioner Rob Manfred is that they can move away from blackouts, even in some sort of large package that resembles MLB.TV. There will be challenges in accomplishing that. Some teams still have very profitable RSNs and many of them are owned in whole or in part by the club itself. Such clubs would be reluctant to lumping their product together with less-popular clubs and effectively sharing their revenues.
There are many factors at play and the league is seemingly trying to get many buyers at the table. Back in November, Evan Drellich of The Athletic reported on the league’s long-term plans for getting a big deal done a few years down the road. He noted that executives from Apple, Amazon, CBS, Disney/ESPN, DirecTV, Fox, Netflix, NBC/Peacock, Roku, YouTube and Warner Bros.-Discovery were all present at the World Series.
MLB is seemingly open to various offers, perhaps from multiple companies. In recent years, they have split up their rights to companies like Fox, ESPN, Turner, Apple, Roku, YouTube and others, in addition to the local RSNs. It’s unclear exactly how MLB.TV would also fit into a new arrangement but it’s possible that the league could license it alongside other rights as part of a larger package. If a platform did license the rights, they might then market MLB.TV to consumers with other baseball games or even other sports, depending on the company and their portfolio. Speculatively speaking, Apple could license MLB.TV and then sell it to consumers but also include the Apple Friday Night Baseball games that currently aren’t available to MLB.TV subscribers. More information is likely to come out over time.
Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images
I got 5 bucks, an unopened Topps ’87 pack, a ’16 Lexus and some Fernando shades for ya… we got a deal, Manfred?
Man, those old wood background Topps packs. Brings back memories even though most weren’t (and still aren’t) worth the paper they were printed on, haha. Still, was one of the few ways to get detailed stats back in the day.
I was always partial to ’91 Fleer…. just complete trash with off-centered print on hideous yellow cards, but the Provisions were beyond awesome!
Just like WWE.!
Anything to make more profit,
without having to pay Broadcasters,
Announcers, etc. Just Punt all of the costs
To whoever buys the rights!
MLB Trader…You In ??
Just wait until they have Chat GPT do the play-by-play……
I’d take a Charley Steiner ChatGPT boy over Michael Kay
*bot
Get it done. Fans are tired of waiting.
I have MLB.TV through Sling.TV. For Seattle Mariners games I have the Root Sports Stream app.
I get every Padre game through the MLB app on a Samsung TV. $125 for the season, no blackouts unless that game is on elsewhere (Fox, ESPN or Apple… if that’s still a thing, idk!)
Something like 152 Regular Season games a season, give or take.
Interesting, right around the same price for us. They just finally gave us the Root Sports App this year Gwyining, I couldn’t believe it, right in the middle of cable contracts as well, they have not provided us with an explanation. But it’s $20 a month and you get the channel 24/7.
I get it free with T-Mobile, but Cubs and White Sox games are blacked out, I can only listen to them. I’d pay for the Cubs, but I need to see some winning before I sign up for Marquee Sports. As for the White Sox, I’m not missing much right now. Seven losses in a row, let’s go!
What’s wrong with you? You can’t be a fan of both teams. I’ve been hearing this for all of my life. LMAO! Feel the same way. I’ve always liked both teams and when I get sick of the losing on one side just pay better attention to the other. Prefer to attend on the South side if going to a game. To me that’s my city. Not a fan of Wrigley itself.
Ur goin 2 jail
I won’t watch the Sox until Reinsdorf sells. If cheapskate ricketts signs Tucker I’ll pay for Marquee, so I’m in a bind here with mlb streaming issues when on mlb.tv. Being a Chicago sports fan is torture.
Really wish the Astros would say why they won’t do a direct to consumer in market offer. Not all of us want to pay $85 a month to Fubo just to get Space City Home Network.
astrosrule;
It appears that MLB has hired the same people that convoluted NBA broadcast rights resulting in fans having to pay numerous services to watch their team play.
(Notice that the confusion of the broadcasts while the customers are obviously being bilked for every cent the greedy NBA can extract from them, is being given as one of the major reasons why many fans say they’re turned off the NBA this season.)
Their cameras are all in busy being in centerfield trying to get one specific angle for some reason.
I think mlb.tv is a great deal, watch it most nights.
Of course, without local broadcasts, it’s a harder call for a lot of folks.
I used to get it back when I first started with DirecTV and watched it.
But that was years ago. Im fine watching my local team and catching others on national broadcasts.
Which, BTW, the biggest thing that MLB really needs to do is get weekly over the air games. Not cable / sat. Over the air. It strikes me as imperative. But of course that probably requires someone more skilled than Rob Manfred in charge.
I’m sure whatever decision is made it will be the most anti-consumer option that makes trying to legally watch games an absolute chore.
The MLB broadcasting RSNs are such a disaster. Finally it sounds like Robby the robot is realizing that. It only took the entirety of his reign so far.
Just keep the regional sports network and end exclusivity in these media contracts. Find a way to add as many teams to MLB.tv and end regional blackouts.
It’s in every team’s best interest to have MLB.tv on as many streaming services as possible. Too bad the commish is a powerless lackey who can’t get these owners to do anything meaningful.
I get the MLB.TV service as a reward for being a T-Mobile customer except for the handful of blackouts for games on Fox, Apple, Amazon, YouTube etc.
So far this year I’ve been shut out of watching SOME Reds, Brewers, Cardinals, and Giants games. Other times they’re on. Get something up on my screen stating that I don’t subscribe to Fan Duel network so I can’t see or hear the game. Well, YEAH! I can’t subscribe. Fan Duel doesn’t offer service to my zip code.
I tried calling MLB.TV support to find out what’s up, but after 3 phone calls and a half-hour all I learned was that no one working there spoke enough English to begin to understand what my issue was. They were very polite though as they read from a script. And here I was thinking MLB was an American onshore company.
Pretty much like working though an issue with the government.
Talk to MLB.TV support reps is a joke.. unless you have technical issue and they get you to someone who has some talent and is often much better at speaking English.
That’s a basic principal of modern Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. The reason they use those scripts is that some people call two dozen times, and ask exactly the same question to two dozen different reps, until they get the answer they wanted. “Hey, Wally said blah blah blah, and now you owe it to me to do what Wally said.” So, they use scripts so that you get the same answers from everyone. I’m not saying they’re right to do that, but it’s the real reason.
I have MLB.TV and NESN360. I wish there was some sort of interrogation that made them know I was a Sox fan, because living where I do, I’m blacked out from Sox, Mets, and Yankees. There should be a limit- I get that local broadcasts need to make money, but that’s a lot of games to be discluded from.
Yeah, they’re probably best to try and bundle it with some of the main streamers like Apple, Amazon and such. If it’s in the streaming package already, it’s potentially going to be watched, as opposed to one having to actually subscribe to MLBTV itself.
Please, please, please! Do away with the ridiculous MLB blackout policy!
Because, if it’s blacked out, maybe you will decide to go down and watch the game in person. LOL
MASN is stuck in the past not offering direct to consumer
MASN just was finally sorted out. No surprise Orioles and Nationals do not have direct to consumer due to the long history of MASN.
So they can have MORE Blue Chew Commercials?
As long as they keep making it free for t mobile I don’t care what they do with it
I moved from T-Mobile when I needed new phones. Their pricing sucked and since they’ve increased rates by removing certain plans and discounts, I ended up getting two premium phones basically for free by moving. No noticeable difference in quality of service. Thus, I did better even after paying for MLB this year.
Great! Another 25% increase in price for MLB.TV.
They will blame it on tariffs.
Wouldn’t it be cool if every streaming service was available in one package with one interface so you could easily move from program to program?
Oh wait…
Cable was awesome before too many people decided that 50 different patches of grass looked greener.
Get it done, and the regional apps and blackouts..the Gotham app for Yankees games is criminal 19.99.
I typically subscribe to this each year, but not this year. Why? Because it seems increasingly that more and more games are not available. Living “near” Baltimore I can’t watch any Nationals games or any Orioles games live. So if I’m following the Yankees I can’t watch many of their games because they’re licensed to ESPN or other random Fox type broadcasts. No thanks, unless we can watch 99% of the games, with an occasional ESPN or whatever, but realistically- 100% is what we should be able to consume, or prorated pricing that takes in to account our home zip code to determine what percentage of games you’re “allowed” to watch. Seems cheaper and more effective for all to get Sling and watch what’s available, which each night has something.
I am really enjoying the Rangers Sports Network. Every team should make their own network. I feel like my $100 is going straight to player payroll.
Blackouts? Rumor has it that this rip-off doesn’t apply to any of the myriad of gratuitous HD streaming websites.
I love MLB tv but I have to be honest the Apple productions are beautiful and the ability to chose the broadcaster is ideal. Just think of the possibilities in expanding the options there from languages to color commentators to make it an enjoyable experience tailored to each fan.
“It’s unclear how MLB.TV consumers would be impacted if any deal is struck.”
Well, that’s easy. I am going to pay more for less content.
The big problem is that MLB.tv has minuscule numbers compared to what the RSNs used to pay. The disparity between the teams is worse than ever. This is completely understandable.
I subscribed to mlb.tv again this year, and I get a nice veteran’s discount. But I am blacklisted for 4 teams (CIN, DET, CHC, & CWS), all of which are about 140 miles from me as the crow flies. I’m old. I never actually go to any MLB games. This year, I switched to fubo and get the RSNs for all of my 4 blacklist teams, which means that for the first time, I can actually access every single game on the MLB schedule, except those on Apple. It’s costly but worth it to me.
I dropped MLB.tv because SIX teams were blacked out in my city. My city doesn’t have an MLB team, and the closest team is more than 200 miles away.
Insane. The cable nonsense cannot sunset fast enough.
I also noticed the MLB.tv mobile app double dips on blackouts. It gets you based on your phone’s reported location, and also gets you based on your phone’s ip address.
So my phone when on mobile data (as opposed to being connected to Wi-Fi) located in Idaho cannot watch the Mariners, AND cannot watch the Angels and Dodgers, because the cell tower gives my phone an ip address in Los Angeles.
It’s pretty lame-o. MLB should pick one or the other. Or, just do it based on location if the device has the capability to report that, or if it does not (I assume some tablets fall into this category), THEN use the ip address.
In Myrtle Beach, 250 miles away, the Atlanta games are blacked out. I’ve hated the Braves since they left Milwaukee, but I’d like to see the Cubs play Atlanta. It’s like 1963 all over again when the Bears-Giants NFL Championship game in Chicago was blacked out and my Dad went up on the roof in December to turn the TV antenna toward Rockford to watch the snowy game. Maybe if I put my PC on the roof and turned it north … Dad, I need your help!
Awww…. how to make money from people making money from us….. so cute
Local blackouts are the single stupidest thing in sports history. How do you build fans of the local team if they’re blacked out all the time so you can’t watch them on TV. Especially in Colorado where the product is almost as bad as the idea of local blackouts.
I’m sure the consumer will be the least considered group in whatever deal they concoct. I get MLB.tv for about $150 a season. I live in Dallas and mostly watch the Dodgers, but occasionally watch other good matchups. With the new Rangers deal, I could get a pre-season discount of $99 for the season, just for their games.
The black outs are the worst. I took the train to visit my parents in Oklahoma. I figured as soon as I crossed into Oklahoma, I could watch the Rangers or Astros. Nope. Not only were those two teams still blacked out, but so were the Rockies, Royals and one other team, I think it was the Cubs. How Oklahoma, without one MLB team, could be considered territorial for a Chicago team, I’m not quite sure.
Could be Cardinals. I believe Oklahoma (or at least the eastern part) is considered “Cardinals” territory.
I wonder if this becomes part of the CBA discussion. RSNs are going the way of the dodo but teams don’t want to kill the revenue golden goose. And to get the Dodgers to play ball with their obvious tv advantage to play ball with bundling and streaming is going to be a very hard sell.
MLB.tv is pretty great other than the blackouts and some times glitchy. It is worth it IMO.
I would have multiple games watching a couple games a day during the season.. sadly work life has eaten into that
MLB needs to find someone competent to stream the ballgames because they are doing a crappy job. I’ve been streaming on mlb.tv for years but this year is the worst. The video freezes everytime there’s action, yet when games are streamed on ESPN they run smoothly. I complain to mlb and they give me this nonsense that I need a new computer. NFL streams fine, NHL does as well so it’s not my computer. I love baseball but hate the MLB cartel.