Major League Baseball has held discussions about licensing its MLB.TV game package to networks and/or digital platforms, sources briefed on the discussions told The Athletic.
MLB.TV allows fans to receive all of their favorite teams’ out-of-market games for $149.99 per season.
MLB.TV also has 10 of its in-market teams that range from $99.99 to $199.99 per year, allowing fans without cable access to local games.
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Launching nearly a quarter of a century ago, MLB.TV has been controlled exclusively by MLB, allowing the league to sell directly to its fans. Commissioner Rob Manfred has a stated goal of having all of his clubs under one streaming roof when all the league’s national rights are up following the 2028 season.
A Major League Baseball spokesperson declined comment on the current talks.
In 2024, MLB.TV had 14.5 billion minutes watched, according to MLB. This was up 14 percent from the 2023 season, it said.
The move to put MLB.TV into negotiations comes as baseball is looking for new partners after ESPN opted out of the final three seasons of its $550 million per year contract with the league in February. MLB countered by withdrawing from its side of the deal and Manfred called ESPN a “shrinking platform” in a memo to team owners.
ESPN continues to be the home of “Sunday Night Baseball,” the home run derby and the first round of the postseason for this year. NBC, Google, YouTube and Fox are among those who have shown some level of interest in ESPN’s package, according to sources briefed on the talks.
ESPN has said it would like to continue with baseball under new terms. ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro has stated publicly his interest in regional sports rights as ESPN will debut a direct-to-consumer full service in the fall. Amazon and Apple could be other potential contenders for an MLB.TV exclusive package.
The package ESPN opted out of has mostly non-championship games. Its postseason inventory is only eight-to-12 first-round games per season. A new deal is expected to be for no more than three seasons to line up with MLB’s other TV contracts.
When Fox and TNT Sports’ top postseason rights, combined with the international packages, especially in Japan, are up in 2028, there are expected to be more suitors for MLB’s overall TV packages.
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That is why the addition of MLB.TV could goose a final number of a new post-ESPN deal for MLB.
The licensing of MLB.TV comes at a time when baseball has been hit hard by the continuing erosion of the cable television ecosystem that has impacted regional sports networks. The backbone of RSNs have been local MLB teams’ games. To try to counter the loss of cable, 27 of MLB’s 30 teams have direct-to-consumer offerings this season.
The Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles and Houston Astros are the only three without a direct-to-consumer package.
While MLB.TV may be leased to a platform, in a post-cable dominant ecosystem, a carrier having exclusive access to most local baseball will likely have a competitive advantage as MLB.TV offers hundreds of games to fans. There are also regular season national exclusive window deals with ESPN, Fox, Roku, Apple and some other channels that are excluded from MLB.TV.
The access to sell MLB.TV directly to fans could be a boon for a platform in the increasingly competitive direct-to-consumer streaming world. Manfred and his lieutenants are determining if they can find the right price to make a deal.
(Photo: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)
