TOKYO — The number of teams Major League Baseball teams that can be watched direct-to-consumer has doubled over the offseason, to 26 of 30.
The newest on the list are the three teams broadcast by an NBC Sports regional station: the Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants, and the Los Angeles Dodgers, carried by SportsNet LA.
Fans who live inside of those teams’ television territories can now sign up to stream games without needing a full television bundle, such as cable or satellite.
The A’s (on NBC Sports California) and Giants (NBC Sports Bay Area) will be available for $19.99 per month. The Phillies (NBC Sports Philadelphia) cost $24.99 per month. A Dodgers subscription costs $29.99 per month, or $199.99 per year.
MLB had 13 teams available direct-to-consumer at the end of last season.
“We are excited to partner with NBC to continue increasing the reach of MLB games for our fans,” Noah Garden, MLB deputy commissioner for business and media said in a news release. “We have been hard at work with our clubs and RSNs to address one of the top issues that baseball fans have had for years, which has been blackouts. This agreement with NBC marks an important step in that effort as we now have nearly 90 percent of the league with a DTC streaming option available in their market.”
The other nine teams newly available to stream in-market this year are the Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers.
“The biggest thought is fan friendly, right?” commissioner Rob Manfred said last month. “As long as that digital product is out there, the fan, whether it’s the best option or not, has an option to get the games and that’s really important.”
The four teams that cannot be watched direct-to-consumer include the two broadcast by Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals, as well as the Houston Astros (Space City Home Network) and Seattle Mariners (Root Sports). The Nationals are free to leave MASN after this year.
MLB has long offered a streaming package for fans out-of-market viewing, called MLB.tv. But that package is only for fans who are watching outside of a team’s territory. Through it, a fan in New York can watch the Giants play in the Bay Area, but a fan in San Francisco cannot. That’s where the newly available in-market streaming options come in.
(Photo: Robbie Jay Barratt / AMA / Getty Images)
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