Major League Baseball (MLB) has entered into several agreements with major broadcasting and streaming services to display select games over the next three seasons. Notably, Netflix will feature significant baseball events, including the league’s opening night and the Home Run Derby, which typically attracts millions of viewers. ESPN and NBCUniversal have also secured rights to other MLB-related programming.
Beginning with the 2026 season, ESPN will obtain rights to MLB.TV, the league’s on-demand service that allows fans to watch out-of-market games. However, details on subscription fees for MLB.TV and the financial terms of these agreements have not been disclosed. NBCUniversal, owned by Comcast, will take over the Sunday night games, marking the return of regular games to its network after 25 years.
Additionally, Netflix will broadcast the World Baseball Classic, taking place in Japan, as part of its new agreement with MLB. The intent behind these contracts is to diversify MLB’s coverage across multiple platforms. Fox Sports is set to continue airing the World Series and other select games, while Apple TV plans to stream Friday Night Baseball’s doubleheader events.
These agreements follow ESPN’s decision to opt out of the final three seasons of its contract, which would have given the channel extensive rights to MLB programming at a projected cost of over $1.5 billion for that period. ESPN’s exit prompted prolonged negotiations between the league and various platforms for broadcasting rights.
As MLB aims to enhance its visibility and reach, these partnerships highlight a shift in how baseball content will be delivered to fans.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gjg38zyd8o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss