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Major League Baseball on regional sports networks

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Most Major League Baseball games not broadcast exclusively by its media partners are televised by regional sports networks (RSNs),[1] which present sports programming of interest to their respective region. Some MLB broadcasters are members of chains, such as NBC Sports Regional Networks and FanDuel Sports Network, although most teams are broadcast by unaffiliated RSNs or by streaming media services. Some teams own partial or majority stakes in their RSN.

Regionally broadcast MLB games are subject to blackouts; games from outside of a viewer's designated market are blacked out to protect the local team. In addition, certain national regular season telecasts on ESPN, FS1, and TBS are non-exclusive, and may also air in tandem with telecasts of the game by local broadcasters. National telecasts of these games may be blacked out in the participating teams' markets, to protect the local broadcaster.

List

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Further information: List of current Major League Baseball broadcasters
Regional network
As of the 2025 MLB season 		Team(s)
FanDuel Sports Network Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Kansas City, LA Angels, Miami, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Tampa Bay
NBC Sports Regional Networks Athletics, Philadelphia, San Francisco
Fenway Sports Group
(incl. New England Sports Network and SportsNet Pittsburgh) 		Boston, Pittsburgh
Chicago Sports Network Chicago White Sox
Marquee Sports Network Chicago Cubs
Mid-Atlantic Sports Network Baltimore, Washington
Rangers Sports Network
Victory+ (streaming only) 		Texas
Root Sports Northwest Seattle
Space City Home Network Houston
Spectrum SportsNet LA LA Dodgers
SportsNet New York New York Mets
YES Network New York Yankees
Sportsnet Toronto
MLB Local Media Arizona, Cleveland, Colorado, Minnesota, San Diego

Online streaming of local games

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Until 2020, all in-market streaming rights for each team were controlled by Major League Baseball.[2][3]

For a period, the Yankees and Padres streamed their regional games online through subscription services, but as of the 2015 season, only the Toronto Blue Jays offered in-market streaming of their games to authenticated subscribers of the team's broadcaster within its designated market (Sportsnet also sells access to its networks, and these games, as an over-the-top subscription service).[4] Regional games were not available on TV Everywhere services such as Fox Sports Go or the NBC Sports app, and in-market streaming is not available via MLB.tv because games are always blacked out for in-market teams.[5][6]

Current commissioner Rob Manfred stated in an April 2015 interview with the Wall Street Journal that MLB planned to finalize a plan to allow in-market streaming of regional games "some time this year".[5] Major League Baseball and representatives of its regional broadcasters have attempted to negotiate how in-market streaming for U.S. teams would operate, including whether digital rights to regional games would be centralized and held by an exclusive partner, and whether local rightsholders would be able to distribute the telecasts through their own services and apps, or whether all in-market games would have to be offered through existing MLB apps. Providers objected to having in-market streaming be MLB-controlled, as they would gain access to users' credentials.[6][7]

As of the 2016 Major League Baseball season, Fox reached a three-year deal to offer in-market streaming of its 15 teams to authenticated subscribers of the corresponding Fox Sports Networks. Fox pays a digital rights fee for each team, and the streams are managed by MLB Advanced Media but delivered through the existing Fox Sports Go applications.[6][8] Wider adoption began to spread in the 2017 season, with NBC Sports Regional Networks and SportsNet New York (via the NBC Sports app),[9][10] Root Sports (now AT&T SportsNet in most markets),[11] and NESN launching in-market streaming of their local teams.[12] Only three teams—the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals (who share MASN as their rightsholder), and the Los Angeles Dodgers, do not offer in-market streaming.

As of the 2020 season, MLB's owners voted unanimously to revert ownership of "certain in-market digital rights" to the teams themselves. Commissioner Manfred stated that digital streaming had become "substitutional with broadcast rights", and that these changes would allow teams more flexibility in selling their digital rights in the future. However, such arrangements may still be subject to negotiations with existing regional rightsholders.[2][3]

Games distributed by MLB

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See also: MLB Local Media

Since 2023, as a result of corporate decisions by companies that distribute MLB games, the league has begun to distribute games for some of its clubs directly to viewers.

Before the 2023 season, Diamond Sports Group, which operates the Bally Sports networks and which held the television rights to 14 of MLB's 30 clubs, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection,[13] and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), which operated three AT&T SportsNet channels, announced that it would exit the RSN business.[14] In response to the potential loss of broadcasters for 17 of its teams, the league created MLB Local Media, a new division, and hired Doug Johnson as senior vice president and executive producer of local media, Greg Pennell as senior VP of local media, and Kendall Burgess as VP of local media technical operations. Johnson had worked for AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh. Pennell and Burgess were previously employees of Bally Sports.[15]

On May 30, 2023, MLB announced that it would take over Padres broadcasts starting the following day, after Bally Sports San Diego failed to make payments to the team during a grace period. The Padres are the first team for which MLB produces all regional telecasts.[16] On July 18, following Bally Sports Arizona's failure to make payments to the Arizona Diamondbacks on a similar grace period, MLB decided to take over production of regional telecasts of Diamondbacks games for the rest of the 2023 regular season.

In 2024, MLB took over broadcasts for the Colorado Rockies; including the Padres and Diamondbacks, the league distributed telecasts for three of its clubs.[17] Starting in 2025, MLB distributes broadcasts for five clubs, adding the Cleveland Guardians and Minnesota Twins broadcasts to its local media department.[18][19][20] Beginning in 2025, the Seattle Mariners' broadcasts are produced by MLB Local Media, but Root Sports Northwest continues to distribute the team's games via its own television channel and direct-to-consumer streaming service.[21]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Lucia, Joe (April 6, 2021). "Which RSN has the best MLB scorebug?". Awful Announcing.
  2. ^ a b "MLB teams to iron out local streaming rights deals with RSNs, says report". SportsPro Media. December 3, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  3. ^ a b "The Pen: MLB owners' vote could be big news for baseball fans cutting the cord". Yahoo! Sports. November 22, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  4. ^ "Rogers to offer all Sportsnet content in streaming service". CBC News. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Rob Manfred: In-market streaming could become available in 2015". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  6. ^ a b c "MLB, Fox break impasse in streaming talks". Sports Business Journal. August 17, 2015. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  7. ^ "MLB, RSNs Yet To Bridge In-Market Streaming Differences". Multichannel News. March 20, 2015. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  8. ^ "MLB, Fox Sports Agree To Three-Year Deal For In-Market Game Streaming, Beginning In '16". Sports Business Daily. November 20, 2015. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  9. ^ "NBC Regional Networks, MLBAM Ink Deal for Live In-Market Stream of MLB Games". Sports Video Group. January 19, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  10. ^ "SNY Locks Down In-Market Streaming Agreement for Mets Games". Sports Video Group. February 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  11. ^ "Root Sports reaches deal to stream Astros games". Houston Chronicle. April 3, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  12. ^ "NESN live streaming Boston Red Sox games now in-market per NESNgo". MassLive. May 23, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  13. ^ Rizzo, Lillian (March 15, 2023). "Diamond Sports, largest owner of regional sports networks, files for bankruptcy". CNBC. Retrieved March 15, 2023.
  14. ^ Ourand, John (February 24, 2023). "Warner Bros. Discovery tells teams it is leaving RSN business". Sports Business Journal. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  15. ^ "MLB sets up local media group, could broadcast 17 teams". Associated Press. March 1, 2023. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  16. ^ Reedy, Joe (May 31, 2023). "MLB Relieves Bally Sports, Will Take Over Broadcasting of San Diego Padres Games". NBC 7 San Diego. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  17. ^ Drellich, Evan (February 8, 2024). "MLB commissioner pegs 2025 target for a half-league streaming package". The Athletic. The New York Times Company. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  18. ^ "MLB to produce, distribute local games for Guardians, Brewers and Twins in 2025". MLB.com. October 8, 2024. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  19. ^ "MLB to produce, distribute local Reds broadcasts in 2025". MLB.com. November 15, 2024. Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  20. ^ Crupi, Anthony (October 8, 2024). "Guardians, Brewers, Twins Head to MLB Media as RSN Era Ends". Sportico.com. Retrieved October 9, 2024.
  21. ^ Drellich, Evan (November 22, 2024). "MLB plans new national TV packages for 2028; changes to revenue sharing, CBA crucial". The Athletic. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
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