The Houston Astros are the last MLB team without a direct-to-consumer streaming option for this season, and it appears that this will remain the case.
Following Monday’s announcement that the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals will stream their games on a new direct-to-consumer platform, MASN+, the Astros are the lone holdout among MLB’s 30 teams in terms of streaming. Why is that? Well, according to a report by Chron’s Michael Shapiro on Tuesday, it comes down to the team’s contractual obligations.
“Due to long-term affiliation agreements that have been a consistent mainstay of the RSN through the many ownership iterations since 2010, we are not able to provide direct-to-consumer streaming at this time,” Space City Home Network (SCHN), the television home for local Astros broadcasts, told Chron in a statement. “As always, we will continue to work to provide our fans with the best viewing options, including broad-based streaming when appropriate.”
SCHN’s current deals with DirecTV and Comcast run through 2032. However, the current arrangements do not actually preclude the network from launching a direct-to-consumer platform, according to the report. Instead, the network fears that launching a streamer would give distributors legal standing to “tear up the existing deals,” and renegotiate carriage agreements with SCHN at a much lower rate.
Essentially, SCHN isn’t launching a streamer because it fears it will lose its current favorable terms with DirecTV and Comcast.
That might be good financially for the network, and thereby the Astros, who jointly own the network with the NBA’s Houston Rockets. However, it’s particularly disappointing for fans who are now required to purchase a pay TV subscription to watch their teams.
A source told Chron, “Eventually, the math will make sense to release a DTC, then come back to [Comcast and DirecTV], even at a lower rate.”
That day, however, will not come in 2025.