As MLB is reportedly set to announce its new short-term rights deals with three national broadcast partners later today — ESPN, NBC, and Netflix — details surrounding the agreements are beginning to come out.
One such detail applies to the league’s out-of-market package, MLB.tv, which will reportedly be licensed to ESPN for use within its new direct-to-consumer app as part of a new deal. While baseball fans will be able to purchase MLB.tv through ESPN’s new app, they will also be able to access out-of-market games directly through MLB’s current platform, at least “to start,” according to a report by Austin Karp and Mike Mazzeo in Sports Business Journal.
The inclusion of MLB.tv in ESPN’s new package of games — which also includes 30 national window broadcasts and the in-market broadcast rights to six MLB clubs currently under the league’s media umbrella — drove much of the value for ESPN in its decision to remain in business with the league. To have MLB.tv be non-exclusive at the beginning of the arrangement certainly isn’t ideal for the Worldwide Leader. Earlier this week, we learned MLB.tv will not be made available natively within YouTube TV.
According to a separate report filed Wednesday by The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, “ESPN has not decided how it will sell MLB.tv, but it is expected to be at the same $150 per year that subscribers paid when it was under the league’s control. T-Mobile is expected to continue allowing fans to receive the service for free.” Marchand also notes that ESPN will likely add a free month of its $30 monthly direct-to-consumer subscription for MLB.tv subscribers.
Per The Athletic, ESPN will pay MLB the same amount per year for its new inventory that it did for its old Sunday Night Baseball package, most of which is now in the hands of NBC for less than half the price ESPN was paying. ESPN is set to pay MLB $1.65 billion over the next three seasons. Meanwhile, NBC’s package will not exceed $200 million per year, just about one-third the price ESPN paid for largely the same inventory.
The discrepancy goes to show the value of local broadcast rights in baseball compared to national inventory. ESPN gave up the entirety of its postseason schedule, a weekly marquee regular season game in an exclusive window, and tentpole events like the Home Run Derby and Opening Night, but will pay MLB the same amount because local rights are simply more lucrative to own.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.