Major League Baseball continues to look for ways to land advantageous television rights deals that give certain services exclusive rights in an effort to infuse money into the league. For the last few seasons, one of those deals has been Peacock getting exclusive rights to around 20 early morning games, largely on Sundays. Roku is one of the next services in line.
MLB, in an unconfirmed partnership, could be working with Roku to take over the deal that Peacock may be leaving behind, according to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic:
Major League Baseball and Roku are in advanced talks to make the service the new home for Sunday morning baseball this season, sources briefed on the discussions confirmed to The Athletic on Thursday.
The reason for this negotiation even being had is because Peacock, who got the rights to Sunday morning games in 2023, appears reportedly unwilling to renew at the same price that they paid last season.
Peacock has been interested in retaining the “MLB Sunday Leadoff” package of nearly 20 games. It paid $30 million per season, but was only willing to renew for about a third of that price, according to executives briefed on the discussions.
For fans, nothing is expected to change except for the streaming service required to have and tune in to. Game times remain the same as last season’s very early games.
If a deal is signed, then each Sunday, just as with Peacock, the Roku games will start at 11:30 a.m. or just after noon. It allows for an exclusive window until the rest of the Sunday games have their first pitch after 1:30 p.m.
MLB is clearly looking for more national distributors for coverage as the regional broadcast model suffers further and further.
MLB has agreements with Fox and TNT. Fox’s broadcasts are highlighted by the World Series, while TBS, a part of TNT Sports, has a league championship series. MLB also has Friday night regular season games on Apple TV+. In the past, MLB has streamed games on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.