MLB Local Media
Television broadcasting division
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
MLB Local Media is a division of Major League Baseball that produces and distributes regional television broadcasts. Established prior to the 2023 season, and leveraging resources from MLB Network, the division currently holds the local media rights to 14 of MLB's 30 teams.
| Type | Regional sports syndicate |
|---|---|
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Major League Baseball |
| Key people | Billy Chambers (EVP of local media) |
The division was established in 2023 amid uncertainties in the regional sports network market, including the bankruptcy of Bally Sports (now FanDuel Sports Network) owner Diamond Sports Group (now Main Street Sports Group), and Warner Bros. Discovery's winddown of the AT&T SportsNet networks, with the intended capability of taking over a team's regional media rights on short notice if their respective broadcaster is no longer able to carry their games. The division made its on-air debut on May 31, 2023, when it took over broadcast rights to the San Diego Padres from Bally Sports San Diego after it missed a rights payment. In July 2023, MLB also took over the rights to the Arizona Diamondbacks from Bally Sports Arizona under similar circumstances.
In 2024, MLB Local Media added the Colorado Rockies, and started producing MLB Sunday Leadoff with its move to The Roku Channel. It acquired the rights to the Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins, and Seattle Mariners in 2025, albeit with the Mariners' telecasts continuing to air on Root Sports Northwest until its closure after the end of the season. In 2026, it added the Washington Nationals, following the resolution of its long-standing rights disputes with the Baltimore Orioles' MASN. Amid continued financial issues at Main Street Sports Group, MLB Local Media added seven of its nine teams, and reached an agreement to provide production and distribution support to the National Hockey League's Detroit Red Wings (which share common ownership with the Detroit Tigers).
MLB Local Media regional broadcasts are distributed via ad-hoc agreements with television providers in each team's home market, as well as over-the-top (OTT) subscription packages hosted by MLB.tv (branded under names such as Padres.tv and DBacks.tv), available separately from MLB.tv's out-of-market service. Beginning in the 2025 season, MLB Local Media also began to syndicate packages of broadcasts to terrestrial television stations in the teams' local markets.
History
Background
On February 24, 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery, owners of the AT&T SportsNet regional sports networks, announced that it would leave the RSN business. At the time, AT&T SportsNet held the rights to three MLB teams: the Pittsburgh Pirates, Colorado Rockies and Houston Astros. The company sent messages to those teams, notifying them they had until March 31 to reach an agreement to take their rights back or acquire the networks. If no deal was made before the deadline, Warner Bros. Discovery stated that the channels would go into Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. Root Sports Northwest, a joint venture between Warner Bros. Discovery and the Seattle Mariners, was not affected by the announcement.[1][2][3] Despite the March deadline, Major League Baseball negotiated a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to keep the networks operational through the 2023 Major League Baseball season.[4] The Houston and Pittsburgh networks would be sold to joint ventures of their respective teams,[5][6] while WBD would later sell its stake in Root Sports to the Mariners.[7]
On March 14, 2023, Diamond Sports Group, owners of the Bally Sports regional sports networks, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[8] The filing came 30 days after the company failed to make a $140M interest payment.[9] At the time, Diamond Sports held the rights to 14 MLB teams: the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers.
Launch
In January 2023, MLB hired Billy Chambers—a former executive of Bally Sports' predecessor Fox Sports Networks—as its executive vice president of local media; Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred stated that Chambers would "play an integral role in how we navigate the rapidly evolving local media landscape in the future".[10] In March 2023, MLB Local Media was formally established, with the hiring of former SportsNet Pittsburgh executive Doug Johnson, and former Bally Sports executives Greg Pennell and Kendall Burgess; all three would report to Chambers. It was anticipated that the group could take over broadcasts of teams under AT&T SportsNet or Bally Sports on short notice if they are unable to continue their relationships with the teams;[11][12] MLB Local Media had been working with MLB Network staff to prepare for such a scenario, including adapting an existing MLB Network graphics package so that it could be readily customized for individual teams.[13]
In May 2023, Diamond Sports was on the verge of missing a second straight rights payment to the San Diego Padres, with a grace period expiring on the 31st; the rights to the team would revert to Major League Baseball on this date if the deadline were missed. Chambers and the MLB Local Media team were on standby for the Padres' series at the Miami Marlins, and began preparing its production on May 30, with only 24 hours' notice.[13][14] The new broadcasting arrangements would involve ad-hoc agreements between MLB and individual television providers in the San Diego Padres' market, as well as an over-the-top, in-market subscription package hosted on the MLB.tv platform known as Padres.tv. The service is a separate subscription from MLB.tv's out-of-market service.[15][16][17]
The MLB-produced telecasts inherited the Padres' existing broadcast team and other team-contracted staff. Once the team returned to San Diego, MLB Local Media inherited the mobile production units and freelance employees that had been used by Diamond. MLB Local Media aimed for the broadcasts' technological aspects to be at parity with those of the previous Bally productions, while also increasing use of new technology such as shallow depth-of-field cameras. The inaugural broadcast featured a special introduction narrated by sportscaster and MLB Network contributor Bob Costas.[13]
On June 22, 2023, Diamond announced its intention to reject its contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 30, 2023.[18] Diamond and the Arizona Diamondbacks later released a joint statement pushing back the hearing and agreeing to continue Diamond's broadcast of Diamondbacks' games. The contract was officially rejected on July 18. As with the Padres, MLB Local Media took over production.[19][20] Over the season, MLB Local Media began to deploy additional cameras, including gimbal cameras, wirecams, and umpire cams, and also began to focus on increasing access to players in-game via microphones.[21]
2024 expansion
For the 2024 season, MLB Local Media announced they would also produce and distribute games for the Colorado Rockies, who formerly aired games on the now-defunct AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain.[22] In addition, the broadcasts began to receive access to programming such as Minor League Baseball games and the MLB Big Inning whiparound show in the event of weather delays. The three teams received updates to their graphics to add additional team-specific elements, and move the score bug to the bottom-right of the screen following feedback from directors.[21] In May 2024, MLB Local Media also began to oversee production of the MLB Sunday Leadoff package with its move to The Roku Channel.[23]
2025 expansion
MLB Local Media began producing and distributing telecasts for the Cleveland Guardians and Minnesota Twins in the 2025 season.[24][25] The department also began production of Seattle Mariners games, although the telecasts continued to be broadcast on Root Sports Northwest.[26]
Two teams announced, then backed out of, agreements to move to MLB Local Media in 2025. The Milwaukee Brewers had announced a move to MLB Local Media in October 2024, but on December 31, 2024, the Brewers announced that they had renegotiated their contract and returned to FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.[27][28] The Cincinnati Reds mutually agreed to end its agreement with Diamond and FanDuel Sports Network Ohio in November 2024,[29] but later renewed their agreement, and on January 13, 2025, the Reds announced that they would remain on FanDuel Sports Network in 2025.[30]
On March 26, 2025, the Diamondbacks, Padres, and Rockies announced that they would simulcast a package of games on Tegna stations in each team's home market (KPNX, KFMB and its DT2 subchannel, and the KUSA/KTVD duopoly respectively);[31][32][33] the Twins would later announce a similar simulcast deal with Minneapolis-St. Paul Fox station KMSP-TV and Gray Media stations in the Twins' outer markets, with the Guardians following with Tegna's WKYC in Cleveland.[34][35] Ahead of the 2025 season, MLB announced that Progressive Insurance would serve as presenting sponsor for Diamondbacks and Twins broadcasts.[36][37]
2026 expansion
In September 2025, the Mariners announced that Root Sports Northwest would close following the conclusion of the 2025 season, and that MLB Local Media would take over distribution of its regional broadcasts beginning in 2026.[38]
On January 14, 2026, it was announced that the Washington Nationals had signed with MLB Local Media, after having previously settled a long-standing rights dispute with the Baltimore Orioles and MASN.[39]
On January 8, 2026, it was reported that Main Street Sports Group's nine remaining MLB contracts had been terminated due to missed payments, amid financial uncertainties and an effort to sell the company.[40] The Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, and Kansas City Royals announced on February 2 that they would move to MLB Local Media for the 2026 season.[41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]
The Detroit Tigers later announced a move from FanDuel Sports Network Detroit to MLB Local Media.[49] As part of the agreement, MLB Local Media agreed to also provide production and distribution support for the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, which, like the Tigers, are owned by Ilitch Sports Entertainment.[50] On March 2, the Tigers and Red Wings announced the launch of Detroit SportsNet, a new RSN with backing from MLB. Viewers can subscribe to DTC packages covering both the Tigers and Red Wings.[51][52]
Current regional broadcast rights
MLB Local Media's broadcasts are distributed primarily via a "direct-to-distrubtor" model, in which it negotiates directly with television providers in the teams' local markets to carry the games. The broadcasts are carried by part-time channels on each provider, such as an event channel or similar; on Cox Cable for example, Padres games were assigned to the channel space of YurView California (which coincidentally, as the former 4SD, was the Padres' regional broadcaster prior to their move to Fox Sports Networks/Bally Sports) [53][54][55]
Each team under MLB Local Media also offers an in-market direct-to-consumer streaming package. These services are hosted by the MLB.tv platform and separate from its out-of-market service, but users can optionally subscribe to both services in a bundle.[56] Over subsequent seasons, MLB.tv partnered with other teams and third-party regional broadcasters to offer in-market streaming services on MLB.tv as well, as part of a goal to have as many of the league's teams available on the service as possible.[57][58][59][60]
MLB Local Media operates under a revenue sharing approach rather than a traditional rights fee, with the unit handling production (using team-employed contractors and commentators, where applicable),[13] advertising sales, and distribution/carriage negotiations. Revenue from the broadcasts are distributed to participating teams, with MLB taking a cut to cover production costs. Teams that moved to MLB Local Media have generally seen a reduction in television revenue in comparison to their previous contracts with RSNs, with the St. Louis Cardinals having been projected to lose $20 million in revenue under MLB Local Media in comparison to the $60 million they previously had with Main Street Sports Group in 2025 (which itself had been cut by 25% as part of a renegotiation with the company).[60][61]
| Team | Distributor/Service | Over-the-air affiliates (limited games only) |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona Diamondbacks (2023–present) | DBacks.tv presented by Progressive[62] | |
| San Diego Padres (2023–present) | Padres.tv presented by UC San Diego Health[65] | |
| Colorado Rockies (2024–present) | Rockies.tv presented by bet365[67] | |
| Cleveland Guardians (2025–present) | CLEGuardians.tv presented by Progressive[70] | |
| Minnesota Twins (2025–present) | Twins.tv presented by Progressive[36] |
|
| Seattle Mariners (2025–present) | Root Sports Northwest (2025) Mariners.tv (2026–present)[72] |
TBD |
| Cincinnati Reds (2026-present) | Reds.tv[73] | |
| Detroit Tigers (2026-present) Detroit Red Wings (NHL, 2026-present) |
Detroit SportsNet Tigers.TV |
|
| Kansas City Royals (2026–present) | Royals.tv[74] |
|
| Miami Marlins (2026–present) | Marlins.tv[75] |
|
| Milwaukee Brewers (2026–present) | Brewers.tv[76] | |
| St. Louis Cardinals (2026–present) | Cardinals.tv[77] |
|
| Tampa Bay Rays (2026–present) | Rays.tv[78] |
|
| Washington Nationals (2026–present) | Nationals.tv[79] | TBD |
See also
- Other MLB television packages produced in-house by units of Major League Baseball: