Major League Baseball, after settling a labor dispute with players to save the 2022 season and making a flashy deal to stream games on Apple TV+, is about to make more streaming progress.
The league and NBCUniversal are close to finalizing a deal that would see an 18-game broadcast slate on Peacock, according to a source familiar with the discussions. A formal announcement could come as early as next week.
El Wall Street Journal informed today about the pact, after a New York Post report last month. the WSJ he set the valuation at $30 million.
Representatives for NBC Sports and MLB did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment.
While the price tag isn’t cosmic, the deal is the latest sign that sports are continuing to migrate in earnest, away from linear TV and toward broadcast. MLB and Apple just announced a Friday game bundle that will stream on Apple TV+. Amazon also broadcast 21 New York Yankees games in the New York market last season in a deal with YES Network. Sinclair Broadcast Group, which is also a partner in YES, owns Bally’s regional sports networks and is shifting its offerings, including MLB, to a suite of direct-to-consumer broadcast services.
In the case of Peacock’s exclusive Sunday games, they are due to start at 11:30 a.m. ET, which would allow them to stay away from the regular 1 p.m. game slate with existing rights deals.
ESPN has been steadily adding more live games to ESPN+ and cross-promoting them through Hulu, which is also owned by Disney. HBO Max plans to stream National Hockey League games live. Amazon Prime Video in September will start exclusive streaming of NFL football on Thursday nights.
For many stakeholders, including Fox, NBCU, Disney and Paramount, the linear component of sports remains very important as a cash flow driver and advertising platform. Those companies’ recent $100 billion-plus rights deals with the NFL introduce some streaming elements, but also lock in traditional TV carriage through 2032.
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