For many years I have subscribed to the MLB.TV streaming package to watch Major League Baseball games that I don’t have access to on my satellite dish. However, this year, the game has changed.
Over the past off-season, MLB and ESPN made a deal which now allows for the sports network giant to be the sole provider of MLB streaming services on MLB.TV.
MLB.TV is the league’s out-of-market game streaming service, a digital platform that allows customers to watch any MLB games not airing on national channels or on local channels in their market.
Keep in mind, any games on the streaming service that involves Texas, Houston, Kansas City or St. Louis are blacked out, because for some reason, Tulsa is considered to be in their local markets by MLB.
Current ESPN Unlimited plan subscribers can purchase MLB.TV for $135 for the season, or those without an ESPN unlimited plan can purchase it for $150. There are also monthly plan options for $30, which would include a free month of ESPN for new subscribers. For new MLB.TV subscribers, signing up on the ESPN app provides the option of watching MLB.TV on ESPN or MLB platforms. Single-team plans with MLB.TV allow a viewer to watch only the out-of-market games of one team are also available, and range in cost from $100 to $130 for the season, depending on the team.
If you live in the Tulsa area and want to watch the St. Louis Cardinals or Kansas City Royals, you can subscribe to the local market package for those teams which will cost $100 per season.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have received a 50% discount on my MLB.TV subscription each year due to my membership in a particular baseball organization. However, the organization announced recently that they no longer will be able to provide the discount because of the arrangement MLB has with ESPN. So, this adds to my disappointment. Not only has Major League Baseball turned over the streaming rights to ESPN, but I no longer will be able to receive a discount. I suppose if I want to subscribe, I’ll have to pay $150 just like everyone else, and that’s a bit steep in my estimation.
Rosalyn Durant, ESPN executive vice president of programming & acquisitions, attempted justify the costs and arrangement ESPN has with MLB.
“It’s all about providing more value to MLB fans, more value to MLB.TV subscribers, providing them with more content and more options,” Durant said.
I don’t want more content and options. I just want to be able to be able to watch every Washington Nationals game. However, I might just bite the bullet and subscribe to the whole package so that if I want to watch a game involving two different teams (other than the Nationals), I’ll be able to do that.
NBC and Peacock will now broadcast the exclusive Sunday night games, as well as the wild-card postseason round. ESPN will still broadcast 30 weeknight games during the season.
There’s no doubt we now may have access to more games than we did when we were kids, but at least back then, if you had cable television you could watch all of your local teams games, home and away, without having to subscribe to an additional service.
TULSA BEACON RADIO
Tune in to “Tulsa Beacon Weekend” radio show every week, featuring interviews with local and national guests, talking about everything from politics to family issues. This week, my guest will be retired teacher and longtime basketball referee, Lawrence “Night Train” Lane. The show airs on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. CST on 970am KCFO.