Roku is in advanced talks with Major League Baseball (MLB) about a package of Sunday morning and early afternoon games, according to a report.
On Thursday, the Athletic’s Andrew Marchand said the two companies do not yet have a signed agreement, and cautioned the discussions could still fall through — but if a deal is reached, Roku would likely distribute Sunday baseball games through its own platform called The Roku Channel.
News that Roku was interested in securing live baseball rights was first reported last month by the Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint via X (formerly Twitter).
Some baseball media news: Roku has emerged as a suitor for the Sunday morning streaming package of games known as "Sunday Leadoff." NBCU's Peacock had the package for last two seasons but their deal expired and as yet there is no new home for the small package of games.
— Joe Flint (@JBFlint) April 23, 2024
Comcast’s NBC Universal was the previous distributor of Sunday morning baseball games, offering around two dozen live games per season via its Peacock streaming service. Peacock began streaming live games in May 2022.
Comcast is still interested in Sunday baseball, but is seeking to pay around one-third of the $30 million per season it previously committed to MLB, the Athletic said. It wasn’t clear how much Roku was willing to commit to land the package.
If MLB reaches a deal with Roku, it isn’t clear if the games will require a subscription or stream for free. The Roku Channel offers a free, ad-supported streaming app on Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV (Google TV), as well as a marketplace for premium subscription services on Roku devices.
A deal with MLB would be the first major live sports deal for Roku. It would join rivals Apple, Amazon and Google in pursuing live sports programming to bolster its streaming and video advertising businesses.
MLB currently offers national baseball games through Apple TV Plus, the Walt Disney Company’s ESPN, Fox Corporation and Warner Bros Discovery’s TNT Sports.
