Major League Baseball (MLB) is allowing fans of the sport to access their pay television channel MLB Network without a dedicated cable or satellite subscription for the first time.
Starting this week, the MLB Network is available through the MLB app for phones, tablets and most smart TV platforms for $6 per month, allowing fans to stream live out-of-market games offered by the channel as well as the MLB Network’s comprehensive coverage of professional baseball. A bundle that includes MLB Network with MLB At Bat is also being offered for $7 per month.
“As the way viewers consume content continues to evolve, we are excited for baseball fans to have this new option to experience MLB Network through direct-to-consumer streaming,” Bill Morningstar, the President of MLB Network, said in a statement. ” Going this direction allows us to significantly expand our reach to fans and gives them more choices on how they want to watch the Network’s Emmy Award-winning coverage.”
The streaming version of MLB Network will still black out games from a customer’s local baseball team when those games are offered on the channel. Subscribers of MLB.TV will have access to MLB Network as part of their plan for free through the rest of the current season, the league said.
The availability of MLB Network over streaming gives former cable and satellite customers the option to purchase the channel on its own, without having to subscribe to a costly streaming pay TV alternative. Customers of YouTube TV — which has not offered MLB Network in its line-up since last year — now also have a way to watch the channel without switching services.
Cable, satellite and streaming customers with MLB Network as part of their plan will still be able to stream the channel through the MLB app by authenticating their pay TV subscription through the app, the MLB said.
MLB Network is majority-owned by the MLB, with TNT Sports, Charter Communications, Comcast’s NBC Sports Group and Cox Communications holding minority stakes in the venture.
