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Report: MLB games could shift from ESPN to NBC

The Sunday evening games may find a new home on NBC and Peacock — but one other party close to Comcast is also interested.

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mkeys@thedesk.net

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Baseballs. (Photo by Jose Francisco Morales via Unsplash)
(Photo by Jose Francisco Morales via Unsplash)

Comcast’s NBC Universal has approached Major League Baseball (MLB) about taking over nationally-televised games that will stop airing on ESPN later this year, according to a report published on Wednesday.

The report, from the Wall Street Journal, said NBC Universal executives have submitted an offer to take over the Sunday evening broadcasts that ESPN will stop offering at the end of the current season.

The offer is “significantly less” than what ESPN and its parent companies, the Walt Disney Company and Hearst Television, are currently paying for the Sunday package of games, the Journal said. Specific financial terms were not revealed, but the Journal affirmed that NBC Universal is not seeking international or radio rights.

In February, ESPN informed MLB it would walk away from its multi-year broadcast deal earlier than expected. The network offered to renegotiate the deal with a commitment of $200 million annually, the Journal reported at the time, but MLB declined, feeling the payment undervalued the package of games.

NBC is not the only one interested in the games: Executives from Versant have also pursued the package, which could air on cable channels currently owned by Comcast that are being spun out later this year. The discussions between Versant and MLB executives are separate from talks being held with NBC Universal, even though the two companies currently share common ownership.

If NBC or Versant emerge as the winner of the rights, the MLB games would air on Sunday nights in the same time slots as the games that currently air on ESPN.

NBC already has a long-standing business relationship with MLB: Its four regional sports channels carry locally-televised games from teams in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston and West Sacramento, and Comcast-owned streaming service Peacock previously offered Sunday morning lead-off games until those rights moved to Roku last year.

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About the Author:

Matthew Keys

Matthew Keys is the award-winning founder and editor of TheDesk.net, an authoritative voice on broadcast and streaming TV, media and tech. With over ten years of experience, he's a recognized expert in broadcast, streaming, and digital media, with work featured in publications such as StreamTV Insider and Digital Content Next, and past roles at Thomson Reuters and Disney-ABC Television Group.
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