| Type | Regional sports syndicate |
|---|---|
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Major League Baseball |
| Key people | Billy Chambers (EVP of local media) |
MLB Local Media is a division ofMajor League Baseball that produces and distributes regional television broadcasts for various MLB teams. Established prior to the2023 season, and leveraging resources fromMLB Network, the division has primarily served teams who no longer had a broadcaster due to business issues affecting theirregional sports network rightsholders, including the then-ongoingbankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group (now Main Street Sports Group)—owner ofFanDuel Sports Network (formerly Bally Sports), and the dismantling ofAT&T SportsNet.
The division began operations in earnest on May 31, 2023, when it took over broadcast rights to theSan Diego Padres after Diamond missed a payment to the team; the new MLB productions would maintain the team-contracted staff (including commentators) and freelance employees who worked the team's telecasts onBally Sports San Diego. It would also take over rights to theArizona Diamondbacks later in the season, after Diamond opted out of its contract with the team. TheColorado Rockies were added in the2024 season after the closure ofAT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, and it began to produce the national packageMLB Sunday Leadoff forThe Roku Channel. It added the rights to theCleveland Guardians andMinnesota Twins beginning in the 2025 season, and took over production ofSeattle Mariners telecasts on behalf ofRoot Sports Northwest; it will take over distribution for the Mariners in 2026 with the planned closure of the channel.
MLB Local Media regional broadcasts are distributed viaad-hoc agreements with television providers in each team's home market, as well asover-the-top (OTT) subscription packages hosted by MLB.tv (branded under names such asPadres.tv andDBacks.tv), available separately from MLB.tv'sout-of-market service. Beginning in the2025 season, MLB Local Media also began to syndicate packages of broadcasts toterrestrial television stations in the teams' local markets.
On February 24, 2023,Warner Bros. Discovery, owners of theAT&T SportsNetregional sports networks, announced that it would leave the RSN business. At the time, AT&T SportsNet held the rights to three MLB teams: the Pittsburgh Pirates, Colorado Rockies and Houston Astros. The company sent messages to those teams, notifying them they had until March 31 to reach an agreement to take their rights back or acquire the networks. If no deal was made before the deadline, Warner Bros. Discovery stated that the channels would go intoChapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. Root Sports Northwest, a joint venture between Warner Bros. Discovery and the Seattle Mariners, was not affected by the announcement.[1][2][3] Despite the March deadline, Major League Baseball negotiated a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to keep the networks operational through the2023 Major League Baseball season.[4] The Houston and Pittsburgh networks would be sold to joint ventures of their respective teams,[5][6] while WBD would later sell its stake in Root Sports to the Mariners.[7]
On March 14, 2023,Diamond Sports Group, owners of theBally Sports regional sports networks, filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy.[8] The filing came 30 days after the company failed to make a $140M interest payment.[9] At the time, Diamond Sports held the rights to 14 MLB teams: the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers.
In January 2023, MLB hired Billy Chambers—a former executive of Bally Sports' predecessorFox Sports Networks—as its executive vice president of local media; Commissioner of BaseballRob Manfred stated that Chambers would "play an integral role in how we navigate the rapidly evolving local media landscape in the future".[10] In March 2023, MLB Local Media was formally established, with the hiring of formerSportsNet Pittsburgh executive Doug Johnson, and former Bally Sports executives Greg Pennell and Kendall Burgess; all three would report to Chambers. It was anticipated that the group could take over broadcasts of teams under AT&T SportsNet or Bally Sports on short notice if they are unable to continue their relationships with the teams;[11][12] MLB Local Media had been working withMLB Network staff to prepare for such a scenario, including adapting an existing MLB Network graphics package so that it could bereadily customized for individual teams.[13]
In May 2023, Diamond Sports was on the verge of missing a second straight rights payment to theSan Diego Padres, with a grace period expiring on the 31st; the rights to the team would revert to Major League Baseball on this date if the deadline were missed. Chambers and the MLB Local Media team were on standby for the Padres' series at theMiami Marlins, and began preparing its production on May 30, with only 24 hours' notice.[13][14] The new broadcasting arrangements would involvead-hoc agreements between MLB and individual television providers in the San Diego Padres' market, includingCox Cable (where games would air onYurView California; under its former name 4SD, the channel was the former home of the Padres prior to their agreement with Fox/Bally), as well as an over-the-top, in-market subscription package hosted on theMLB.tv platform known as Padres.tv. The service is a separate subscription from MLB.tv'sout-of-market service.[15][16][17]
The MLB-produced telecasts inherited the Padres' existing broadcast team and other team-contracted staff. Once the team returned to San Diego, MLB Local Media inherited the mobile production units and freelance employees that had been used by Diamond. MLB Local Media aimed for the broadcasts' technological aspects to be at parity with those of the previous Bally productions, while also increasing use of new technology such asshallow depth-of-field cameras. The inaugural broadcast featured a special introduction narrated by sportscaster and MLB Network contributorBob Costas.[13]
On June 22, 2023, Diamond announced its intention to reject its contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 30, 2023.[18] Diamond and the Arizona Diamondbacks later released a joint statement pushing back the hearing and agreeing to continue Diamond's broadcast of Diamondbacks' games. The contract was officially rejected on July 18. As with the Padres, MLB Local Media took over production.[19][20] Over the season, MLB Local Media began to deploy additional cameras, includinggimbal cameras, wirecams, and umpire cams, and also began to focus on increasing access to players in-game via microphones.[21]
For the2024 season, MLB Local Media announced they would also produce and distribute games for the Colorado Rockies, who formerly aired games on the now-defunctAT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain.[22] In addition, the broadcasts began to receive access to programming such asMinor League Baseball games and theMLB Big Inning whiparound show in the event of weather delays. The three teams received updates to their graphics to add additional team-specific elements, and move thescore bug to the bottom-right of the screen following feedback from directors.[21] In May 2024, MLB Local Media also began to oversee production of theMLB Sunday Leadoff package with its move toThe Roku Channel.[23]
On October 8, 2024, MLB Local Media announced that it would tentatively add the Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Guardians, and Minnesota Twins in the2025 season; all three teams' contracts with Diamond had expired at the end of the 2024 season.[24][25] Later in November, the Cincinnati Reds mutually agreed to end its agreement with Diamond andFanDuel Sports Network Ohio, and also signed with MLB Local Media for the 2025 season.[26]
On December 31, 2024, after Diamond offered to re-enter negotiations with the team earlier that month, the Brewers announced that they had opted to renew with Diamond instead and remain onFanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.[27][28] On January 13, 2025, the Reds similarly announced that it had renewed with Main Street, and would also remain on FanDuel Sports Network for 2025.[29]
MLB Local Media took over production ofSeattle Mariners games beginning with the 2025 season, although the telecasts initially continued to be broadcast as normal on Root Sports Northwest.[30] Towards the end of the 2025 season, the Mariners announced that Root Sports would shut down and MLB Local Media would take over distribution beginning in 2026.[31]
On March 26, 2025, the Diamondbacks, Padres, and Rockies announced that they would simulcast a package of games onTegna stations in each team's home market (KPNX,KFMB and its DT2 subchannel, and theKUSA/KTVD duopoly respectively);[32][33][34] the Twins would later announce a similar simulcast deal with Minneapolis-St. PaulFox stationKMSP-TV andGray Media stations in the Twins' outer markets, with the Guardians following with Tegna'sWKYC in Cleveland.[35][36] Ahead of the 2025 season, MLB announced thatProgressive Insurance would serve aspresenting sponsor for Diamondbacks and Twins broadcasts.[37][38]
As part of a restructured deal between MLB andESPN, ESPN would assume rights to local streaming for all teams under the MLB Local Media umbrella beginning with the2026 season.[39]
| Team | Distributor/Service | Over-the-air affiliates (limited games only) |
|---|---|---|
| San Diego Padres (2023–present) | Padres.tv presented byUC San Diego Health[40] | |
| Arizona Diamondbacks (2023–present) | DBacks.tv presented byProgressive[42] | |
| Colorado Rockies (2024–present) | Rockies.tv presented bybet365[45] | |
| Cleveland Guardians (2025–present) | CLEGuardians.tv presented by Progressive[48] | |
| Minnesota Twins (2025–present) | Twins.tv presented by Progressive[37] | |
| Seattle Mariners (2025–present) | Root Sports Northwest (2025) | – |