MLB IN FLUX: TEAMS ON THE MOVE

The past year has been full of changes for Major League Baseball, yet one constant is that DIRECTV remains committed to local MLB teams and the fans who support them. In fact, DIRECTV continues to provide more live local baseball than any other content distributor, offering local games for 28 of 29 U.S. franchises, enabling fans direct access to their favorite team. In addition, Canada’s Toronto Blue Jays and the Philadelphia Phillies remain available within the DIRECTV ecosystem via the MLB EXTRA INNINGS package.

An MLB national partner since 1990, ESPN recently opted out of its national rights agreement a few seasons early, meaning this 2025 season will be its last for MLB Sunday Night Baseball, the midseason All-Star Homerun Derby, and the Wildcard Round of playoffs that begin the postseason. After this year, those events will move together or separately to other networks and video distributors.

On the local front, several regional sports networks have either changed hands, struggled to continue, gone away completely or seen more of their past games migrate to over-the-air broadcast station groups or streaming alternatives, increasingly created by the teams themselves. Despite all this shuffling and ongoing change, DIRECTV remains the industry’s sports leader, offering MLB and other sports fans a single destination to see the most popular teams and events, and, when delivered satellite-free, integrated into one of the best user interfaces available.

“We continue to believe in the unique power of local sports to consistently engage the most passionate fans,” said Rob Thun, Chief Content Officer at DIRECTV. “It’s more important than ever to reward sports fans for their deep loyalty, while also providing others the choice and control over whether they still want to pay the rising cost of admission to see nearly every game.”

In the months leading up to this new MLB season, DIRECTV has been rapidly breaking down the traditional cable bundle to enable sports fans and other consumers to claim more choice, control, and value for themselves.

Rather than allow content providers to keep forcing consumers to overpay for channels they’ve never wanted to get the ones that they do, DIRECTV has been forging new agreements with The Walt Disney Co., NBCUniversal, Fox Corp., Warner Bros. Discovery, TelevisaUnivision, Major League Baseball, and many others to create leaner and lower-priced “skinny” bundles, called Genre Packs, which fans can choose to purchase separately or add together to meet their own personal interests.

Available to satellite-free DIRECTV homes, the very first, called MySports, launched in January in time for the NFL Playoffs, and caters to diehard sports fans with a wide array of 25+ national sports channels, league and conference-owned networks, and local broadcast stations with top sports properties.  The popular ESPN+ streaming service was recently added at no additional cost, allowing fans of all sports to watch for $69.99 a month.

For baseball fans, MySports includes all the MLB fan favorites like ESPN, FOX, FS1, TBS, TNT and MLB Network, and also provides the most important collegiate baseball via ACC Network, SEC Network, Big Ten Network, among its many other services.

And now, just in time for Opening Day and the new season, DIRECTV is offering a new MyHome Team Add-on to MySports to enable local fans of such popular MLB teams as the Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs and White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Florida Marlins, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, and Texas Rangers to add live coverage of their favorite home team on top of the MySports Genre Pack for an extra $19.99 a month.

WHERE TO WATCH YOUR LOCAL MLB TEAM THIS SEASON

DIRECTV is hard at work with other teams like the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros, New York Mets and Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, and Seattle Mariners to allow their fans all these same benefits. DIRECTV expects to add several more teams to MyHome Team Mini Pack via future rights agreements.

In the time since the Los Angeles Dodgers claimed the World Series crown and the start of this new season, four MLB teams moved from former FanDuel or NBC Sports regional sports networks to new homes, all of which are already available on DIRECTV in time for the new season.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX

The White Sox moved to the new Chicago Sports Network from their former home at NBC Sports Chicago, and DIRECTV is still the only major provider to have added that network in the White Sox’s five-state home territory. Any satellite, satellite-free streaming, or U-verse customers who received NBC Sports Chicago before are now getting Chicago Sports Network—and in the same channel position as before. The Southsiders remain available to DIRECTV satellite and streaming customers on Ch. 665 and to U-verse subscribers on Ch. 1741 (high-definition) and Ch. 741 (standard definition).

CLEVELAND GUARDIANS

The Guardians moved their local games from FanDuel Sports Ohio (Bally Sports Ohio) to the new MLB Cleveland Guardians channel. DIRECTV was the first to launch new team-centric channels operated by Major League Baseball, including ones featuring the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, and San Diego Padres, and is the lynchpin to the new Guardians pregame, live game, and postgame coverage. Starting this season, the Guardians are available to DIRECTV satellite and streaming customers on Ch. 662 and to U-verse subscribers on Ch. 1736 (high-definition) and 736 (standard definition).

MINNESOTA TWINS

The Twins moved their games from FanDuel Sports North (Bally Sports North) to the new MLB Minnesota Twins channel. Like the Guardians, DIRECTV will now provide Twins fans with all pregame, live game, and postgame coverage for the American League Central competitors on Ch. 668-3 (satellite) and Ch. 668 (streaming).

TEXAS RANGERS

Rather than follow the Guardians and Twins to new MLB-operated channels, the 2023 World Series champion Texas Rangers struck out on their own, forming the new Rangers Sports Network. DIRECTV is one of two major providers (with Charter Spectrum) to offer Rangers fans that new channel and is the only major provider to feature all the upcoming Rangers games for fans across not only Texas but also Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and eastern New Mexico. The Rangers are also making some games available via over-the-air broadcast stations this season, and DIRECTV will offer those to DIRECTV satellite and satellite-free streaming customers via the stations themselves or on Ch. 677 with the rest of the Rangers telecasts. U-verse subscribers throughout the region can watch the Rangers on Ch. 1752 (high-definition) and Ch. 752 (standard definition) throughout the season.

MLB Teams on the Move

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