What’s In NBC’s New MLB Deal? And Why Does NBC Want It?
By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – Buy Me a Coffee!
TV Answer Man, I enjoyed your article breaking down why Netflix and Major League Baseball just made a big deal. Can you do the same for NBC and Peacock? Thank you. – Carl, Pasadena, California.
Carl, Major League Baseball yesterday announced three new TV rights agreements with Netflix, NBC/Peacock and ESPN. Earlier today, we addressed the Netflix deal so let’s now take a look at the NBC agreement.
The NBC pact, which is for three years, will include MLB broadcast rights on NBC, Peacock and the new NBC Sports Network which debuted this week on YouTube TV. The rights will include a Sunday night game, a Sunday morning/early afternoon game on Peacock and the entire Wild Card round of the MLB playoffs. This will all start with the 2026 season.
In addition, the network will get the rights to live coverage of the MLB Draft, the All-Star Future game, and related league programming such as documentaries.
That’s a lot of baseball content, isn’t it?
Why Does NBC Want All That Baseball?
Comcast, which owns NBC and Peacock, has concluded that live sports is the key to survival in the programming wars. If you don’t have it, you’re done, particularly for a streaming service like Peacock which still trails other players such as Amazon’s Prime Video and Netflix. By lassoing so many games, both NBC and Peacock will give sports fans a memorable reason to watch and subscribe respectively. And there is no viewership group more rabid and reliable than sports fans. Couple the MLB coverage with NBC’s football, basketball and Olympic broadcasts, the network’s future is looking pretty, pretty promising.
Carl, I hope that answers your question. Happy viewing and stay safe!
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