Major League Baseball has found a new partner to stream MLB Sunday Leadoff games. Starting May 19, Roku will become the latest streaming service to offer MLB games after they secured the exclusive multi-year rights for MLB Sunday Leadoff live games.
Roku is taking the place of fellow streaming service Peacock as the home for MLB Sunday Leadoff after the latter was unwilling to renew their deal with MLB for another season at the original $30 million per season price-point.
Despite their unwillingness to renew the original deal, Peacock remained interested in maintaining the ownership of MLB Sunday Leadoff. However, Roku ultimately won out as the new host of Sunday morning games, but the details of the new agreement are currently unknown.
Roku will offer Sunday MLB games for free on The Roku Channel, with the same airtime exclusivity window as the home for the first games of the day. In addition, paying subscribers of MLB.TV can watch all 18 matchups blackout free from anywhere in the world.
Chip Caray (play-by-play), Will Middlebrooks (analyst) and Alexa Datt (reporter) will be the inaugural broadcast team calling this Sunday’s game.
Roku is also implementing some new changes to the format with MLB Zone, which will serve as a hub for viewers to discover live and upcoming games, nightly recaps and highlights. As well as a fully programmed MLB FAST channel, with around the clock content such as including up-to-date
highlights, MLB Game of the Week replays, Minor League Baseball game replays, and other baseball content.
The Roku Channel is widely available to stream for free, no subscription or sign-up required. It also will provide viewers with a variety of ways to tune in on Sundays using on Roku devices or TVs, TheRokuChannel.com, the Roku app, Amazon Fire TVs, Samsung TVs and Google TVs and others.
“With free games available to anyone, MLB games on Roku will be widely accessible to fans,” MLB deputy commissioner of business and media Noah Garden said. “Since Roku serves as an entertainment gateway for millions, this partnership offers a valuable new promotional and distribution platform for MLB games and content.”
The Roku Channel reaches U.S. households with an estimated 120 million people (Q4 2023) and has grown to become a top 10 streaming app in the U.S., according to the Nielsen Gauge Report. The Roku Channel is the #3 app on the Roku platform by both reach and engagement (Q1 2024).
Roku’s approach as the new home of MLB Sunday Leadoff is clearly accessibility, which is huge shift from the subscription-based approach from Peacock. Between the ability for viewers to stream for free and the multitude of ways to watch, it is certainly a more consumer friendly business model and should lead to more success than Peacock’s attempt.
Dodgers on MLB Sunday Leadoff in 2024
The Dodgers are set to make their first appearance on MLB Sunday Leadoff when they take on the Arizona Diamondbacks towards the end of the regular season on Sept. 1. The Dodgers have yet to play a MLB Sunday Leadoff game at home as their previous two games on Peacock were on the road. This trend will not change as they will once again be on the road to take on the Diamondbacks in Arizona.
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