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Roku Inks Deal for Exclusive MLB Sunday Games Package, Streaming for Free in U.S. and Elsewhere
Roku has landed exclusive multiyear rights for Major League Baseball’s Sunday Leadoff live games, a package previously with NBCUniversal’s Peacock.
Starting May 19, Roku will stream Sunday MLB games for free on the Roku Channel. The company also will launch a new MLB Zone to help baseball fans find live and upcoming games, nightly recaps, highlights, a fully programmed MLB free, ad-supported streaming TV channel, and other content across the Roku platform. The game telecasts will be produced in collaboration with MLB.
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On most Sundays throughout the MLB season, Roku will be the home for the league’s first games of the day, with an exclusivity window during airtime as well. In addition, paying subscribers of MLB.TV can watch all 18 matchups blackout-free from anywhere in the world.
Roku has worldwide rights to the MLB Sunday Leadoff games and in addition to the U.S. plans to also stream games in Canada and Mexico during the season.
“As television programming, live sports, and the leagues have fragmented across networks, apps, and multiple packages, Roku — home to all of them — plays an increasingly crucial role for viewers and advertisers,” said Charlie Collier, president of Roku Media, in a statement. “With this deal, Roku delivers free, live, weekly Sunday baseball and 24/7 baseball curation, destinations and channels across our platform. The lead-in to all of television is now the lead-off for Sunday baseball as well. It’s a terrific partnership.”
MLB Sunday Leadoff will stream every Sunday on the Roku Channel and therokuchannel.com from May 19 to Sept. 15, 2024.
“With free games available to anyone, MLB games on Roku will be widely accessible to fans,” said Noah Garden, MLB deputy commissioner, business and media. “Since Roku serves as an entertainment gateway for millions, this partnership offers a valuable new promotional and distribution platform for MLB games and content.”
Roku estimates that the Roku Channel reached U.S. households with an estimated 120 million people as of the fourth quarter of 2023.
The matchups start on May 19 with the St. Louis Cardinals hosting the Boston Red Sox. Broadcast teams each week will be market-focused, with Chip Caray (play-by-play), Will Middlebrooks (analyst), and Alexa Datt (reporter) calling this Sunday’s game.
Other featured games include the Baltimore Orioles’ Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson going head-to-head against the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Juan Soto (July 14) and the defending National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks with reigning National League Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll facing the L.A. Dodgers with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman (Sept. 1).
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