Major League Baseball will take over production and distribution of all Arizona Diamondbacks locally distributed games starting today, July 18 when the Diamondbacks face the Atlanta Braves at 7:20 p.m. EDT /4:20 p.m. MST. The new arrangement, which gives fans the option to watch on television or stream digitally, expands the availability of Diamondbacks games from approximately 930 thousand homes to approximately 5.6 million homes in the Diamondbacks Home Television Territory. The increase of 4.7 million homes marks a +506% jump in reach.
Starting today, fans in the Diamondbacks home television territory will be able to watch Diamondbacks games on the following platforms:
As a result of the new arrangement, Diamondbacks fans can now obtain a new direct-to-consumer streaming subscription for $19.99 per month or $54.99 for the rest of the season by registering at MLB.TV. This offer is only for Diamondbacks fans in the Club’s Home Television Territory and is a separate service than the MLB.TV out of market package. By offering a direct-to-consumer streaming option on MLB.TV in the Club’s territory for the first time, MLB is able to lift the blackout for Diamondbacks games previously distributed on Bally Sports Arizona. Fans can also find more information about the availability of Diamondbacks games at dbacks.com/watch.
To make the transition as convenient as possible for fans, Diamondbacks games played through Sunday, July 23 will be available for free with MLB login at MLB.com, Dbacks.com and in the MLB apps on mobile and connected devices. The six games covered will include the Braves series as well as a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds.
“As Major League Baseball has proven with the Padres, we’re ready to produce and distribute games to fans, including Diamondbacks games starting today,” said Noah Garden, MLB Chief Revenue Officer. “While we’re disappointed that Diamond Sports Group failed to live up to their contractual agreement with another Club, we are taking this opportunity to reimagine the distribution model, remove blackouts on local games, improve the telecast, and expand the reach of Diamondbacks games by 4.7 million homes.”
“Through the power of Major League Baseball and the Diamondbacks, we are working to elevate the game broadcast experience for all Diamondbacks fans,” said Billy Chambers, MLB Executive Vice President, Local Media. “As we have done with the Padres, we will apply new technology, deliver better picture quality and work towards increasing access to better tell the story of the Diamondbacks each and every night.”
“This decision provides us with an opportunity to partner with Major League Baseball to produce high quality broadcasts of D-backs games on current platforms, expand access to include streaming options, and remove local blackouts that have been a fan frustration point for years,” said D-backs President, CEO, and General Partner Derrick Hall. “We have enjoyed our partnership with Bally Sports Arizona and thank them for the longtime partnership. But we look forward to providing unprecedented access to our exciting team moving forward, including a greatly expanded reach of new households.”
The Diamondbacks primary TV broadcasters Steve Berthiaume and Bob Brenly will continue to serve in their existing roles. Fans can continue to expect the highest quality Diamondbacks game broadcasts fueled by Major League Baseball’s expertise at producing and distributing live games. Major League Baseball most recently took over the production and distribution of all San Diego Padres games on May 31st, expanding the reach of Padres games in San Diego by +189%. As of the All-Star break, Padres games were watched by 578,000 unique people since MLB took over production and distribution. That is +14% higher than last year’s same time period (507,000 unique people) and +9.5% (528,000) over the month in ’23 before MLB took over.
Since 2009, Major League Baseball has owned and operated MLB Network, which has produced live games for 15 seasons, been critically praised for its content, and won 41 National Sports Emmy Awards across 13 different categories. Major League Baseball was the first professional sports league to live-stream a regular season game on August 26, 2002. Last season, baseball fans streamed more than 11 billion minutes of live baseball games and content on MLB.TV, a record for the service that it is on pace to break again in 2023.
