Hulu’s subscription TV service has added MLB Network to its core channel lineup in time for the league’s Opening Day in 2024. This will provide customers with “more than 100 nationally televised MLB games throughout the season” as well as the network’s original programming and studio programming.
YouTube TV, one of Hulu’s main competitors with Live TV, abruptly abandoned MLB Network early last year after being unable to reach a new transmission deal with Major League Baseball. With no return announced ahead of today’s opener, it looks like YTTV subscribers will have to wait another year.
Perhaps that’s not surprising after the company spent $2 billion to buy the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket. Something had to be sacrificed for the deal, and football now draws more viewers than baseball. But MLB Network is still offered by most of YouTube’s competitors, including the aforementioned Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and Fubo. The latter service also just added the YES Network so subscribers can watch New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets games.
By the time Opening Day rolls around in 2025, the landscape for live sports may look very different. Earlier this year, ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery Channel announced plans to form a sports streaming giant that would include ESPN, TBS, TNT, ABC, FOX and many other channels. (Disney owns both ESPN and Hulu.) The move has drawn the attention of the Justice Department, which will reportedly review the proposal to see whether it would harm competition or make consumers worse off. Fubo strongly opposed the plan and even sued the companies involved to ensure it was not disadvantaged.
The Hulu with Live TV package costs $76.99 per month, which also includes Disney Plus and ESPN Plus (all with ads), or $89.99 per month if you want the ad-free experience of the other included services.