Roku Secures Exclusive Rights to MLB’s Sunday Leadoff Games
By Reginald Dash
Roku has clinched the exclusive multiyear rights for Major League Baseball’s Sunday Leadoff live games, previously held by NBCUniversal’s Peacock.
Commencing May 19, Roku will stream Sunday MLB games for free on the Roku Channel. Additionally, the company will debut a new MLB Zone aimed at assisting baseball enthusiasts in discovering live and upcoming games, nightly recaps, highlights, a fully programmed MLB free, ad-supported streaming TV channel, and other content available across the Roku platform. The game broadcasts will be produced in collaboration with MLB.
On most Sundays during the MLB season, Roku will serve as the destination for the league’s initial games of the day, with an exclusive window during airtime. Moreover, MLB.TV paying subscribers will enjoy blackout-free access to all 18 matchups worldwide.
Roku holds global rights to the MLB Sunday Leadoff games and intends to stream games in Canada and Mexico, in addition to the U.S., throughout the season.
Charlie Collier, president of Roku Media, commented, “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. 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 be available for streaming every Sunday on the Roku Channel and therokuchannel.com from May 19 to Sept. 15, 2024.
Noah Garden, MLB deputy commissioner, business, and media, stated, “With free games available to anyone, MLB games on Roku will be widely accessible to fans. 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 series kicks off on May 19 with the St. Louis Cardinals hosting the Boston Red Sox. Each week’s broadcast teams will be market-focused, with Chip Caray (play-by-play), Will Middlebrooks (analyst), and Alexa Datt (reporter) calling this Sunday’s game.
Other highlighted matchups include the Baltimore Orioles’ Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson facing off 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 taking on the L.A. Dodgers with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman (Sept. 1).
