The Marquee Sports Network is the latest regional sports network offering a direct-to-consumer offering.
Per a release from the RSN, Marquee’s DTC service will cost $19.99 per month and will include live games, studio programming, and offseason coverage for fans in the Chicago Cubs’ viewership footprint.
Marquee is also launching a new app in concert with the new DTC service.
Here’s a list of the content available for DTC subscribers, via Marquee’s release.
- More than 200 live Cubs-affiliated games each year, including regular season games (excluding nationally televised broadcasts), spring training matchups and minor league contests
- Offseason Cubs coverage, including Cubs 360 studio shows, press conferences with new Cubs signees and breaking news coverage, plus coverage of MLB’s Winter Meetings and the annual Cubs Convention
- In-season Cubs specials, including expanded Opening Day coverage, MLB Draft coverage and more
- Cubs-related historical programming, including classic games, documentaries, magazine specials and more
- Original programming, including The Reporters, Class is in Session with Doug Glanville and much more
This is just the latest DTC service released by a network offering live local baseball to fans. Bally Sports+ launched last summer and offers five MLB teams, costing the same $19.99/month as Marquee’s DTC service. NESN launched NESN360 before Bally Sports+ went live at a pricy $29.99/month or $329.99/year. At the start of this season, YES went live with its DTC offering at $24.99/month or $239.99/year. North of the border, Canada has offered SportsNet Now as a DTC option since 2016, which includes Blue Jays games, and currently costs $19.99/month or $179.99/year for the standard package.
In February of 2022, the Cubs began discussing a DTC option for Marquee. Last month, Cubs President of Business Operations Crane Kenney said they were aiming for July after the All-Star Break for the service to launch, and here we are.
With the launch of Marquee’s DTC service, we’re now at 11 of the 30 MLB teams covered, including the MLB-produced packages in San Diego and Arizona (which also cost $19.99/month). We’ll see which team is the next domino to fall.
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.