MLB announced the return of MLB.TV for the 2023 season, and the big highlight is the inclusion of Minor League Baseball games in the service.
Previously, Minor League games were available on a separate service called MiLB.TV. They’ve now been folded into the standard MLB.TV package, which runs $149.99 per season (or $24.99 per month).
Single team packages are also available, which include regular season games from one just MLB team but all of the other MLB.TV feature. That package runs $129.99 per season with no monthly plan available.
MLB Audio has also been renamed and revamped. Now called MLB At Bat, the package includes the audio broadcasts for all regular season MLB games and a significant video component. Live broadcasts of the available Minor League games has been looped into the new At Bat package, along with the library of original content. MLB At Bar runs $29.99 per season or $3.99 per month.
To compensate for the inclusion of Minor League games, pricing has increased by $10 apiece for each package. If you care about Minor League games, the price hike is no big deal, since MiLB.TV previously cost $49.99 per season and all that content is now folded into the MLB.TV package. If you don’t care about Minor League games, you’re paying an extra $10 for content you’re not going to consume. That’s a tough pill to swallow.
Here are some of the other new features from MLB’s story about the launch.
That isn’t all that’s new this season. Within the MLB mobile apps, a new Watch hub will be debuting for 2023 to make more video content available than ever — both live programming and video on demand for fans’ favorite teams and all of MLB.
Also coming to select connected devices this season is the big-screen Gameday mode, with advanced data and pitch-by-pitch details to immerse fans in the game.
The MLB.TV content library will also be packed with new episodes of original shows like “Baseball Zen” and “Carded,” new shows like “Inside Stitch,” baseball documentaries and more — with expanded access to that library for MLB At Bat subscribers, too.
In short, here’s what subscribers to MLB At Bat, the lowest tier, get.
- Live Minor League games
- Live MLB game audio
- MLB Big Inning (the whiparound show launched awhile back)
- Content library
- MLB Gameday
Single team subscribers get all that plus live games from the team of your choice, and full league subscribers get all that plus every non-national, non-locally blacked out regular season game.
This really is a lot of content (some might even call it an upsetting amount of content). But given the imminent bankruptcy of the Diamond Sports Group and the potential fallout, an MLB.TV subscription may be more essential for fans in 2023 than in prior seasons.
[MLB]
