One day after announcing the launch of their own regional sports network, the Texas Rangers have revealed more details about the linear component of their 2025 broadcast plans.
The ball club has reached distribution deals with DirecTV, AT&T U-Verse, and Spectrum, according to details released on Tuesday. The newly announced Rangers Sports Network will appear on all three cable/satellite providers, with the club finalizing deals with “many other providers.”
The channel will go live for pregame studio coverage and stay on the air through the conclusion of the postgame show. It’s unclear whether any other content will be housed on the network in off hours.
In addition to airing games on its new network, the Rangers have also struck a deal with a number of local over-the-air affiliates to broadcast 15 games, mostly on Friday nights, across the club’s television territory. The Rangers have already announced 26 separate affiliates spanning from New Orleans to El Paso and everywhere in between. The first broadcast of the 15-game package will be on Friday, March 28th against the Boston Red Sox — the team’s second game of the season.
Earlier this month, the Rangers revealed that, in addition to the team’s linear presence, fans will be able to purchase a direct-to-consumer streaming service through Victory+ that will provide access to all of the team’s games for $100 per season.
In deciding to formulate their own plan rather than signing on with an already established regional sports network or joining the cohort of teams using the league for production and distribution, the Rangers will be the only MLB franchise to independently arrange three separate viewing options for their fans: cable/satellite, over-the-air broadcast, and streaming.
The hope, in producing and distributing games themselves, is that the combination of all three revenue streams will allow the franchise to maintain one of the league’s most expensive payrolls.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.