On Thursday, the Arizona Diamondbacks announced their games will be produced and distributed by MLB in 2024, as they were in the second half of the 2023 season.
The National League champions announced the launch of DBACKS.TV for this season, following in the footsteps of the Padres and Rockies, who announced their respective MLB in-market streaming services earlier this month. Just like the Padres and Rockies services, DBACKS.TV will cost $19.99 per month or $99.99 for the season in the team’s local market, with bundles including MLB.TV available for $39.99 per month or $199.99 for the season.
Local broadcast, satellite, or streaming availability without a subscription has yet to be announced, though negotiations are reportedly ongoing. Broadcast talent has also not been announced.
Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall talked with the Sports Business Journal about the MLB deal, and said that the team did talk with local broadcast networks (and a regional sports network [RSN], which is eyebrow-raising) before opting to stick with MLB for this season.
D-backs President and CEO Derrick Hall told SBJ on Thursday the club explored various other broadcast options — including over-the-air partners, a different RSN opportunity and some hybrid versions of the different options — before sticking with MLB. “The feedback we got from fans was very positive, [specifically] how much they like the opportunity to stream in-market now without there being a blackout,” he said. “We didn’t have that opportunity with any [provider] other than MLB.”
Hall also said the Diamondbacks talked with the Phoenix Suns and Gray Television, who partnered last year on a broadcast network deal. The Suns also launched their direct-to-consumer (DTC) service, Suns Live, in partnership with Kiswe. He claimed a partnership could be in the cards for the 2025 season.
I’m quite curious about that “different RSN opportunity.” Bally Sports Arizona, the team’s long-time RSN home, shut down in October after losing the Suns, Diamondbacks, and Coyotes in short order in 2023. Root Sports Rocky Mountain, which aired the Rockies, Vegas Golden Knights, and Utah Jazz, shut down at the end of the 2023 MLB season. Aside from a new one starting from scratch, I don’t know what other RSN could have stepped in. The Colorado-based Altitude has no local reach into Arizona, nor does Bally Sports Southwest SoCal, or West. That takes care of all of the RSNs reasonably close to Phoenix, so if not any of those, I can’t think of a possibility.
Anyway, it’s somewhat surprising that the team, who won the NL pennant four months ago, will stick with MLB distribution in 2024. That recent success is a strong selling point and could lead to a spike in subscriptions. The team’s two-plus month run last year with MLB could also help fans be more familiar with the process and give them a floor to build on for 2024, unlike with the 103-loss Rockies, debuting on MLB platforms this season.
