NBC Sports announced Comcast NBCUniversal’s Peacock will be the exclusive home to a new weekly Major League Baseball game taking place Sunday mornings, as part of a multi-year partnership.
It comes shortly after Apple TV+ debuted its Friday Night Baseball lineup, reaching a deal in March to stream a weekly doubleheader of live MLB games that are available in eight countries.
For Peacock, the streaming service is getting access to the new package featuring 18 games. The first is teed up for May 8, when the Chicago White Sox face off against the Boston Red Sox. The inaugural game will be live streamed by Peacock and simulcast on the NBC broadcast network, while the remaining 17 are exclusive to Peacock’s premium tier streaming service. The baseball games are all NBC Sports-produced.
The first six games start at 11:30 ET, while the last 12 start at noon ET. Peacock will also feature NBC Sports-produced pregame and post-game shows for each match up.
“We are excited to announce this multi-year partnership with Major League Baseball, which will exclusively offer Peacock subscribers a premium property in a unique time slot for the sport, while continuing NBC Sports’ rich baseball history,” said Pete Bevacqua, Chairman, NBC Sports.
In addition to the games, Peacock is going to exclusively house the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, which showcases top minor league prospects, and is played during All-Star Week in July at Dodger Stadium. The streamer also has plans fora new MLB hub where it features classic MLB games, documentaries from the MLB Film & Video Archive and on-demand highlight packages.
Rick Cordella, EVP and chief commercial officer of Peacock, in a statement highlighted the importance of delivering sports programming.
“Expanding Peacock’s premium live sports offering for customers remains a top priority and we are very excited to partner with MLB to bring a new, exclusive package of games to Peacock on Sunday mornings for baseball fans,” said Cordella. “We look forward to building upon NBC Sports’ long-standing relationship with Major League Baseball and providing streaming customers exclusive access to games on Peacock.”
Peacock has been working to bolster sports content as it aims to grow subscribers. This year it had Olympic Games coverage and the Super Bowl, as well as live sports coverage for the Premier League, Notre Dame Football, and NTT IndyCar Series, among others. It also has daily sports programming on the NBC Sports channel.
Just this week Peacock announced new leadership roles, including Shannon Willett as CMO, pulling executive talent from streaming rivals Netflix and Hulu to head up marketing and programming efforts.
And MLB’s Chief Revenue Officer pointed to the benefits of the new agreement with Peacock as the league looks to new platforms to reach fans.
“As consumption habits continue to evolve, it is important for us to provide new ways for fans who are outside the cable bundle to watch MLB games,” said Noah Garden, MLB CRO, in a statement. “This agreement marks an exciting new chapter to the extensive history of innovation between MLB and NBC Sports in delivering exciting baseball action to our fans.”
Here’s the full MLB Sunday morning schedule available on Peacock: