Do you want to watch Major League Baseball before lunch? If NBCUniversal completes a deal with the league to carry 18 games on its Peacock streaming service, that will be an option. A person with knowledge of the deal said on Friday that the deal was done just after noon.
The games would only be available to subscribers of Peacock. The news was reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The games would start airing on the streaming service in May, likely on the East Coast. Neither NBCUniversal nor M.L.B. would comment.
M.L.B. reached a deal with Apple this week to stream Friday night games on Apple TV+, another exclusive deal that is likely to buoy interest in a streaming service but could prove a challenge to baseball fans used to having access to games as part of their TV.
The number of streaming services has exploded, and many are turning to live sports to attract subscribers. Peacock has exclusive deals with some of the world's best sports teams. Even a small number of exclusive baseball games would give Peacock a foothold and could help boost subscriptions. At the end of the year, Peacock had nine million paid subscribers and 24 million active accounts.
Major-league baseball games are shown on cable channels owned by Disney and WarnerMedia.
The start of the 2022 baseball season was delayed due to a labor battle. The players union and the league agreed to a new contract on Thursday. The opening day is April 7.
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