Friday night baseball
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AppleTV’s maligned Friday Night Baseball broadcasts are close to being toast. According to reports, the MLB’s new broadcasting deal will not feature AppleTV as one of its partners.
According to Kendall Baker of Yahoo Sports, while nothing is finalized, Major League Baseball’s new broadcast rights deals are “close to being done.”
Currently, MLB games are carried by local broadcasters, with national games being shown on Fox/Fox Sports 1, TBS/TruTV, ESPN/ABC, and MLB Network, with Friday Night Baseball games streaming exclusively on AppleTV.
MLB’s new broadcast deal, however, would see AppleTV out and NBC/Peacock in, taking over the Friday night slot, in addition to an exclusive Sunday game and a Wild Card series.
Additionally, MLBTV will reportedly be sold to ESPN — who just recently purchased NFL Network and NFL RedZone from the NFL for 10% equity in the network, valued at around $2 billion — while Netflix will become the streaming home of the home run derby.ML
MLB’s new broadcasting deals “close to being done,” AppleTV is out, NBC is in
Nothing is finalized (which of course means things could still change) but sounds close.
I’ll have more in tomorrow’s newsletter. Sign up link in bio (it’s free)
— Kendall Baker (@kendallbaker) August 19, 2025
One of the results of this move that’s gaining early attention from fans is the fact that it would position NBC to have year-round Sunday night sports programming with Sunday Night Football, Sunday Night Basketball, and Sunday Night Baseball.
Baseball fans will also be glad to be rid of Friday Night Baseball, which has been widely derided by fans since it debuted in 2022.