What you need to know
- YouTube TV is keeping ESPN after its dispute with Disney, but the deal specifically excludes the MLB.TV package.
- Starting in 2026, MLB.TV will be integrated into the ESPN app, not offered through third-party distributors like YouTube TV.
- MLB’s new rights setup gives ESPN full control over out-of-market streaming, letting the league centralize pricing, distribution, and bundling.
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YouTube TV subscribers just wrapped up a two-week standoff with Disney that ended with what looked like a massive win: free access to ESPN Unlimited by the end of 2026. But baseball fans celebrating the deal could end up disappointed.
Puck's John Ourand reports that MLB.TV, a key sports add-on for cord-cutters, will not be included in the new bundle. It appears that while YouTube TV and Disney were ironing out their deal, Major League Baseball made a separate plan to move MLB.TV into the ESPN app starting in 2026.
That move lets MLB consolidate its out-of-market games under ESPN’s direct-to-consumer umbrella, rather than relying on third-party distributors like YouTube TV. So, even though YouTube TV now carries more ESPN content, it doesn’t gain access to MLB.TV.
This is a real setback for people who use YouTube TV to watch out-of-market baseball. MLB.TV has been an important part of sports streaming, and many subscribers thought that adding more ESPN channels to YouTube TV would also bring MLB’s package.
A deliberate power play?
Instead, YouTube TV gets the broader ESPN catalog, but the one piece baseball fans wanted most is now being tucked away behind ESPN’s own app. The technical reason is pretty simple: MLB’s new rights structure gives ESPN the keys to out-of-market streaming, letting the league manage distribution, pricing, and bundling more directly.
The bigger picture is that sports streaming is getting even more fragmented. A single subscription rarely covers everything anymore, and even highly publicized carriage deals come with fine print that can reshape what you actually get.
The next step is watching how MLB prices the new setup inside the ESPN app and whether it stays a standalone add-on or becomes part of a larger bundle.
Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether YouTube TV pursues a separate agreement for MLB.TV or leave the baseball die-hards to subscribe elsewhere. Either way, subscribers looking for complete MLB coverage will soon need more than just YouTube TV, no matter how many ESPN channels the service adds.
- Need an alternative to YouTube TV?
Hulu + Live TV, Disney Plus, and ESPN Plus: $89.99/month with free trial
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