Ahead of MLB Opening Day, Fubo is incorporating MLB.TV as an add-on option for its live streaming TV lineup.
Fubo (which newly rebranded, dropping the ‘TV’ from its logo), said MLB.TV will launch on the streaming service in the coming days, before the start of Major League Baseball’s Opening Day on March 30. However, the network doesn’t come free. Fubo users will need to pay $24.99 per month to add MLB.TV to their existing channel plan. For that price Fubo users will get access to MLB.TV, which offers every out of market MLB game live, and will also be able to stream games on-demand through Fubo’s Lookback feature.
The addition comes competing virtual MVPD YouTube TV dropped MLB Network from its live streaming TV lineup just ahead of Spring Training when the two couldn’t reach a new carriage deal despite several months of negotiations.
“With today's MLB.TV partnership, Fubo now offers the most baseball coverage of any streaming company, on top of our already leading position for local sports coverage and our robust NFL and college sports packages," said David Gandler, co-founder and CEO of Fubo, in a statement. On the baseball front, in addition to MLB.TV, Fubo also carries MLB Network, MLB Strike Zone, regional sports networks, local broadcast and national sports networks ESPN and FS1.
He went on to say that Fubo’s sports-first focus differentiates the service from other vMVPDs, attracting subscribers.
“We are more confident than ever in our market position and believe that consumers will continue to choose Fubo as we head into baseball season," Gandler added.
After Fubo added Bally Sports regional sports networks it tacked on an RSN fee for each subscriber ranging from $11 to 14 per month, alongside a base price bump of $5 per month. The price increase marked Fubo’s largest ever and went into effect in early February. It’s not the only TV service raising prices. YouTube TV this month increased the price of its vMVPD service by $8 per month, marking its first price hike in three years.
Speaking on the company’s fourth quarter earnings call in late February, Gandler said the company has been “very happy with retention” although it was only a few weeks in to the new price increase. He added that “things are looking very good and we’re very confident about continuing to drive growth double-digits ex-World Cup 2023.”
Fubo is aiming to reach 2 million subscribers in 2025, having hit 1.44 million in North America at the end of Q4.