MLB is offering a slightly cheaper way to stream Phillies games

At the beginning of the week, there was no way for sports fans in and around Philadelphia to stream Phillies games without a cable subscription.

Now there are two.

One day after NBC announced Phillies, 76ers, and Flyers games are streaming on Peacock for an added fee, MLB is making Phillies games available to stream in-market through MLB.TV.

MLB’s service will run $24.99 a month, about $8 cheaper than the least-expensive way to subscribe to NBC Sports Philadelphia through Peacock, which costs $32.94 a month ($7.99 for Peacock Premium and $24.95 for the NBC Sports Philadelphia add-on).

If you only care about streaming Phillies games and aren’t interested in the tanking Sixers or rebuilding Flyers, MLB’s plan makes a lot of sense. You’ll still get NBC Sports Philadelphia’s broadcast during the games — featuring Tom McCarthy, John Kruk, Rubén Amaro Jr., and Ben Davis — as well as pre- and postgame coverage.

MLB is also offering the option to bundle in-market Phillies games with a subscription to MLB.TV’s package of out-of-market games for $44.99 a month. As with Peacock, exclusive national Phillies games on ESPN, Fox, Apple TV+, and Roku aren’t included in MLB’s package.

NBC Sports Philadelphia will also remain available on YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, and Fubo, which each now run more than $82 a month.

Phillies’ opening day is March 27 against the Washington Nationals, with ace Zack Wheeler on the mound. The Phillies home opener at Citizens Bank Park is a few days later, on March 31 against the Colorado Rockies.

In addition to the Phillies, NBC’s deal with MLB includes in-market streaming for two other teams — the San Francisco Giants and the Athletics, who are playing in West Sacramento the next three seasons until their new stadium is ready in Las Vegas. Thanks to the deal, MLB now offers in-market streaming rights for 10 MLB clubs, including the New York Mets through SNY and the Los Angeles Dodgers via SNLA+.

As cord cutters continue to shed their cable subscriptions, MLB is trying to consolidate local TV and streaming rights ahead of 2028, when its current national TV deals expire at the end of the season. The league is hoping to bundle as many teams as it can and either sell it directly as a streaming plan or make a deal with a companies like Amazon, Apple, or Netflix to stream the games, according to a source with knowledge of the league’s plans.

The league is also considering bundling its domestic and international media rights, which also expire in 2028, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told The Athletic. MLB has traditionally split up its packages by country, including its national package in the United States, but putting them together could help attract one of the large streaming platforms already serving audiences here and abroad.

“Particularly in a digital space, we’re going to sell the rights where we get the best deal,” Manfred said.

Whatever happens to the national rights, in-market Phillies games should remain on NBC Sports Philadelphia for the foreseeable future. Not only does the networks’ $2.5 billion deal with the Phillies run through 2041, the team owns a 25% stake in NBC Sports Philadelphia.