ESPN and MLB to end their TV partnership

ESPN and MLB are planning to end their decades-long relationship after the 2025 season.

Transcript

00:00Major League Baseball and ESPN are pulling the plug on their relationship after the 2025 season.

00:06The two sides could not agree on a new TV rights deal after the current seven-year, $550 million annual deal expires.

00:15According to an MLB memo obtained by The Athletic, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred seemed to be taking a hard stand.

00:25While ESPN has stated they would like to continue to have MLB on their platform,

00:30particularly in light of the upcoming launch of their DTC product, we do not think it's beneficial

00:37for us to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform. DTC refers to direct-to-consumer,

00:44which is media speak for a streaming service. Live sports programming is a hot commodity in

00:50the evolving media landscape, where streaming media have an upper hand on traditional cable

00:55TV channels. With consumers ditching expensive pay-TV packages for cheaper streaming options,

01:02sports leagues like the MLB are following the money. The league already has other media partners

01:08who are willing to pay up and has smaller deals with Apple and Roku. Amazon and Netflix are

01:13potential future partners as well. MLB also has the option of expanding its relationship with its

01:19other traditional media partner, Fox. There also could be potential deals with Comcast's NBC and

01:26Paramount's CBS. ESPN is a unit of Walt Disney. Let's talk financial markets now. UnitedHealthcare

01:34is weighing on the Dow and the S&P 500. The health insurance company is under investigation by the

01:40Justice Department over its Medicare billing practices, according to the Wall Street Journal.

01:45Meanwhile, sales of previously owned homes dropped 4.9 percent in January.

01:50The median sales price jumped to $396,900. And the latest consumer sentiment reading

01:58isn't good. Consumers are worried higher tariffs will impact their buying power.

02:04That'll do it for your daily briefing from the New York Stock Exchange.

02:07I'm Conway Giddens with the Street.

02:15you