YouTube wants to take you out to the ballgame.
The online video giant and Major League Baseball have struck a deal, giving the Google-owned company exclusive streaming rights to 13 games this season in the U.S. And Canada. That means no TV network or streaming service will carry the games, nor will the MLB.tv subscription streaming service.
The schedule of games and dates will be announced in the next few weeks.
It’s a big coup for YouTube, which is a longtime partner of MLB and is working to drive consumer awareness to its offerings beyond funny video shorts and clips from TV shows and movies.
The deal is similar to the one Facebook scored last year, when it exclusively carried 25 MLB games. Last year, YouTube was the exclusive home to several Major League Soccer games featuring the Los Angeles Football Club and the Seattle Sounders.
“YouTube is an enormously popular video platform with impressive global reach and has served as a great environment for baseball fans to consume the game they love,” said Chris Tully, MLB executive vice president of global media. “With the media consumption habits of our fans continuing to evolve, MLB is committed both to expanding our roster of national broadcast platforms and to presenting live games in new ways to our fans.”
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