Twins.TV Negotiations Down to Wire
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Twins.TV Negotiations Down to Wire

Streaming is a done deal, but non-cord-cutters await cable channels.
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[Editor’s note: On Thursday, March 27, the Twins announced they have reached an agreement to air games with most major cable providers in the Minnesota market.]

It’s a whole new broadcasting world for fans of the Minnesota American League Ball Club dba the Twins. Beginning this month, fans can purchase in-region streaming of games, which had never been available. While Wild and Timberwolves stream through their broadcast partner, Fan Duel Sports (formerly Bally’s), the Twins chose to cut ties with the regional sports network and take broadcasts in-house, and much ink has been spilled thereof.

But as fans reengage with baseball this week (the season starts Thursday, for the Twins in St. Louis), the non-streaming set is realizing their cable systems don’t yet carry Twins.TV. Major League Baseball, the Twins’ production partner for its new broadcasts, is handling the negotiations with local cable outlets and let’s just say they are progressing typically, meaning not much is settled. (The Twins, which remain for sale, have only announced a few small outlets in greater Minnesota.)

These carriage agreements will assign Twins.TV an SD and HD channel on most systems and negotiations include what pricing tiers the channel will be available on and how much money will change hands between team and broadcast provider. Industry sources say these negotiations don’t really get much traction until the parties see lost broadcasts (and their attendant lost revenue) on the horizon. Twins executive Dave St. Peter told TCB that the team expects a slew of announcements over the course of the week and that folks should not worry too much about a repeat of last year’s lengthy Comcast blackout. St. Peter says he’s “highly optimistic” of dedicated channels on all the major providers by Thursday.

Until then, for cable/satellite users, there are two upcoming Twins broadcasts: the Monday spring training game versus Pittsburgh will be rebroadcast on MLB Network Tuesday at 3 a.m. CDT, and the Tuesday spring training game versus Colorado will be simulcast on MLB Network at 12 p.m. CDT. Twins.TV’s premiere in-season broadcast is Thursday at 1 p.m. from St. Louis.