Major League Baseball has settled a lawsuit filed against the North American competition by fans unhappy about restrictions imposed on watching their favourite teams on television.
In a statement on its website, the league only confirmed that a settlement had been reached and did not disclose further details.
The Associated Press news agency reported that, as part of the settlement, MLB agreed to expand the range of online packages for games and offer lower prices. Previously, viewers who did not live in their favourite team’s home market had to acquire access to coverage of every game included in the nationwide plan.
Lawyers for the fans who filed the class action lawsuit in 2012 said MLB would offer unbundled online packages for the next five years, including single-team packages for $84.99 (€78.70) next season – a 23-per-cent drop in price in comparison with the cheapest package currently. The league-wide package is also set to drop to $109.99 per season.
Additionally, MLB agreed to provide live local team coverage over the internet for pay-television subscribers by the start of the 2017 campaign.
NBC Sports’ Regional Networks division told the Associated Press it was “pleased with the settlement and look forward to partnering with Major League Baseball to enable our regional sports networks' offering of live in-market streaming of games to subscribers”.