Major League Baseball (MLB) has taken over production and distribution of the San Diego Padres’ games after Bally Sports, a subsidiary of the Sinclair Broadcast Group, failed to make a payment to the team. According to Noah Garden, MLB’s chief revenue officer, the move would remove blackouts of local games and broaden the reach of Padres games by more than two million homes. Padres games would be accessible for free via MLB.com, Padres.com and MLB’s streaming app until Sunday, following which in-market fans could watch by paying a discounted fee of $19.99 a month. The new arrangement would see the Padres’ primary TV broadcasters and radio broadcast crew retain their roles. Diamond Sports Group, which controls the broadcast rights of 14 teams, including Cincinnati, Texas, Arizona and Cleveland, went bankrupt in March.
