Turner Sports to Pay $3.75 Billion in New Baseball Rights Deal

(Bloomberg) -- AT&T Inc. extended its media-rights deal with Major League Baseball, agreeing to pay a significant premium to continue airing the sport on its cable channel TBS.

AT&T’s Turner Sports will lay out about $3.75 billion, or about $535 million a year, for the rights over seven years, starting in 2022, according to a person familiar with the matter. That’s 65% more than their current agreement, which is worth $325 million a year.

The large increase is a sign of how vital sports have become to media companies as one of the few draws for large live audiences. That helps attract advertisers and ensure that cable networks still can charge fees to pay-TV providers.

While AT&T is paying more, it sees more value in its new deal. The agreement doubles the number of regular-season games on TBS and moves to a Tuesday prime-time broadcast from a Sunday-afternoon package. It also gives more digital rights to its sports website, Bleacher Report.

In 2018, Fox Corp. and Major League Baseball extended their separate rights deal for seven more years through the 2028 season for a reported $5.1 billion.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.