Brewers TV news: MLB takes over broadcast rights, how to watch, effect on payroll

Securing a broadcast deal for the 2026 season has been something of a nightmare for the Milwaukee Brewers and several teams around baseball. Due to the ongoing financial struggles of Main Street Sports Group, the parent company of Fan Duel Sports Network Wisconsin (FDSNW) and several other Regional Sports Networks (RSN) responsible for broadcasting and distributing games of many MLB teams, questions arose about whether or not the Brewers would stick with their RSN for the 2026 season or find a new alternative.

At the onset of the offseason, back in November, the Brewers renewed their contract with Main Street and FDSNW for the 2026 season, but after reports surfaced about the media conglomerate's missed payments to several other MLB teams, Milwaukee backed out of the deal. A few weeks ago, a report surfaced that Main Street had offered the Brewers and a few other MLB teams three-year contracts to try and salvage their company and continue broadcasting games, but the contract seemed risky given the company's recent financial struggles, and the Brewers have now found a safer alternative.

Announced by the team just moments ago, Major League Baseball will produce and distribute Brewers games in 2026. Independent sports correspondent John Ourand revealed on the social media platform X that the Brewers aren't the only team who will turn to MLB for broadcasting duties in 2026.

As revealed by Ourand, the Brewers, Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, and Cincinnati Reds will join the San Diego Padres and Minnesota Twins -- who turned to MLB last year for their broadcasts -- as teams whose games will be produced and distributed by the league itself. MLB has cited a consolidation of TV rights as one avenue to reducing the financial disparity of baseball; today's news is a step in the right direction for proponents of the solution, which should include fans of small-market teams, seeing as they are the ones most impacted by the lack of financial equality in MLB.

The Brewers themselves are excited about the development. As reported in a press release from the team, President of Business Operations, Rick Schlesinger, noted that "The consistency and quality of that experience in many ways will be enhanced. In addition to wide linear broadcast distribution on cable and satellite throughout the Brewers home television territory, MLB has built one of the most successful and reliable streaming ecosystems in all sports."

How to watch Brewers games in 2026

What fans mostly care about is how this will impact their ability to watch Brewers games next season. Luckily, the Brewers offered a clear answer to this question in the same press release, writing the following:

""Fans within the Brewers home television markets will have the option of watching games on cable and satellite television or streaming live through MLB.TV. Information on cable and satellite providers, including specific channel locations, will be announced at a later date. Fans will be able to purchase a Brewers streaming subscription through MLB.com or the MLB App when packages go on sale in February.""

Brewers Press Release

In regard to how Brewers games will be added to existing cable subscriptions, the Twins' model from last year offers some more clarity. As explained in an article from Peter Labuza of Twins Daily, most major cable providers simply added a new channel to their platform called Twins.TV, which was inactive for most of the day, but "turned on" for the game and pre- and post-game shows. Depending on the cable provider, this new channel will either be free or require an additional fee, but most major cable services appeared to include it in their existing package free of charge. For more on how the Twins handled the situation, check out Labuza's article, which is linked below.

The Twins' TV Cable Channels Are Here

As noted in the quote above, non-cable users will have to purchase a Brewers streaming subscription either through MLB.com or the MLB App, which is likely to cost somewhere in the $20/month or a discounted $100/season range. Of note for current MLB.TV subscribers, last year, the Twins offered either a $19.99/month subscription to have access to just Twins games or a $39.99/month subscription to watch all MLB games.

More information on the specific packages available to come.

How the Brewers' new 2026 TV deal is likely to impact the team's payroll

While it's certainly a positive development that the Brewers have their 2026 TV deal squared away prior to the start of spring training, the news does come with a bit of bad news as well. Given the way that MLB structured their deals with the Twins and Padres, it's fair to assume that the Brewers will earn less from their TV deal with MLB than they would have with Main Street Sports Group -- assuming the latter was able to meet all the required payments.

MLB offers teams a portion of the revenue that they generate from the TV broadcasts, meaning it's not set in stone just how much money the Brewers will make in TV revenue in 2026, but it's almost certain it will be less than they've made in years past.

As a result, there's reason to believe that the Brewers' payroll will be impacted as a result of today's news. That's not to say the Brewers will immediately start cutting payroll -- it's difficult to find a way that they could even do so -- but it does decrease the likelihood of a surprise impact signing that fans have been hoping for as the offseason comes to a close.

There are other sources of revenue, including a bonus that the Brewers received for reaching the NLCS last year, and the team was supposedly ready to pay $8 million more than they are currently slated for, given their initial stance on a Freddy Peralta trade, so it's possible an impact move is still coming. However, Brewers fans shouldn't hold their breath waiting for a signing that will have a major impact on the 2026 roster.