ESPN and MLB are planning to end their decades-long relationship after the 2025 season.
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00:00Major League Baseball and ESPN are pulling the plug on their relationship after the 2025 season.
00:06The two sides could not agree on a new TV rights deal after the current seven-year, $550 million annual deal expires.
00:15According to an MLB memo obtained by The Athletic, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred seemed to be taking a hard stand.
00:25While ESPN has stated they would like to continue to have MLB on their platform,
00:30particularly in light of the upcoming launch of their DTC product, we do not think it's beneficial
00:37for us to accept a smaller deal to remain on a shrinking platform. DTC refers to direct-to-consumer,
00:44which is media speak for a streaming service. Live sports programming is a hot commodity in
00:50the evolving media landscape, where streaming media have an upper hand on traditional cable
00:55TV channels. With consumers ditching expensive pay-TV packages for cheaper streaming options,
01:02sports leagues like the MLB are following the money. The league already has other media partners
01:08who are willing to pay up and has smaller deals with Apple and Roku. Amazon and Netflix are
01:13potential future partners as well. MLB also has the option of expanding its relationship with its
01:19other traditional media partner, Fox. There also could be potential deals with Comcast's NBC and
01:26Paramount's CBS. ESPN is a unit of Walt Disney. Let's talk financial markets now. UnitedHealthcare
01:34is weighing on the Dow and the S&P 500. The health insurance company is under investigation by the
01:40Justice Department over its Medicare billing practices, according to the Wall Street Journal.
01:45Meanwhile, sales of previously owned homes dropped 4.9 percent in January.
01:50The median sales price jumped to $396,900. And the latest consumer sentiment reading
01:58isn't good. Consumers are worried higher tariffs will impact their buying power.
02:04That'll do it for your daily briefing from the New York Stock Exchange.
02:07I'm Conway Giddens with the Street.
02:15you