Just in time for opening day, the Cleveland Guardians have announced a new plan for fans to watch games if they can’t make it in person.
Major League Baseball will produce and distribute local games for the Guardians, which will be carried on the team's CLEGuardians.TV streaming service. The team announced Thursday morning that the games will also be available through a variety of pay TV providers, including Spectrum, AT&T U-verse, DIRECTV, Cox and FuboTV.
Those who want to purchase the stream directly at CLEGuardians.TV will pay $99.99 a year, or $19.99 on a monthly basis. They can also access games through the MLB app.
This CLEGuardians.TV service is the first of its kind for the team, not having to share any screen time with other sports, said Guardians Assistant Communication Director Austin Controulis.
“It's (solely) our channel,” he said. “It's the Cleveland Guardians channel and whenever we're on TV for a game that isn't blacked out by national broadcasts, that's where it'll appear.”
He added that the streaming platform was created to reach more fans, while avoiding issues with cable restrictions and regional issues. The Guardians had to come up with a new game plan for broadcast after they parted ways with Diamond Sports Group, the owner of Bally Sports, which previously handled the broadcasts. Bally Sports has been in bankruptcy proceedings, affecting several major league teams.
“Last year we were on Bally's,” he said. “So only cable providers that carried Bally Sports [would play Guardians games] … If you bought MLB TV, which was a streaming product run by Major League Baseball, but you lived in our TV market, you were not able to watch our games because you didn't have Bally's cable… If not, you would have blacked out.”
Broadcasts this season will include additional features such as a wire cam at Progressive Field, new angles from the MLB Replay Center and re-imagined focus cameras that spotlight players while blurring the background behind them.
Controulis said the team appreciates the fans' patience as the Guardians found their new streaming home.
“These deals are always kind of go down to the wire in terms of getting done right before a first game and so we're really excited to announce this.” He said.
The Guardians kick off their season Thursday at 4:10 p.m. on the road at Kansas City.
More information about where to watch the Guardians can be found here.
