Facebook to stream 25 MLB games
For the first time, Major League Baseball is putting together a national broadcast package you cannot see on television.
The league has agreed to stream 25 weekday afternoon games on Facebook this season, MLB announced Friday.
Although Facebook streamed some games last season, those broadcasts also were available on local television. The Facebook games this year are exclusive, meaning Facebook will be the only way to see them.
The Dodgers’ team-owned SportsNet LA channel goes unseen in a majority of Los Angeles homes, but the Facebook package will not mean a large increase in the number of broadcasts available to fans without SportsNet LA.
The league hopes to showcase as many teams as possible, and a Facebook game will count toward each team’s limit of national broadcast appearances, so it is unlikely the Dodgers would make more than two or three Facebook appearances.
Neither the Dodgers nor the Angels are included on the April schedule of Facebook games. The rest of the Facebook schedule has yet to be determined.
The Dodgers announced last month that five early-season games would be simulcast over the air on KTLA-TV (Channel 5).
Follow Bill Shaikin on Twitter @BillShaikin
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