Padres fans will be able to watch games without streaming in 2024 after all

Ever since Diamond Sports Group lost the rights to broadcast San Diego Padres games, the entire landscape of taking in Padres baseball has changed. In addition to the ever-changing world of entertainment consumption evolving rapidly for everyone, the Padres found themselves as a team without a TV home in a league where those TV dollars are necessary to grow a franchise and compete at the highest level.

MLB did come in to somewhat save the day by broadcasting Padres games last season on MLB TV, but the long-term fate of Padres broadcasts has remained very unclear. Most just assumed that San Diego would stay in streaming limbo with MLB until a long-term solution was found.

However, it looks like the Padres have been hard at work trying to find a TV partner that would broadcast their games for those that prefer not to do the MLB TV package or simply don't have the internet to stream them. It looks like they have indeed found that partner and, before Opening Day, there will be a non-streaming option for Padres fans to watch games in their market.

Padres to have cable and satellite game broadcasts in 2024

To be fair, this was more an announcement of an announcement, as no details are currently known as to what channels/services San Diego will have their games on. All we know at the moment is the only real option to watch Padres games is through MLB TV's special Padres package, but that that will change before Opening Day, and that the announcement of where should happen in the next week.

This is a big deal for Padres fans and the team as well. The exact terms of this partnership matter quite a bit, but getting Padres games in front of more eyeballs and not locking them behind an additional streaming service with a real financial cost to fans should help San Diego expand their brand and maintain a foothold in the marketplace. Unfortunately, this announcement doesn't help fans who are trying to figure out how to watch the ongoing Seoul Series, but luckily those games are being streamed for free right now anyways.

The important thing to keep an eye out for is whether or not this is a short or long-term commitment. If it is just another bandaid solution for a year or two, then we may be doing this all over again very soon. However, if the Padres locked in a deal with a broadcast partner for the long-term, then the team's outlook all of a sudden gets very, very interesting, especially if the financial terms are lucrative.

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