The Kansas City Royals just joined MLB’s growing list of teams ditching the old RSN setup. For 2026, Major League Baseball will produce and distribute in-market Royals games under the new Royals.TV label. Royals.TV will be available on the MLB App and to cable/satellite partners with in-market streaming subscriptions priced at $19.99/month or $99.99/year and sign-ups opening later this month ahead of Spring Training.
In addition to the launch of their Royals.TV streaming service, the MLB club has expanded its free TV footprint. The Royals and Gray Media have extended their partnership with the return of free, over-the-air games in the Midwest. KCTV5 will carry 10 regular-season Royals games in 2026, including the March 30 home opener, and Gray’s reach will put select Royals telecasts in up to 18 markets across eight states.
“We’re thrilled to partner with the Royals again in 2026 to provide free over-the-air Royals games to a championship fan base here in Kansas City,” said KCTV5 General Manager Curtis Miles. “This partnership exemplifies our commitment to bringing quality sports entertainment to the community we serve, and we’re proud to also highlight the exceptional work the Royals do to make Kansas City better.”
Kansas City Royals on Free TV
Fans who rely on antenna broadcasts or live local TV can catch the following games across select Gray Media affiliates:
March 30 – vs. Minnesota Twins (Home Opener)
April 3 – vs. Milwaukee Brewers
April 24 – vs. Los Angeles Angels
May 22 – vs. Seattle Mariners
June 12 – vs. Houston Astros
June 19 – vs. St. Louis Cardinals
July 17 – vs. San Diego Padres
August 7 – vs. Chicago Cubs
August 21 – vs. Detroit Tigers
September 7 – vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (Labor Day)
What to Know About Royals.TV
In-market streaming: Fans who live inside the Royals’ home TV territory can buy a Royals.TV in-market package and stream every local regular-season game (national exclusives still won’t be available). Subscriptions are $19.99/month or $99.99/season; out-of-market fans should use the standard MLB.TV package.
Pay-TV and over-the-air: Royals.TV will also be distributed through cable and satellite providers (channel placement to be announced), and Gray Media will simulcast select games over-the-air — including the historic home opener set for March 30 — giving free access to fans in up to 18 Midwest markets.
No in-market blackouts for subscribers: If you buy Royals.TV and live in the Royals’ home territory, local games are available with no in-market blackout for those broadcasts (traveling subscribers remain subject to other teams’ blackout rules).
Royals.TV comes after Kansas City terminated its contract with Main Street Sports Group (the owner of FanDuel Sports Kansas City) after months of financial uncertainty around FanDuel’s RSN operations. The club had been prepared with MLB as a backup and ultimately pivoted to league-run distribution to protect access for fans and stabilize local broadcasts. This move mirrors what several other clubs have done amid the RSN shakeup.
“We thank FanDuel and their parent company, Main Street Sports, for everything they’ve done,” Kansas City Royals President of Business Operations Cullen Maxey said on Monday. “They’ve been a partner for a while, most recently as they have come out of bankruptcy, and they helped us expand our reach across our TV territory into Nebraska and Iowa, obviously Missouri and Kansas [and] Arkansas, as well as launch a direct-to-consumer effort that went really well. We do thank them for their partnership, wish them well in the future, but we are excited about moving over to Major League Baseball. They have built a team to support local teams and their network efforts. They’ve got all the relationships we need.”
The Royals’ move is another sign that the old RSN ecosystem is collapsing and baseball is pivoting to a mixed distribution model. The hybrid model features league-produced streaming for local fans, selective cable carriage, and free over-the-air broadcasts via partners like Gray.
For fans, that means more direct streaming options and, crucially, less risk of blackout gaps when RSNs run into financial trouble. Get notified when Royals.TV goes live at the link below.