1ABC owned television station.
2CBS owned television station.
3Fox owned television station.
4NBC owned television station.
5Superstation (bold indicates former superstation).
| Network | Years | Additional notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DuMont | 1947 - 1949 | World Series only from 1947 to 1949 | |
| NBC | 1947 - 1989 1994 - 2000 2022 - 2023 | World Series and All-Star Game (beginning in 1950) only from 1947 to 1956 and 1965 Saturday afternoon Game of the Week from 1957 to 1964 and exclusively from 1966 to 1989 Monday Night Baseball games from 1967 to 1969 and 1972–1975 Part of a revenue sharing joint venture with Major League Baseball and ABC called "The Baseball Network" from 1994 to 1995 All-Star Game (in even numbered years) and postseason games only from 1996 to 2000 Weekly Sunday morning games from 2022 on (select games simulcast on NBC) | |
| ABC | 1948 - 1950 1953 - 1954 1960 1965 1976 - 1989 1994 - 1995 2020 - present | World Series only from 1948 to 1950 Saturday afternoon Game of the Week from 1953 to 1954 and in 1960 and 1965 (exclusive coverage) Monday Night Baseball games from 1976 to 1988 Thursday Night Baseball in 1989 Part of a revenue sharing joint venture with Major League Baseball and NBC called "The Baseball Network" from 1994 to 1995 Select regular season and Wild Card Series games from 2020 on (produced by ESPN). | |
| CBS | 1947 - 1950 1955 - 1965 1990 - 1993 | World Series only from 1947 to 1950 Saturday afternoon Game of the Week from 1955 to 1964 New York Yankees games only in 1965 Sporadic, 16 game coverage of Saturday afternoon Game of the Week plus, exclusive network television broadcaster from 1990 to 1993 | |
| Fox | 1996 - present | Saturday afternoon Game of the Week beginning on Memorial Day weekend from 1996 to 2006 Saturday afternoon Game of the Week for the full season since 2007 Exclusive network television broadcaster since 2001 |
See main article: Major League Baseball on superstations.
When the League Championship Series was first instituted in 1969, the Major League Baseball television contract at the time allowed a local TV station in the market of each competing team to also carry the LCS games. So, for example, Mets fans in New York could choose to watch either the NBC telecast or Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner on WOR-TV.
1983 marked the last time that local telecasts of League Championship Series games were allowed. In 1982, Major League Baseball recognized a problem with this due to the emergence of cable superstations such as WTBS in Atlanta and WGN-TV in Chicago. When TBS tried to petition for the right to do a "local" Braves broadcast of the 1982 NLCS, Major League Baseball got a Philadelphia federal court to ban them on the grounds that as a cable superstation, TBS could not have a nationwide telecast competing with ABC's.
Since 2007, MLB playoff games on TBS are not made available[1] to local over-the-air broadcasters in the participating teams' markets.[2] Under the previous contract, ESPN was required to make those games available on the air in local markets. As of 2023, Major League Baseball is currently the only "Big Four" league with regional broadcast rights whose entire postseason is exclusive to national television; the National Basketball Association playoffs and National Hockey League playoffs continue to air their first round games on both national and local television.