How Can I Watch Kansas City Royals Games (Royals.TV) on Television or Online Streaming In 2026?

Starting in 2026, the Kansas City Royals television options are changing. The Royals announced they will not be signing with FanDuel Sports Kansas City for another year and announced on February 2 that they are launching Royals.TV is the new broadcast home for the team. 

The writing was on the wall for this change when nine teams, including the Royals, terminated their deals with Main Street Sports Group last month, citing solvency issues and an inability to reach a deal with DAZN. There were also reports of Main Street Sports Group likely having to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and liquidate its business soon, according to the Sports Business Journal. 

How does Royals.TV work?

There will be options to access the Royals broadcast through both cable and streaming options. The Royals have provided an FAQ at https://www.mlb.com/royals/schedule/programming.

Important Details On Royals.TV

1. Royals.TV will be available on select cable and satellite providers. The specific list of providers has not yet been announced, but popular providers such as DirecTV and Spectrum have carried the broadcasts of other teams that have used MLB to produce and distribute them. Some cable TV providers may require you to upgrade your existing cable package to a sports tier to gain access to this channel. Popular cable streamers like YouTube TV, Sling, and Hulu + Live TV have historically not provided access to local broadcasts.
2. For in-market streaming, you can access Royals.TV through the MLB app, much like the direct-to-consumer option that FanDuel provided in 2025. This service will cost $99.99 per year or $19.99 per month.
3. For out-of-market viewing, you can purchase the traditional MLB.tv package for streaming or the Extra Innings package for TV. You can follow this link and enter your zip code to see if you live in the Royals' home territory. Keep in mind that when the Royals play a team that is in your local home territory, that game will be blacked out.

Royals Over-the-Air Broadcasts in 2026

In 2025, the Royals broadcast 10 games over the air on KCTV (Ch. 5), and have already committed to showing the Royals’ 2026 opening day game on KCTV.

There will also be a handful of games broadcast over the air this season on KCTV and possibly KSMO (Ch. 62).

Nationally Televised Royals Games

Royals On Linear TV

• ESPN - 30 games throughout the season, games on Memorial Day, second-half opener, and MLB Little League Classic will be broadcast exclusively on ESPN
• FOX - Baseball Night in America on Saturday Nights and the MLB All-Star Game
• NBC - Sunday Night Baseball and Sunday Leadoff on NBCSN

Royals On Streaming Services

• AppleTV - Friday Night Baseball
• Netflix - One game on Opening Night, Field of Dreams Games, and Home Run Derby
• Peacock - Simulcast of all NBC and NBCSN games and select Sunday Night Baseball and Sunday Leadoff games will only be available on Peacock
• ESPN Direct-to-Consumer and Fox One - Simulcast of games on ESPN and Fox, respectively