MLB.TV Discontinues Affiliate Marketing, Removes Earned Commissions

As many of you already know, I’ve been somewhat preoccupied with MLB.TV and the changes the streaming service has undergone, particularly when it comes to how they (don’t really) impact those of us for whom the Cubs are in-market. Still, I’ve marketed the product because I know a lot of my readers are outside the blackout zone — or know how to circumvent it — and want to watch the Cubs. So I found it interesting that I got this in my inbox this afternoon:

Deactivation Notice! We regret to inform you that the MLB TV affiliate program will be shutting down immediately – until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause. Can you please help us remove all of the MLB TV affiliate links from your site as soon as possible as you will no longer be receiving commission on referred sales. We appreciate your help promoting the brand over the last season and we hope we will have the opportunity to work together in the near future. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at mlb.tv@pepperjammanagement.com Thank you, The MLB.TV Affiliate Management Team

Copyright © eBay Enterprise Marketing Solutions. All rights reserved. Address 7 South Main Street, Floor 3, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 P 877 796 5700 F 877 554 3947

As you may have gathered from the email above, this affiliate program deal is a way for sites like mine to advertise various products in exchange for a commission earned on sales generated through links placed on the site. I think I’ve made a whole $14 or so* from MLB.TV, so you can imagine my intense disappointment at this announcement. I should note that the MLB Shop affiliate program went dark in a similar fashion, only to reappear on the ShareASale platform a couple months later. Maybe that’s what’s going on here. Or maybe (cue ominous music) it’s something more nefarious. Probably not though, right? No way would they do something shady.

UPDATE: I get that they’d discontinue the affiliate deal, especially if there are plans to move to a different platform or if it simply wasn’t worth the effort of paying commissions. But I never expected the above announcement to mean the commissions I’d earned would be zeroed out. But that’s exactly what has happened. I actually earned another sale between the original publication of this piece and this update, so I’d have been around $21, give or take. Nothing crazy, but that’s a couple good six packs. This isn’t about the money though, it’s about the principle. And at this point it feels as though MLB.TV has stolen from me. I know Bleacher Nation has this same arrangement with them, so I wonder if Brett was similarly impacted. I’m sure his commissions were significantly larger than mine too. Anyway, this pisses me off. It pisses me right off. Flat-out theft, man. But I guess that’s nothing new.