This season’s Minnesota Twins broadcasts will feature the two new camera angles and other changes that the team will highlight Tuesday when it unveils a new digital streaming product for fans to purchase.
One is a wide-angle view of the field which provides fans with an entirely new way to see game action. The other up-close-and-personal angle should offer better detail and proximity to some of the game’s biggest moments.
The Twins believe the revamped broadcast, details of which were shared with The Athletic on Monday, will enhance fans’ viewing experience and help educate them.
Among the additions to the team’s broadcast plans are a stabilized wire camera running from left field to home plate that will provide a field-wide view of game action, and a remote camera that will allow operators to be on the field at key moments throughout the game.
“It’s really going to bring fans literally closer to the game,” Twins.TV executive producer Trevor Fleck said. “With a (remote) camera, you’re going to be field level at certain parts of the game. And with the wire cam, we’re going to be able to show you more than you’ve been able to see before. … We do hope that even though it’s technology, it is technology that can really connect the teams and the players with the fans.”
The team is offering blackout-free baseball on Twins.TV to viewers throughout the five states comprising Twins Territory — Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and western Wisconsin — at $99.99 for the season or $19.99 per month, with discounts offered to season-ticket holders. Subscribers who purchase a direct-to-consumer package before April 1 also will receive an offer for 50 percent off tickets for April and May home games.
The club also will continue offering a cable product to all viewers in Twins Territory, though details of those deals are still being worked out. Team officials noted they’re encouraged by what they’ve heard about discussions between MLB and cable providers, but also cautioned that TV deals last year for the San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies weren’t announced until right before Opening Day.
Introducing our first ever https://t.co/CiYJfeXoMN lineup!
For more info go to https://t.co/7owDbqKTsI pic.twitter.com/jBjBfhHStf
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) January 16, 2025
And, to provide an even larger swath of fans more access, team sources said the Twins are working with local television stations on an over-the-air package of perhaps a dozen free games.
Beyond increased availability — the team’s broadcasts can be viewed by 4.4 million households in Twins Territory, up from approximately 1.3 million a season ago — the biggest changes involve the game production itself.
The club hired Fleck, who’s worked on the team’s broadcasts since 2001 and was the coordinating producer at FanDuel Network for the past 13 seasons, to be the executive producer at Twins.TV. Fleck, who hails from Regal, Minn., is most excited about the new camera angles.
Similar to the standard cameras for football, basketball and hockey broadcasts, the left-field wire cam will provide viewers with an east-to-west view of how defenders move on a batted ball, the way players position themselves on cutoffs and relays and how base runners react to plays. It can also offer an up-close view of the third-base coach sending and stopping runners.
The new views of individual plays should offer the team’s analysts more opportunities for “teaching moments,” Fleck said.
“There’s funky angles, every stadium’s different and it’s really hard to capture certain parts of the game,” Fleck said. “This camera gives a wide perspective of a large portion of the field. … You can see much more of what’s going on.”
The remote handheld camera offers access throughout the ballpark, which allows operators to run to the mound with a pitcher as he takes the field or follow a batter to home plate after he has rounded third base on a home run.
The Twins also are considering the use of a drone camera as well as a broadcast hosted by their analysts that wouldn’t include play-by-play. Because Twins.TV is operated by Major League Baseball, the team will have easier access to the organization’s minor-league baseball highlights. And, in the case of rain delays, the Twins can switch their broadcast to a minor-league affiliate’s live game or use MLB programming.
The severing of ties with FanDuel Network/Diamond Sports will result in notable changes for the team’s pregame and postgame shows.
While the team can operate like normal at Target Field, where it has a studio located on the concourse down the right-field line, it doesn’t have the same capability on the road. When the team is home, the Twins will continue to air 30-minute pregame and postgame shows. But the move to Twins.TV means pregame shows on the road have been eliminated while postgame shows are limited to 15 minutes.
With no road pregame shows, the Twins will either have to disseminate the day’s news in the brief, pre-first-pitch portion of the broadcast or rely more heavily on sideline reporter Audra Martin to provide the relevant information, Fleck said.
“That is that is an area of focus is to make sure that the sideline reporter is an even more integral part of the broadcast than before,” Fleck said. “Especially on the road, that news that she delivers is going to be fresh.”
While the product goes live on Tuesday, Twins.TV won’t debut until the club’s March 16 exhibition against the Boston Red Sox, one of five games that will be aired for free this spring.
(Photo of Royce Lewis: Matt Krohn / Getty Images)
