In a move that Marquee Sports Network president Mike McCarthy called “a huge win for Cubs fans everywhere,” the network announced Wednesday that it has reached distribution agreements with both Hulu + Live TV and Amazon Prime Video — bringing the total number of platforms carrying Cubs games to what industry analysts describe as “almost enough, probably, depending on your specific situation.”

The deal means that starting immediately, in-market subscribers to Hulu + Live TV will receive Marquee as part of their existing package, while Amazon Prime members can add it for an additional $19.99 per month. This joins the existing options of DirecTV, Xfinity, Spectrum, YouTube TV, FuboTV, the Marquee+ direct-to-consumer app, and a guy named Dave in Wrigleyville who still has cable and will let you watch at his place if you bring beer.

“We are thrilled to make Cubs baseball more accessible than ever,” McCarthy said in a statement that also contained the phrases “multi-platform ecosystem,” “fan-first approach,” and “content verticalization,” the last of which no one in the newsroom could define despite three attempts and a dictionary.

The timing is strategic: the Cubs open the 2026 season March 26 against the Nationals at Wrigley Field, giving fans exactly one week to select a streaming service, create an account, forget the password, reset the password, download the app on the wrong device, download it on the right device, discover their region is blacked out, call customer service, wait on hold for forty minutes, and ultimately watch the first pitch on their phone in a bathroom stall at work. Industry consultants call this the “fan journey.”

Market research firm Townsend & Birch estimates that the average Chicago household now subscribes to 4.3 streaming services, up from 2.1 in 2021. However, their data also shows that the average Cubs fan will spend approximately 22 minutes before any given game trying to remember which service carries Marquee, a phenomenon researchers have dubbed “channel amnesia.” The firm’s senior analyst, Katherine Oguike, noted that “the number of streaming options and the ease of actually watching a game appear to be inversely correlated, which is frankly remarkable from a product design standpoint.”

The deal is also notable for what it doesn’t include: a return to traditional over-the-air broadcast, which older fans continue to bring up at every opportunity. “I used to turn on WGN and the game was on,” said retired postal worker Gerald Hammonds, 71, of Portage Park. “Now my granddaughter has to come over and press buttons on four different remotes before I can see anything, and by the time she’s done it’s the third inning.” Hammonds added that he was “not against technology” but also “not for it.”

For fans already experiencing subscription fatigue, the Marquee+ direct-to-consumer option remains available at $14.99 per month — a price point that Marquee describes as “less than the cost of two beers at Wrigley,” a comparison that is technically accurate and yet somehow makes both things feel more expensive.

The announcement comes almost five and a half years after Marquee’s initial — and short-lived — distribution deal with Hulu collapsed in 2020, a period during which Cubs fans developed what sports psychologist Dr. Ellen Voss calls “a deeply personal and adversarial relationship with regional sports network licensing.” Dr. Voss added that her research shows Cubs fans who successfully navigate the streaming landscape report “a sense of accomplishment comparable to assembling IKEA furniture,” though she cautioned that “the satisfaction fades quickly once they see the bullpen.”