(This story was updated to add new information.)

Milwaukee Brewers television broadcasts will be produced and distributed by Major League Baseball next season, signaling the end of the relationship with Diamond Sports Group, the outfit that has been airing games on Bally Sports Wisconsin.

MLB indicated in a release that it will operate the broadcasts for the Cleveland Guardians and Minnesota Twins next year, as well. That doubles MLB's current portfolio of teams for which it handles broadcasts, joining San Diego, Colorado and Arizona. The Texas Rangers have also left Diamond Sports Group, with the future home of their broadcasts to be announced.

"From our perspective, the first thing is what's best for the fans," Brewers president of business operations Rick Schlesinger said Tuesday. "How can we get our telecasts to the broadest audience? How can we get the quality and production value of our broadcast to our audience? How can we have opportunities to expand what we do with shoulder programming, ancillary programing? How can we take advantage of the technological advances and expertise of MLB? And frankly, just having more ownership, control and input into a really important part of our brand, which is the 145 or so telecasts that we deliver every year.

The Brewers had the option to return to Diamond following the end of its contract in 2024, but Diamond has been enmeshed in bankruptcy proceedings, and MLB has long sought to reclaim streaming rights from each team as a means of offering games free of blackouts in market on MLB's own app.

It's all part of the crumbling regional sports network (RSN) model, and Diamond's bankruptcy has cultivated uncertainty around broadcasts for a number of MLB, NBA and NHL teams.

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Here's what all this means for you.

How will the Brewers broadcasts change in 2024? Will the team have new announcers?

The broadcasts likely won't look or sound all that different, although the look of on-screen graphics might change.

The announcers would largely be the same (most are team employees, anyway). Schlesinger said he expected pregame and postgame programming to remain, though the length of those shows and the features of them remain up in the air.

The channel location will shift on satellite and cable, moved to a Brewers-specific channel (Schlesinger called it BrewersTV), but there won't be any added charges for fans who already watch the games through cable and satellite. Schlesinger said the channel will offer opportunities for additional non-game programming in the future, but there aren't any immediate plans.

The games might be available in other places (the Padres games are on Fubo, for example, in addition to cable and satellite), but Brewers fans won't be short of ways to watch.

MLB's release on the new arrangement boasted of some innovations Brewers fans might find novel, including ump cameras, live look-ins with the MLB Replay Operations Center and increased access to in-game interviews.

Will it be cheaper for fans to watch Brewers games?

Fans will still pay roughly the same, but MLB's native technology is likely to have fewer glitches than what fans often complained about with Bally's app. Aside from a likely switch in channel, cable and satellite customers should also see no difference, with no extra charge to watch.

Padres games, for example, can be found on the MLB.TV app for those in San Diego. Fans can pay $99 for the year to just get Padres games (called the Padres.TV option), but fans who purchase the full package for $200 are also able to view Padres games in-market in addition to all the other games across baseball that are out-of-market.

For those who get the MLB.TV app each year, it essentially will be the same product with no Brewers blackouts.

Will some games be available 'over the air' on channels that can be viewed without a subscription of any kind?

Schlesinger left the door open that the team could offer some broadcasts on "over-the-air" television available with a standard signal receiver.

"I know some teams in other leagues have a smattering of games over the air," he said. "I'm not ruling anything out. This is the first day of an official announcement. ... We're exploring a lot of different ways to deliver the telecasts."

Again, that's separate from cable or satellite customers, who won't see a dramatic change in their ability to watch Brewers games.

Will the Brewers' team payroll be impacted when MLB takes over?

Yes, it's possible, but the degree of impact remains unclear.

"Whatever the revenues are for TV, to me that's a different issue. Mark (Attanasio, team owner) and Matt (Arnold, Brewers general manager) are going to figure out what the payroll is," Schlesinger said. "They have not even finished all those conversations and decisions. Payroll will be determined, and I wouldn't jump to conclusions based on whatever revenues there are in TV, (that it) necessarily means anything in payroll. Those are part of a larger ecosystem for the Brewers. We look at everything, all the revenues, all the expenses. We run a big business, it's not just player payroll ... we have a lot of revenue sources too, beyond TV."

Milwaukee won't be alone across MLB in facing the challenge of diminished revenues in the short-term.

Baseball already has a revenue-sharing policy and does distribute money to clubs through lucrative national contracts that offers packages of games to places like ESPN or Apple TV+. Those deals reportedly helped MLB secure record gross revenues in 2022.

The Brewers, for what it's worth, have already decreased payroll in both the 2023 and 2024 seasons from the year before and, oddly enough, won more games each season compared to the year before.

Schlesinger acknowledged the short-term forecast will require the team to take a step back in revenues, but he emphasized the longer-term benefit of offering the games to a broader audience.

Is this only for 2025, or will this be how Brewers broadcasts air in years to come?

Schlesinger said he believes this is a long-term play, even without any specific contract that locks the Brewers in.

"We think this is the future of local media in Major League Baseball," he said.

What about Milwaukee Bucks games?

Bucks games are still expected to air on Bally Sports Wisconsin through the 2024-25 season.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers games will be broadcast by Major League Baseball in 2025