MLB Extra Innings - no cable?

[$heriff Tom]

So I see a blurb today in the media section about how negotiations between MLB and DirecTV are hot and heavy to move this off of cable, and make it exclusively available to DirecTV customers. It was implied this is a "likely" move, as well.

Any of ya'll know anything else about this?

[MSBNYY]

Haven't heard anything, but that would be a damn stupid move. I doubt too many people will dump cable for this reason, and MLB would be losing a LOT of revenue. MLB would be better off doing the exact opposite.

[$heriff Tom]

I had heard nothing about this either, as much prowling around that I do, but its in Raismann's media column today. Described as MLB locking down a whole heap of money from DirecTV at the expense of the bulk of the fans, as one would assume they would get more viewers on the cable side of things.

If anyone hears anything else regarding this, please post.

[Jason Giambi]

i heard it too.......... screw directv

[9]

Nothing decided yet (from my work Web site, multichannel.com):

Cable operators are hoping not to strike out on a renewal of Major League Baseball’s out-of-market game package prior to opening day in April.

Video-on-demand purveyor In Demand is in talks to renew cable’s deal to distribute the “MLB Extra Innings” package, even as the league is discussing an exclusive distribution arrangement with DirecTV Inc., similar to the direct-broadcast satellite service’s deal with the National Football League for its “NFL Sunday Ticket.”

Cable operators have been offering the $170 MLB Extra Innings package — which offers as many as 900 games a year — since 2001. Initially, DBS leader DirecTV held the exclusive rights to that content.

But cable executives with knowledge of the deal say the DirecTV is making a major push to again secure exclusive rights to the package, in an effort to give it more of a sports-content advantage over cable and satellite archrival Dish Network. Neither DirecTV nor MLB officials could be reached for comment.

In Demand officials would only say that the company is in negotiations with MLB, declining to elaborate.

While the baseball pact is important to cable from a competitive standpoint, it’s not hitting home runs in the subscriber arena.

Kagan Associates estimates that Extra Innings generated 280,000 subscribers across both cable and satellite services in 2005. That pales by comparison to the 600,000 subscribers netted by the National Basketball Association’s “NBA League Pass” package and the nearly 2 million scored by Sunday Ticket during the same time period, according to Kagan.

Further, the package is dwarfed by the 1.3 million subscribers that baseball generated in 2005 for its $79.95 MLB.TV subscription broadband service, according to New York Magazine. The package includes live games, as well as extensive highlights and classic contests. Sports-programming consultant Lee Berke believes that the emergence of the broadband package could allow MLB to take DirecTV’s exclusive package without alienating cable subscribers.

“[MLB.TV] has become so widely distributed in its own right that it’s become a balancing act — the leagues are looking at various platform and the dollars they get, and trying to figure out whether exclusivity or multiple distributors makes sense,” he said. “My guess is that if DirecTV comes up with enough money, then baseball may say, 'We’re doing so well with MLB.TV maybe it’s worth it to explore being exclusive with DirecTV.’ ”

Cable does not receive any cut of the revenue from MLB.TV, but the industry benefits because its high-speed Internet access facilitates customer viewing and ultimately satisfaction with the broadband package.

Next up on cable’s out-of-market docket: the National Hockey League’s “NHL Center Ice” package, which expires after the 2006-07 season.

An NHL spokesman would only say that it has begun discussions on potential renewals with current partners.

[globix]

The NY Times is reporting it's a done deal.

www.nytimes.com/2007/01/20/sports/baseball/20base.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Major League Baseball is close to announcing a deal that will place its Extra Innings package of out-of-market games exclusively on DirecTV, which will also become the only carrier of a long-planned 24-hour baseball channel.

[$heriff Tom]

Oh well, looks like I'll be saving nearly $200 this spring.

Moronic. Insane.

[Chris]

The thing that worries me is that, as a DirecTV customer, I will be paying out of my ass to make up for the initial loss in customers.

Obviously this is a long term strategy with the idea to persuade more people to drop cable and get DirecTV, but in the meantime, MLB Extra Innings has just chopped off a huge portion of their potential customer base and will be looking for a way to compensate for that loss.

[globix]

Yeah, it doesn't make much sense to me at all. I have DirectTV, so I'll still get it. But I can't see why MLB would do this. Can DirecTV pay them more than every cable outlet in the country? Even if they do, why would you piss off so many fans? Sure, they'll argue that you should just get satellite, but not everyone can...

[$heriff Tom]

In one of the articles I had read, MLB was touting their online service, and expecting fans shut out to order that to watch games on their computer.

[9]

Nothing like chips and beers in front of the old PC.

[Chris]

I'd listen to it on Gameday Audio before I'd ever watch on my PC...there's no way.

[$heriff Tom]

See, I am not interested in doing audio, and I LOVE baseball on the radio. But I cant see myself flipping off everything else to listen to the radio broadcast when I would have normally been watching out of market games. This is really disconcerting.

[Chris]

No, I'm with you Tom...but if the only alternative is watching a game on a computer monitor, or kicking back on my couch, lying down and listening...I'll take the audio route. BUT... in my case, since the Yankees are out of market, I have the "Sterling Factor" to consider.

[globix]

is DirectTV not an option for you?

[Chris]

No, I have DirecTV. And I've order the MLB Extra Innings package every year.

I was just talking in hypothetical terms....plus the fact that I'm afraid that Extra Innings prices will now skyrocket considering the new restriction on the number of people who can order it.

[9]

NFL Sunday Ticket is still reasonable, and DirecTV's had that exclusively for years.

[Chris]

Man I miss the old HU Card programming days!!!!

[Jason Giambi]

The problem with directv that i have is that:
1. I have more than 2 tv's, I'm not paying $5/month per box for all 7 tv's.
2. The thunderstorms make it unusable in the summer
3. I use high speed cable for my home internet. If I switch to FIOS, I won't need dish either.

[9]

All is saved now! John Kerry is on our side!

From multichannel.com:

A former presidential candidate plans to take his swings against the proposed DirecTV-Major League Baseball out-of-market package agreement.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) intends to question Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin about the pending $700 million deal between the direct-broadcast satellite provider and the league that would provide DirecTV with exclusive rights to baseball’s Extra Innings live-game package. The deal would shut out cable subscribers from purchasing the $179 package, which provides hundreds of live out-of-market baseball games.

Martin will appear Thursday in front of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, of which Kerry is a member.

“I am opposed to anything that deprives people of reasonable choices. In this day and age, consumers should have more choices, not fewer,” Kerry said in a prepared statement. “I’d like to know how this serves the public -- a deal that will force fans to subscribe to DirecTV in order to tune in to their favorite players. A Red Sox fan ought to be able to watch their team without having to switch to DirecTV.”

Representatives from DirecTV and MLB could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, cable executives close to the negotiations said the industry has not been notified by baseball that it’s out of the running to secure rights to the package.

The industry, through In Demand, offered to carry the package for $70 million per year on a nonexclusive basis, according to executives close to In Demand. The sticking point has been cable’s unwillingness to provide mass distribution for baseball’s 24-hour linear channel, expected to launch in 2009, according to Sports Business Journal.

The proposed deal has been slammed by several sports-media writers and bloggers, who claimed that MLB is hurting fans by stealing the package from cable.

[$heriff Tom]

I had read even before this that there is a chance this could be nipped in the bud, so to speak. The outrage is that resounding. Imagine this, me and John Kerry on the same side. I NEVER, ever thought I would stand aside this man for anything. But I'm hoping he raises some Hell and wins this one.

[globix]

He's probably pro NFL Sunday Ticket, that wishy washy fuck

[Chris]

Yeah but you and John Kerry have different agendas. You're in it for the baseball. Kerry is in it for the public exposure of having more homes watching him Hi-Five Jason Varitek.

That shit made me sick. Is it wrong of me to base my vote (or in Kerry's case - lack of a vote) on baseball reasons? Fuck it...I don't care if it is.

[MSBNYY]

I agree 100 percent that this deal shouldn't go through and is malarky. But I don't know if I like the idea of the government interfering with a legal business deal. People have a right to be dicks.

[9]

Well said, Balls.

[elliejay21]

In this case, I think the government needs to intervene. For years, cable has been getting away with what looks an awful lot like a violation of anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws, and this is more of the same. One provider having exclusive rights to baseball does not allow market competition, and therefore is a monopoly, which is illegal.

ENOUGH of this malarky.

[$heriff Tom]

Hear hear!

[MSBNYY]

Hey, one channel broadcasting the Super Bowl also is an exclusive. Fucks the other networks up for one night every year. It's a negotiated contract, not a monopoly. There are alternate ways to watch baseball, from MLB.com, to your local market, and you don't live in your local market or have a computer, wake up, it's 2007.

The way to react to this is for fans to make sure both sides take a bath on this and not buy the DirectTV package.

There is no monopoly here.

Also, baseball has been exempt from anti-trust laws since 1922.

[$heriff Tom]

The one channel that has the Super Bowl is a free channel that everyone who owns a TV gets. Fact is, here if you wish to get the Direct TV baseball package, you need to shell out for Direct TV. Totally different sort of thing, you know this. And there is a VERY GOOD chance that this will end up causing MLB headaches it does not want to have, cause politicos are poking around now.

[MSBNYY]

Yeah, but the point is, it doesn't have to be a free channel.

They now show MLB playoff games on ESPN. There are very few Yankee games on regular TV anymore--only nationally televised games and a few Fridays.

The whole thing stinks, but you have a legal right to be dicks.

There's always the internet package, so it's not even a case of monopoly. However, MLB can be pressured in other ways.