While ESPN has already locked up a piece of baseball TV rights for eight additional years, the most intriguing negotiations are yet to come.
Rights to the Major League Baseball Division Series, League Championship Series, and World Series — to say nothing of the MLB All-Star Game and the Saturday "Game of the Week" — remain up for grabs, with some combination of Fox Sports, NBC Sports, or Turner Sports/CBS expected to bid.
Currently, rights to those marquee events are divvied up between Fox Sports and Turner Sports. FOX, paying $257 million/year through the end of next season, holds the rights to the the World Series, one half of the League Championship Series, the regular season "Game of the Week," and the MLB All-Star Game.
Turner Sports, paying $149 million/year, holds the rights to the entire Division Series and the other half of the League Championship Series.
According to a report in Sports Business Journal Monday, the Fox and Turner Sports deals could be combined into one massive television package. Both FOX and CBS/Turner Sports have reportedly proposed deals that would have them acquire the consolidated package.
Presented is an overview of the networks involved in MLB rights negotiations: