Batter Up: Baseball Steps to the Plate with Network.
Byline: ROB GLOSTER
Major League Baseball is putting final touches on a plan that would set in motion a 24/7 hardball cable net. Franchise bosses are expected to approve the proposal this week during the quarterly owners' meeting in Philadelphia. While MLB confirmed launch plans will be on the table tomorrow, little else is known about the look, feel and budget of the enterprise. There are a few precedents baseball might want to use as guidelines. For example, there's little chance the net's initial lineup will include live game telecasts, as contracts with ESPN, Fox and DirecTV are already locked up for at least next season. MLB initially may take an approach similar to NFL Network, which does not carry regular-season games live. "We were really invented to be complementary, to fill the 6-day void for fans who can't get enough football," NFL Net's Seth Palansky says. While NBA TV has aggressively programmed live games (96 this season, 50 in HD), it took a few years to morph from an online entity into a full-on 24/7 property, NBA TV svp Ed Desser says. Today, NBA TV is the "ultimate resource" for round ball fans, there is no other more important job for it to do," he says. And with 1,192 games/yr, plus summer league & WNBA play, there's never really any downtime. That alone could make NBA TV a fit model for MLB's TV future; from spring training to the World Series, baseball is an 8-month, 2,430- game sport. -- Carriage: NFL Net is seen in some 16mln DirecTV, Charter and Insight HHs, along with areas served by smaller ops. NBA TV has deals with Comcast, Cox, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV and EchoStar, and has a potential reach of 60mln HHs. Perhaps NFL Net's numbers will increase in time--it celebrates its 1st anniversary in Nov--or as ops begin to realize its value as a back channel to the league itself. (It wouldn't hurt for cable to get Sunday Ticket, either; after all, the NFL's the only pro league tied to a single distribution platform.) Has that made a difference in op interest? Palansky's had the same thought, but says it's early yet. "I think we're getting through to them."
Byline: ROB GLOSTER
Major League Baseball is putting final touches on a plan that would set in motion a 24/7 hardball cable net. Franchise bosses are expected to approve the proposal this week during the quarterly owners' meeting in Philadelphia. While MLB confirmed launch plans will be on the table tomorrow, little else is known about the look, feel and budget of the enterprise. There are a few precedents baseball might want to use as guidelines. For example, there's little chance the net's initial lineup will include live game telecasts, as contracts with ESPN, Fox and DirecTV are already locked up for at least next season. MLB initially may take an approach similar to NFL Network, which does not carry regular-season games live. "We were really invented to be complementary, to fill the 6-day void for fans who can't get enough football," NFL Net's Seth Palansky says. While NBA TV has aggressively programmed live games (96 this season, 50 in HD), it took a few years to morph from an online entity into a full-on 24/7 property, NBA TV svp Ed Desser says. Today, NBA TV is the "ultimate resource" for round ball fans, there is no other more important job for it to do," he says. And with 1,192 games/yr, plus summer league & WNBA play, there's never really any downtime. That alone could make NBA TV a fit model for MLB's TV future; from spring training to the World Series, baseball is an 8-month, 2,430- game sport. -- Carriage: NFL Net is seen in some 16mln DirecTV, Charter and Insight HHs, along with areas served by smaller ops. NBA TV has deals with Comcast, Cox, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV and EchoStar, and has a potential reach of 60mln HHs. Perhaps NFL Net's numbers will increase in time--it celebrates its 1st anniversary in Nov--or as ops begin to realize its value as a back channel to the league itself. (It wouldn't hurt for cable to get Sunday Ticket, either; after all, the NFL's the only pro league tied to a single distribution platform.) Has that made a difference in op interest? Palansky's had the same thought, but says it's early yet. "I think we're getting through to them."
