ESPN & MLB reach 8 year agreement

[Sean Mota]

Major League Baseball, ESPN reach new eight-year television agreement
ESPN to air up to 80 games per year, highlighted by Monday, Wednesday and exclusive Sunday night telecasts

Source

Major League Baseball and ESPN have reached a new eight-year agreement which grants ESPN the right to televise up to 80 Major League Baseball regular-season games per season across the ESPN networks through 2013. The joint announcement was made today by Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig and ESPN/ABC Sports President George Bodenheimer.
ESPN will telecast three Major League Baseball windows including Monday nights, Wednesday nights, and the exclusive "Sunday Night Baseball" series. Also, ESPN will continue to produce the popular "Baseball Tonight" series. This agreement provides for a full slate of MLB programming on ESPN, the preeminent cable network, and still allows Major League Baseball to create additional national telecast packages for distribution through other outlets, including the Baseball Channel. In addition, the agreement includes rights for ESPN to include Major League Baseball programming as part of its distribution of the ESPN networks via certain new technologies, ensuring that MLB games will continue to reach the broadest possible audience.

"On behalf of Major League Baseball, I am pleased that we will continue our excellent relationship with ESPN for another eight years," said Commissioner Selig. "The magnitude of ESPN's commitment - both in terms of economics and number of years - underscores the vitality of our game and its value as a television property. It is yet another manifestation of baseball's increasing popularity and illustrates what I have said many times, that this is the golden era of our sport.

"We are dedicated to bringing Major League Baseball to as many fans as possible through a strong lineup of media partners. Enhancing our partnership with ESPN is an important first step in that process. ESPN has been and will continue to be instrumental in the renaissance of the game as it settles into the 21st Century."

Bodenheimer said: "This caps a series of comprehensive, 'new world' agreements, clearly demonstrating that ESPN and Major League Baseball share the same vision - to serve fans through the highest quality content and cutting edge technology. Today, we have significantly enhanced the value of our summer cornerstone television programming with increased team appearances on Sunday nights, extensive blackout lift rights on Monday nights and more game and studio flexibility to showcase the great sport of baseball like no other media company."

Other details of the agreement include:

- The ESPN Monday night series will include the ability to lift blackouts in local MLB Club markets up to three times per club, per year.
- The rights to several of the Major League Baseball All-Star Week events, including the All-Star Home Run Derby, Taco Bell All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game, and the XM Satellite Radio All-Star Futures Game.
- An exclusive telecast of the Sunday night, MLB season-opening game.
- Full coverage of Major League Baseball Opening Day.
- Up to 10 spring training games in each year of the agreement.
- ESPN receives the right to produce a new live pre-game, batting practice program which will generally originate from the site of ESPN's Monday Night telecast.
- ESPN will air six one-hour specials produced exclusively by Major League Baseball Productions, the Emmy® award-winning television and video production division of Major League Baseball, in each year of the agreement.

 

[Sean Mota]

No playoffs agreements?

 

[Chado]

Is this pretty close to their current deal?

 

[BFG]

ah thank god, we don't need oln trying to steal more sh*t

 

[Sean Mota]

doesn't their current deal carries playoff games, 1s round?

 

[korsjs]

they need to start giving the devil rays some love.

 

[cablewithaview]

ESPN in $2.4 billion baseball deal

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Baseball will return to ESPN and its many platforms through 2013, under the terms of a $2.4 billion deal announced Wednesday between the sports cable giant and Major League Baseball.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but sources said ESPN was paying MLB $297 million a year for the regular-season rights to 80 games. It's a boost from the $196 million a year baseball has been getting from ESPN for the TV rights since 2002.

The deal includes the exclusive Sunday night plus less-than-exclusive Monday and Wednesday night telecasts. That adds to previously announced radio and new-media rights that ESPN and MLB had negotiated this year, which will put baseball content on such devices as wireless phones and PDAs.

"The future of our national pastime, the great national pastime, is clearly represented in these agreements," ESPN chief George Bodenheimer said.

Details of the deal include no change in the number of national regular-season telecasts on ESPN and ESPN2 -- about 80 a year -- but exclusivity on Sunday nights and regular-season games (not exclusive) on Mondays and Wednesdays.

It also gives ESPN continuing rights to the Home Run Derby and other All-Star programing, though Fox has carried the All-Star Game itself. "Baseball Tonight" and "SportsCenter" will continue to show highlights from games in progress and a new Monday afternoon show will focus on batting practice from the scene of the Monday night game.

ESPN has carried baseball since 1990.

This is the first of MLB's next round of rights deals. Outstanding is the big national broadcast package, held by Fox, that includes much of the postseason, the All-Star Game and 18 Saturday afternoon games that runs through the end of 2006. Turner's deal with baseball for a national platform for
Atlanta Braves games on TBS runs through the end of the 2007 season.

Looming out of view for now is the possibility of Comcast's OLN (Outdoor Life Network) getting into the act, too. OLN recently picked up a multiyear rights deal to the NHL and is rumored to be looking at baseball as another step toward challenging ESPN's dominance in sports media.

MLB commissioner Bud Selig wouldn't swing at that pitch when questioned Wednesday, saying only that the new agreement with ESPN gives MLB the flexibility to proceed with other national deals. The only other national deal is with Turner right now. Selig said baseball would proceed "in our very cautious but aggressive manner."

Bodenheimer was more circumspect. He said OLN wasn't a factor at all.

"I'm only looking at it in the context of what it does for my company," Bodenheimer said.

Games also could appear on the Baseball Channel, which is MLB's planned cable channel devoted to baseball a la NFL Network and NBA TV. MLB hasn't yet set a date on when the channel will be launched, but it's possible that some games could appear on that.

"We preserved our rights to that," MLB president and chief operating officer Bob Dupuy said.

Bodenheimer said with the baseball -- and ESPN's taking over of Monday Night Football beginning next fall -- that Monday will be a powerhouse for ESPN. He said that to avoid conflicts between football and baseball, there was the possibility that ESPN would move baseball to ESPN2.

"We haven't firmed up precisely how and when we're going to do that," Bodenheimer said.

 

[roachxp]

Comcast can still get a package, there is a 150 game one, but Sunday night and Wednesday night are exclusive to E$PN.