Major League Baseball is a huge, huge property for Fox and Turner Broadcasting. And it's entirely possible that they could remain in command of the game when new deals are put in place with MLB.
Or, as the L.A. Times' Joe Flint reports, what happens when those deals are done could "radically alter the media landscape."
It's believed that Turner's TBS wants to expand its territory. But to do that, they'd have to partner with a broadcast network (CBS is said to have been approached) for the World Series and possibly the All-Star Game, as MLB is adamant that those remain on broadcast TV.
And then there's NBC, which could use something besides football to shore up its miserable ratings (the network's mediocre slate of new fall shows won't help; let's be honest about that). The issue there would be football, which NBC airs on Sunday nights. That's sure to be a sticking point.
Fox seems likely to hang on to what it has now and Flint speculates that the network could spin some of its regular-season games to its Fuel cable network, which could be rebranded and recast as a broad-based sports network to rival ESPN.
One thing's for sure: MLB wants a new deal in place before this year's champion is crowned. That means we'll see who's serious and who's just looking soon enough.
0 comments:
Post a Comment