Tuesday, April 06, 2004
MLB Channel Faces Hurdles
Steve Zipay of Newsday evaluates the concept of an all-baseball cable channel similar to those already operated by the NFL and NBA. He notes that such a channel could not offer live game broadcasts until after the current TV and cable contracts expire.
Moreover, MLB already offers nearly all out-of-market games to interested fans via the Extra Innings cable package and the streaming video on its own Website, which simply pick up and redistribute the local broadcast or cable feed. MLB.com also offers several hours/day of baseball-related programming, as well as prepackaged game (and even player-specific) highlights. It's hard to see what unmet demand would be served by a new Baseball Channel.
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Steve Zipay of Newsday evaluates the concept of an all-baseball cable channel similar to those already operated by the NFL and NBA. He notes that such a channel could not offer live game broadcasts until after the current TV and cable contracts expire.
Moreover, MLB already offers nearly all out-of-market games to interested fans via the Extra Innings cable package and the streaming video on its own Website, which simply pick up and redistribute the local broadcast or cable feed. MLB.com also offers several hours/day of baseball-related programming, as well as prepackaged game (and even player-specific) highlights. It's hard to see what unmet demand would be served by a new Baseball Channel.
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