It's Official : Extra Innings Package and 24-Hour Channel Headed Exclusively to Direc

[Lucky]

January 20, 2007
Baseball Roundup
Extra Innings Package and 24-Hour Channel Headed Exclusively to DirecTV
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Major League Baseball is close to announcing a deal that will place its Extra Innings package of out-of-market games exclusively on DirecTV, which will also become the only carrier of a long-planned 24-hour baseball channel.

Extra Innings has been available to 75 million cable households and the two satellite services, DirecTV and the Dish Network. But the new agreement will take it off cable and Dish because DirecTV has agreed to pay $700 million over seven years, according to three executives briefed on the details of the contract but not authorized to speak about them publicly.

InDemand, which has distributed Extra Innings to the cable television industry since 2002, made an estimated $70 million bid to renew its rights, more than triple what it has been paying. Part of its offer included the right to carry the new baseball channel, but not exclusively.

The baseball channel is scheduled to start in 2009.

M.L.B., DirecTV and InDemand officials declined to comment.

DirecTV is also the exclusive outlet for the N.F.L.’s Sunday Ticket package, for which it pays $700 million annually. Sunday Ticket has about 2 million subscribers; Extra Innings about 750,000, according to The Sports Business Journal.

Extra Innings lets subscribers, for a fee, watch about 60 games a week from other local markets except their own.

The only other way that fans without DirecTV will be able to see Extra Innings will be on MLB.com’s mlb.tv service, but they must have high-speed broadband service. About 28 million homes have high-speed service, less than half the number of cable homes in the country. The picture quality of streamed games is not as good as what is available on cable or satellite.

DirecTV is available to about 15 million subscribers.

Last month, Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, who was then the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, cited DirecTV’s exclusivity with Sunday Ticket as a reason to strip the N.F.L. of an antitrust exemption to negotiate all TV contracts for its teams. Comcast, which has complained that it cannot carry Sunday Ticket, is a Philadelphia-based company.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/20/sports/baseball/20base.html?_r=1&ref=baseball&oref=slogin

 

[John Corn]

I hope this isn't true!!

 

[kenny911]

Wow.

 

[BFG]

amazing how companies always choose money over doing the right thing

 

[BlackHitachi]

amazing how companies always choose money over doing the right thing

Very TRUE!

 

[Dish-Direc]

Back To The Senate

Dish can take this to the senate and to savemybaseball.com.....another loss I guess.....go with the secure provider is my moto.....baseball and DTV will benefit.

 

[Clancy]

Using Lucky's numbers in the opening post, of which I do not dispute, Sunday Ticket costs Direct $700. million dollars a year and has 2 million subs paying for it.
If my math serves me correctly, Direct needs to take in from each sub. $350. per season just to break even.
Is that happening, or is Direct losing money on Sunday Ticket??

Anyway folks, regardless of what the football and baseball rocket scientists who run their leagues do, we do not have to suffer for the loss on Dish Network.

I will keep Dish Network subscription going and continue to watch NFL Sunday Ticket and Major League Baseball Extra Innings at a far better price than what a Direct TV viewer will pay by subscribing to Star Choice where both these sports are available. :up

 

[OoTLink]

Who cares. I don't even give a damn about sports anyway. I guess those who like to waste more money seeing people who we all know don't know or give a crap about us can gladly huh?

 

[gopherscot]

Who cares. I don't even give a damn about sports anyway. I guess those who like to waste more money seeing people who we all know don't know or give a crap about us can gladly huh?

Huh ... most of us guys like sports. We all watch movies as well ... but do we stop paying for movie channels because the movie stars don't give a crap about us?

 

[oggusfoo]

Isn't there like some federal commission that oversees communication who should have a final say in this? Clancy, the NFL package is the only reason to choose D* over Dish, well that and Setanta.

 

[Tvfan24/7]

Some of the worst news of the day. Any chance of an appeal by Dish Network and the cable companies?

 

[JohnH]

Well, if the price goes up and no additional games are provided, DIRECTV may be left holding the bag here. Interactive thingies will not cut it either.

This is one sure way for MLB to cut the out of market distribution.

 

[Madtown HD Junkie]

The stupidity of MLB contiues to rear its ugly head. First they give up on day playoff baseball because they make more $$$ during the higher demos at night which in turn has deprived a whole generation from growing up from it. They also get rid of Twi-night doubleheaders and doubleheaders in general which has the same affect. They refuse to implement a real salary cap where my Milwaukee Brewers can compete in the same sense as the Green Bay Packers compete in the NFl financially. They drag their feet on drug enforcement policies of consequence. And now they want to limit their market of EI to just D*? How dumb are they?

 

[nuts4scuba]

Some of the worst news of the day. Any chance of an appeal by Dish Network and the cable companies?

I guess Dish could try and offer 800 million and then add a 6.99 value added MLB fee
to all receivers.

 

[Tampa8]

Credit to those who first posted they thought something was up!

This may hurt Dish some, but really I can't see it hurting as much as Dish actually paying that amount. While there are some who want out of market games because they have moved from their home city, the vast majority get the games of the team they want to see. Baseball is my #1 sport, but I don't get the baseball package, if I really need to, I listen to a big game of another team on XM radio. I would not have thought it prudent for Dish to pay that kind of money and risk higher prices or less money available for other things, so I think this is not that great for Direct TV.
Worse for MLB, taking it off cable and Dish will result in one thing only, less people paying for it and watching it. There can't be that many people who will or can switch from cable or Dish just to get this on Direct TV. This is not sour grapes, I am happy Dish did not go for this at this cost.

 

[Hall]

Some of the worst news of the day. Any chance of an appeal by Dish Network and the cable companies?

An appeal ?? Was this a court decision and I missed it ?? This is a contract between private parties and it's no court's business, nor open to appeals.

 

[Hall]

Huh ... most of us guys like sports.

There's a huge difference between liking something and opening up one's wallet though and the numbers prove this.... Dish isn't hurting because they don't carry NFL Sunday Ticket and the baseball deal won't make any difference either.

 

[Tvfan24/7]

Yes I realize that it isn't a court decision. I just wanted to know if Dish Network and the cable companies had any chance in fighting this? The customer is getting screwed in the end.

 

[Peter Parker]

Of course this is NOT officail yet.

 

[vinnyv07]

Wow....this would be a bad move by baseball. I think that if you look at the big picture, the more people that have access to the games the more cash flow you will generate. Alot of times the cash wins out. This is a really bad move.