The MLB Network

[Elster88]

Starts 1/1/09 according to a commercial at 8:18 EST on ESPN.

Why have I not heard more about this?

[metirish]

First I heard of it.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Elster88 wrote: Starts 1/1/09 according to a commercial at 8:18 EST on ESPN. Why have I not heard more about this?

You haven't been paying attention?

[bmfc1]

The Baseball Network was the entity that MLB held out for in exchange for returning the Extra Innings package to cable. Before the '07 season, MLB announced that EI was going to Direct TV on an exclusive basis. When fans (if that mattered to MLB), the cable industry, and some in the media, created a huge fuss, MLB said that it would restore EI on cable but only if the cable companies guaranteed placement on, at minimum, digital basic (i.e. not a digital sports tier) for the Baseball Network. The agreement was reached the day before the season began, thus ensuring wide distribution of the new channel. Even the NFL had to have been jealous because the NFL Network does not have the broad carriage that MLB's channel will have.

If MLB was smarter, I would think that MLB had this all planned, and pulled EI from cable knowing that there would be a big outcry. However, it is MLB, where the home run derby lasts for 3 hours, so I'm sure that it was just a lucky coincidence for MLB.

[soupcan]

What will be on the channel?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

They were talking about a Saturday night Game of the Week, but mostly, non-game progranmming I would guess similar to MLB.tv and the radio broadcasts (talk, highlight shows, fantasy stuff, etc)

[soupcan]

Yawn.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Yeah, it doesn't sound so good. A bunch of shows like Loudmouths and Wheelhouse.

If they show classic games and baseball movies and documentaries, that would be interesting. But shout-fests, highlight shows, and fantasy chatter? I can do without any of that.

[Frayed Knot]

]If they show classic games and baseball movies and documentaries, that would be interesting

I'm sure there'll be lots of that stuff too.
These specialty channels are essentially self-promotion vehicles and have so much air-time to fill they'll show just about anything and buying up the rights to most old movies is generally cheap.

MLB needed to get the thing on basic cable packages because they knew very few would pay for it seperately. The NFL channel is mostly on the pay tier because DirecTV gave them a fortune for exclusivity rights to their 'Sunday Ticket' package (the 'Extra-Innings' equivelent which is where the real money is) and the cable companies, pissed at being shut out of that, are in no hurry to pay for the NFL's lesser, self-promoting offering even now that they've added exclusive weekly games to it.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

NBA TV is pretty good at running classic games. I don't have the NFL Network, so I don't know what they do. If it was a bunch of classic NFL films productions, I'd probably wind up watching it way too much. Dun-dudahdudah DUN DUN DUN The frozen tundra...

Anyway, yeah it'd be cool to be able to watch old baseball games, but I suspect the programming will be more of the "talking heads with wrong-headed opinions" format.

[Frayed Knot]

="Vince Coleman Firecracker"]I don't have the NFL Network, so I don't know what they do. If it was a bunch of classic NFL films productions, I'd probably wind up watching it way too much. Dun-dudahdudah DUN DUN DUN The frozen tundra...

The NFL channel runs a ton of old stuff - mostly playoff and every SB - seeing as how their games were all network deals to start with so they own the rights to everything that's ever been televised. It's not like they have to first buy the rights to them from a local station.

]Anyway, yeah it'd be cool to be able to watch old baseball games, but I suspect the programming will be more of the "talking heads with wrong-headed opinions" format.

Yup, because a big reason behind all these owned channels is to try to cut into ESPN's current near-monopoly as the place to go for pre/post-game analysis/highlights and general yapping.

[Guest AG/DC]

Seems to me that programming actual baseball, or interesting side-stories about baseball, would be a worthwhile flanking maneuver to Blowhard TV

[bmfc1]

Saturdays, 8 AM - 9 AM: Madonna teaches the tenets of Kabbalah. Special guest: Alex Rodriguez.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think I saw that on the MILF network.

[Guest themetfairy]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I think I saw that on the MILF network.

ROFL

[metirish]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I think I saw that on the MILF network.

Wallop.


I look forward to original programming live from the Winter meetings , the draft should be a big show for them.

[Frayed Knot]

metirish wrote: I look forward to original programming live from the Winter meetings , the draft should be a big show for them.

There's 4 days down, 361 still to fill.

[Guest AG/DC]

See, I'd rather watch John Montefusco match up with Kevin Kobel in 1979 than watch draft coverage.

[Frayed Knot]

Real nationwide audience for that one.

[metirish]

I suppose they would have the Hall of Fame weekend.

Obviously they need a sked of live games.

How many years are left on the current TV contracts?

[TransMonk]

Everything stays the way it is now with through 2013:

FOX: 26 Saturday afternoon games; All-Star Game; one League Championship Series; World Series

TBS: 26 Sunday afternoon games; regular-season tiebreak games, if needed; Division Series games; one League Championship Series

TNT: Division series games not aired on sister network TBS

ESPN: Sunday night games and two additional games per week; Opening Day games

on edit: ESPN also gets the HR Derby (which apparently is it's highest watched program during the summer), and the ability to do live cut ins during Baseball Tonight.