J
Joseph_Gallant
Guest
On an earlier thread, Enbycee wrote about what could happen to national television coverage of Major League Baseball after Fox's contract with the league ends following the 2006 season:
> I think ESPN getting exclusive rights and farming-out the All-Star Game,
> World Series, some playoff games and perhaps some kind of a Saturday Game Of
> The Week to ABC is a strong possibility......
I can see ESPN getting exclusive national-television rights to Major-League Baseball beginning in 2007, but I don't think ESPN will sell-off rights to as many games as Enbycee thinks to a broadcast-TV network.
I think ESPN will get exclusive rights, and sell-off only some postseason games to a broadcast network:
* Two first-round playoff games (one on a Saturday afternoon, the other on a Sunday afternoon)
* One game of the American League Championship Series (on a weekend afternoon)
* One game of the National League Championship Series (also on a weekend afternoon)
* The World Series
I think that ESPN ideally would want to carry all the playoffs and World Series, but were they to do this, there would be considerable outcry in Washington ("the World Series is only on cable and a lot of people won't be able to watch it!") and it might become an issue in the 2008 Presidential election. So I think ESPN will offer a very limited number of postseason games, including the World Series, to a broadcast network. But you may still see ESPN carry these games on a late-night tape delay after their live broadcast on an over-the-air TV network.
ESPN would, in addition to what they do now, carry a regular-season game on Saturday afternoons, the All-Star Game, nearly all first-round playoff games and most League Championship Series games.
Although ABC and ESPN are both under the same ownership, I think ABC might pass on such a package for two reasons:
(1) Two of the playoff games (one first-round, one LCS) would be on Satuday afternoons, which would cause havoc with ABC's college-football schedule.
(2) At least one game, maybe two games (if it goes the seven-game limit) of the World Series would be played on a Sunday night. Would ABC pre-empt their hit series "Desperate Housewives" once or twice during the November sweeps to carry the World Series?? I say "during the November sweeps", because I think that under the next MLB national TV contracts, the postseason scheduling will be changed to move the World Series into the November sweeps.
If ESPN gets the full MLB national-TV package starting in 2007 and sells-off the rights to a few postseason games (including the World Series) to a broadcast network, I think Fox has a good chance to land this limited postseason TV package. Fox would still carry the World Series, but would no longer carry any regular-season games or the All-Star Game.
> I think ESPN getting exclusive rights and farming-out the All-Star Game,
> World Series, some playoff games and perhaps some kind of a Saturday Game Of
> The Week to ABC is a strong possibility......
I can see ESPN getting exclusive national-television rights to Major-League Baseball beginning in 2007, but I don't think ESPN will sell-off rights to as many games as Enbycee thinks to a broadcast-TV network.
I think ESPN will get exclusive rights, and sell-off only some postseason games to a broadcast network:
* Two first-round playoff games (one on a Saturday afternoon, the other on a Sunday afternoon)
* One game of the American League Championship Series (on a weekend afternoon)
* One game of the National League Championship Series (also on a weekend afternoon)
* The World Series
I think that ESPN ideally would want to carry all the playoffs and World Series, but were they to do this, there would be considerable outcry in Washington ("the World Series is only on cable and a lot of people won't be able to watch it!") and it might become an issue in the 2008 Presidential election. So I think ESPN will offer a very limited number of postseason games, including the World Series, to a broadcast network. But you may still see ESPN carry these games on a late-night tape delay after their live broadcast on an over-the-air TV network.
ESPN would, in addition to what they do now, carry a regular-season game on Saturday afternoons, the All-Star Game, nearly all first-round playoff games and most League Championship Series games.
Although ABC and ESPN are both under the same ownership, I think ABC might pass on such a package for two reasons:
(1) Two of the playoff games (one first-round, one LCS) would be on Satuday afternoons, which would cause havoc with ABC's college-football schedule.
(2) At least one game, maybe two games (if it goes the seven-game limit) of the World Series would be played on a Sunday night. Would ABC pre-empt their hit series "Desperate Housewives" once or twice during the November sweeps to carry the World Series?? I say "during the November sweeps", because I think that under the next MLB national TV contracts, the postseason scheduling will be changed to move the World Series into the November sweeps.
If ESPN gets the full MLB national-TV package starting in 2007 and sells-off the rights to a few postseason games (including the World Series) to a broadcast network, I think Fox has a good chance to land this limited postseason TV package. Fox would still carry the World Series, but would no longer carry any regular-season games or the All-Star Game.