MLB today announced a new 8 year TV deal with Fox and TBS starting in 2014:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...r_mlb&c_id=mlb
The really big news is finally starting with this contact in 2014 they are not going to black the regional Fox games out on MLB Extra Innings and MLB.TV.
Games included in the FOX Saturday national exclusive windows, which were previously blacked out to MLB Extra Innings and MLB.TV viewers, will be available beginning in 2014.
Originally Posted by Reds Fanatic
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."
http://dalmady.blogspot.com
It's a step in the right direction for blackout relief. Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't have a measurable effect on cable/sat viewing, so that more of the blackout rules might be relaxed.
Between this and the Astros move to the AL, I will hardly ever have to be bothered with blackouts down here again!
/r/reds
Yuck!
I have no issues with Fox's baseball coverage. I dislike Joe Buck but for the most part I think they do a good job during the season and the playoffs. It always saddens me (if thats the right word) that the first round of the MLB playoffs are on TBS. TBS may be a step up from Spike but thats about it.
TBS is a top ten station, could be a lot worse.
http://www.deadline.com/2011/12/2011...nite-tbs-down/
Good news on the black outs. Bad news about FOX. I don't like their production at all. I was hoping NBC would get the rights back.
Reds Fan Since 1971
Any television rights awarded between now and the next 12-18 months were going to be to FOX as they still had exclusive negotiating rights until the contract lapsed. So if there were going to be any announcement of a new TV deal this soon, there wasn't any mystery who it was going to be.
"No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference." ~Tommy Lasorda
TBS is a top 10 basic cable station. Behind the History Channel and Fox News. When you add in Fox, NBC, CBS, and ABC you have a station outside of the top 10 carrying your playoffs. It could be worse.......but it should be a heck of a lot better.
NBC getting MLB back would have been epic!!!!
"Strickland Propane... Taste the meat, not the heat." - Hank Hill
Excellent news. I fired off more than ticked off email to MLB over the course of the year over the ridiculous blackouts.
Games are won on run differential -- scoring more than your opponent. Runs are runs, scored or prevented they all count the same. Worry about scoring more and allowing fewer, not which positions contribute to which side of the equation or how "consistent" you are at your current level of performance.
The Fox deal precludes them from airing on other broadcast networks. So ABC, NBC, CBS are out. Fox doesn't seem into airing the lower rated early series and doesn't want all of their October primetime dedicated to baseball. This leaves cable if they want to air the games on television. The only stations ahead of TBS that are any kind of a fit are USA, which has no sports, TNT, a sister station of TBS, and ESPN, which coasts in October off of 24/7 football coverage.
For the sake of this discussion, ratings don't matter one iota. Especially not something as specific as prime time only ratings (which is what the linked article was reporting on). During those three hours, TBS shows nonstop reruns of "Family Guy" and other sitcoms; they provide alternative "comfort viewing" rather than must-see first run shows, and actually do pretty well with it (probably VERY well, once you factor in how much cheaper reruns of sitcoms are versus first run shows).
What is important, and what you should give a poop about, is TBS' cable penetration. And I'm not even gonna bother looking it up; I'm just gonna tell you that it's probably 98% or higher. Unless you're one of those hipster weenisses who purposely slums it without cable/satellite, you have TBS. And you have it smack dab in the middle of line-up (no going looking for it up in the 400s because it's some weirdo fetish channel). If TBS decides to show something that IS must-see and first run, only the developmentally challenged would have a hard time finding it.
In terms of availability and profile, there is pretty much no difference between TBS and ESPN. I mean, there are differences in terms of production and on-air personalities (and I've tended to find TBS lacking in this area, but no more so than any broadcast featuring Tim F. McCarver), but in terms of viewers being able to watch? Zero.
[NOTE FOR THE SAKE OF CLARITY: there is a difference in availability between TBS and FOX. But it'd be the same difference between ESPN and FOX, or any cable network and FOX. Last I checked, about 14% of households were without cable -- be they an aforementioned hipster weenis or the elderly or the thrifty or whatever -- and that actually is a fairly substantial block of viewers who can get FOX over the air, but not TBS.]
Rick
Sucks that it doesn't include the 2013 season, but this is still great news. Glad to see MLB right this, even if it took far too long.
I really wish they'd relax all black out rules for the MLB TV. It's crazy, they don't black me out of my FSN (because of non sell out or whatever), but they do on the MLB TV. Or give me the option to pay $50 more or whatever to have the rights to watch my in market team. Heck I'd pay $100.
Last I saw, TBS had just under 105 million households. So given the last estimates I saw of cable-ready houses was 114 million, it's about a 92% penetration rate. But as you said, that's pretty strong.
"No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference." ~Tommy Lasorda
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