A report by The New York Times Monday added to the intrigue surrounding Major League Baseball TV rights.
Major League Baseball may agree to a new television contract with only one or two major media corporations, The New York Times reported Monday. Currently, MLB has separate deals with three — News Corporation (FOX), Disney (ESPN) and Time Warner (Turner Sports).
According to the report, MLB has proposed “an all-encompassing deal to one media giant for a game of the week, the All-Star Game and the postseason,” though that would be “unlikely.”
Of the four major team sports, only the NHL has an agreement with one media corporation (Comcast). The NBA has national television deals with two (Disney and Time Warner), and the NFL has relationships with four (Comcast, Disney, News Corporation, and CBS Corporation).
In another interesting bit of news, the Times reported that Turner Sports would “link up” with CBS in the event that MLB required that “all bidders attach themselves to a broadcaster.” Turner and CBS made a combined bid on NCAA Tournament television rights in 2010 and have now televised the event for two years.
(Monday’s news from The New York Times)
