I KNEW I loved iN Demand!
by baseballgirl on Mar 21, 2007 11:07 AM PDT
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PrintMLB is not done with cable...yet
IN Demand said Wednesday it will offer to match the terms of DirecTV's $700 million, seven-year deal with Major League Baseball on behalf of its owners, who are affiliates of the companies that own Time Warner, Comcast and Cox cable systems.
As part of the offer, iN Demand also said it would carry The Baseball Channel when it launches in 2009 to at least the same number of subscribers who will get the channel on DirecTV.
"As the current home for 'Extra Innings' for more than 200,000 cable subscribers, we have extended ourselves to do our best to be able to continue to provide this package to baseball fans and our customers," iN Demand president Robert Jacobson said. "This offer meets all the conditions set forth by MLB last week.
Nothing has been officially announced yet, but this could be HUGE news for those of us with only cable options.
UPDATE: MLB doesn't like the offer:
Stay Tuned: Joe Blanton takes on the Royals tonight at 6:05PM
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Dish Network
Guess the Dish/Echostar users are the only people that will be out? Or does InDemand include Dish network?
I think those folks who are also out of market
are out of luck.
Also, isn't it OnDemand?
Dish Network and iN Demand...
...are separate. iN Demand represents cable companies.
by FormerHuntsvilleStar on Mar 21, 2007 12:05 PM PDT up reply actions
Excellent!
I have DirecTV so I was going to watch it anyhow. BUT I thought it was a terrible decision to screw so many baseball fans from watching their favorite teams.
Now if we could only get this whole team in market viewing area thing figured out....
UGH, if it weren't for my A's I'd ignore MLB, and just to to minor league games all the time.
Bad news: Dupuy statement
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/s...
However, Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said in a statement Wednesday that iN Demand's offer wasn't adequate.
"The communication sent to our office today by iN Demand is not responsive to that offer," DuPuy said. "In spite of their public comments, the response falls short of nearly all of the material conditions (among them requirements for carriage of The Baseball Channel and their share of the rights fees for Extra Innings) set forth in the Major League Baseball offer made to them on March 9."
by FormerHuntsvilleStar on Mar 21, 2007 12:06 PM PDT reply actions
This isn't done yet
But, I'm glad that InDemand is at least "playing the game". This will probably end up in court, which speaks volumes to the lack of business sense in the MLB offices.
Hopefully it resolves soon so that those of us outside the Bay Area can see the games (without watching a grainy picture on our computer for three hours).
What gets me is MLB's arrogance
They think their precious Baseball Channel is the gold egg that everyone will be clamoring for. How's that working out for the NFL Network? And that league's more popular!
And then you have Bud Selig saying "DirecTV people tell me that the number of people who can't get DirecTV is so small that it's unbelievable" (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/john_donovan/03/21/selig.qa/1.html) -- probably because it isn't believeable -- as if all of us can just switch DirecTV in a snap.
And why do they need all that cash from DirecTV to LIMIT their product -- yet baseball's boasting about how awash in cash it's in?
"Lack of business sense" seems like a gross understatement.
by FormerHuntsvilleStar on Mar 21, 2007 12:44 PM PDT up reply actions
I imagine it is working well for the NFL Network
now that they have exclusive regular season games on their channel. That is a huge factor.
by OaktownPower on Mar 21, 2007 12:46 PM PDT up reply actions
Not really...
...because cable companies are balking at the spike in subscriber fees the NFL is charging. The eight Thursday night games (that were originally going to be on other networks) isn't worth the extra cost. And a market didn't lose it's home team's game if it was on the NFL Network because they were broadcast over-the-air.
by FormerHuntsvilleStar on Mar 21, 2007 12:58 PM PDT up reply actions
It's the same with just about every channel
Cable and satellite balk at ESPN every time they bump up the fees for their network package, but the operators keep paying for it. Right now, Sunday Ticket is still exclusive to DirecTV, but NFL Network scored a major coup by making itself must-carry on cable digital for some Comcast systems and a few others. Compare that to NBATV, which is also available to DirecTV subscribers without ordering League Pass, but isn't available on cable unless League Pass is ordered.
As I understand it, MLB wants The Baseball Channel to have an arrangement similar to the NFL network. It doesn't have nearly as much leverage to do so, but they'll keep trying.
I don't think I could hate Selig more
He has NO IDEA what he's talking about. This isn't a negligable amount of fans it's affecting.
by baseballgirl on Mar 21, 2007 12:53 PM PDT up reply actions
Seems to me
He knows what he's talking about, but he's just lying and believes in the equation (700 million+bad fan access)>(less money+good fan access).
Smart move bu indemand
It doesnt match everything, but to the general public person, it looks like they are trying to make an effort and totally puts the ball back in MLB's court and makes them look like the bad guy when it doesnt happen.
Great point...
Just by putting things out in the media, they are showing that they want to help the fans, that they are interested in keeping baseball on cable, and it does force MLB's hand, and makes them look just TERRBLE.
by baseballgirl on Mar 21, 2007 12:52 PM PDT up reply actions
That's exactly what they are doing
I believe all In Demand did today was to publicly state the terms of the final offer they made to MLB a couple of weeks ago...the offer that was rejected in favor of the modified DirecTV deal.
As OaktownPower and baseballgirl suggest, this was a public relations move designed to put MLB and DirecTV back in defensive mode in advance of the hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee which will take place next Tuesday morning (March 27). John Kerry, who has been the most outspoken Congressional critic of the DirecTV deal, is on the committee. Unfortunately Arlen Specter, who has been equally outspoken in opposition to DirecTV/NFL Sunday Ticket exclusivity, is not a member. It would be wonderful to see MLB, the NFL and DirecTV come under a double-barreled bipartisan assault from both Kerry and Specter.
by cynthia2003 on Mar 21, 2007 2:17 PM PDT up reply actions
ick
That is horrible business move by In Demand by going public and saying to the media that they have matched the offer when MLB comes right back and states that In Demand did not even match any part of the plan offered by Direct TV. It makes MLB look silly and really makes In Demand sound dumb.
Right....
But it shows that inDemand did make some sort of effort to keeping the package. Whether or not they intended to match it fully, the average fan will see they made an effort and stay mad at MLB for turning down the offer. All about public perception.
by OaktownPower on Mar 21, 2007 2:24 PM PDT up reply actions
does this affect the A's FSN/Action 36 schedule?
i hope not.
i don't care about watching other teams.
but, if good ol' Bud Seaweed is trying to destroy local viewing; then i'm gonna really blow a gasket!!
by GrewUpAtTheColiseum on Mar 21, 2007 1:35 PM PDT reply actions
No, Doesnt impact that.
Don't care about watching other teams? Wow.
by OaktownPower on Mar 21, 2007 2:22 PM PDT up reply actions
I would say that fully half of AN lives...
...out of market for the A's. I know I do.
by baseballgirl on Mar 21, 2007 2:32 PM PDT up reply actions
This Is Terrible, but Par for the Course
It has always been about money in baseball, going back to the brewery moguls who owned the early teams. BBG and I live in SoCal, so this is particularly hurtful. BBG, for what I gather, would also watch any Team A take on any Team B, such is her devotion to the Grand Old Game (I am not so devoted). Still, last year, without getting Extra Innings, I saw over 30 A's games on TV, because my cable system would offer Preview Days several times during the season (and I would jump on those games), plus I would watch all the games they played against the Angels of South Passaic on our local outlets. Now it looks like I'll be down to A's-Angels games, whatever appears on ESPN, and, of course, the Playoffs and the World Series. (Please God, let it happen!)
exclusivity
It's not MLB, it's DirecTV that doesn't like the offer...the $700mil is for exclusive rights. MLB can't accept two exclusive rights offers. I'm not sure, outside of personal ties, why MLB would care which provider gets it, so long as they get their $700mil. What the MLB would balk at, however, is the fact that they have to start at square one in dealing, and this doesn't seem like it will turn into a lucrative bidding war. I really like that iN Demand has at least created this headache for MLB, we'll see where it goes.
I think you're right about this
Adolf "Bud" Selig
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