Day one of the 10th annual Fantasy Sports Associations Sports Media & Technology Conference featured an interview with MLB Exec VP/Business Tim Brosnan and MLB Network President & CEO Tony Petitti , both of whom addressed a wide variety of issues related to MLB Network, its planned Jan. 1 launch and its place within the sports media landscape.
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| Petitti (l), Brosnan Pushing For MLB Net Carriage With Additional Distributors |
The issue : Baseball’s latest set of cable deals, signed in '06, that moved all of the divisional playoff round and half of the league championships to cable via an alignment with Turner Sports. The issue is again topical with ESPN’s recent acquisition of TV rights to the BCS beginning in 2010.
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| Petitti (l), Brosnan Pushing For MLB Net Carriage With Additional Distributors |
The skinnny : The jury is still out in the effectiveness of the deal, Brosnan said.
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| Petitti (l), Brosnan Pushing For MLB Net Carriage With Additional Distributors |
Greatest hit : “Turner’s [ratings] performance was pretty good this year, and not so good last year,” Brosnan said. “The promotion has been really good, but we need to teach viewers that these games are on Turner and where Turner is [on the channel lineup].” Brosnan additionally stamped out any near-term possibility of the World Series shifting to cable. “If the World Series is on cable, it means a lot of other sports have gone therefirst [with their championships]. The commissioner’s views of our championship being on free TV are pretty sacrosanct.”
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| Petitti (l), Brosnan Pushing For MLB Net Carriage With Additional Distributors |
The issue : MLB Network will set a cable-industry record with initial distribution to more than 50 million homes. But for the network to achieve its full potential, many more homes are needed.
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| Petitti (l), Brosnan Pushing For MLB Net Carriage With Additional Distributors |
The skinny : Petitti and Brosnan are pushing to get carriage with additional distributors.
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| Petitti (l), Brosnan Pushing For MLB Net Carriage With Additional Distributors |
Greatest hit : “It’s a knife fight out there for those [additional] homes. But we’re up for the joust,” Brosnan said. “We believe the quality and depth of the content and the standard of production we are striving to are going to help make that case for us.”
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| Petitti (l), Brosnan Pushing For MLB Net Carriage With Additional Distributors |
The issue : The network’s home in Secaucus, N.J., in the former MSNBC studio.
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| Petitti (l), Brosnan Pushing For MLB Net Carriage With Additional Distributors |
The skinny : The operation will definitively stay there for the long-term after unsuccessfully seeking to develop a high-end office tower in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood with Vornado Realty Trust. The deal, troubled for months, collapsed in the face of the evaporating credit markets.
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| Petitti (l), Brosnan Pushing For MLB Net Carriage With Additional Distributors |
Greatest hit : “With all the delays we were facing, we had to make a decision as to the extent we built out our HD component in Secaucus,” Petitti said. “The timeline that we would be in Secaucus shifted from a year or so initially to at least two years. We then made the decision to really go all out and have full HD in Secaucus, and that really changed the dynamics of the whole thing.”
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| Petitti (l), Brosnan Pushing For MLB Net Carriage With Additional Distributors |
The issue : MLB Network’s standing as a potential bidder for additional game rights now held by national carriers such as Fox, ESPN and Turner. The channel will start with a non-exclusive package of 26 games in '09, airing once a week on either Thursday or Saturday nights.
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| Petitti (l), Brosnan Pushing For MLB Net Carriage With Additional Distributors |
The skinny : League officials intend the network to be a viable competitor for future rights.
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| Petitti Insists MLB Network Talent Will Have Free Voice On-The-Air |
Greatest hit : “The goal in five years is to be in a position to bid for another package of games,” Petitti said.
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| Petitti Insists MLB Network Talent Will Have Free Voice On-The-Air |
The issue : MLB Network’s editorial independence as a league-owned venture.
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| Petitti Insists MLB Network Talent Will Have Free Voice On-The-Air |
The skinny : Petitti insisted that network talent, which so far includes Harold Reynolds and Al Leiter, will have a relatively free voice to say what they need to on air.
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| Petitti Insists MLB Network Talent Will Have Free Voice On-The-Air |
Greatest hit : “This issue, obviously, has come up a lot as we’ve gone after talent. But we need to be credible, and everybody involved knows that,” Petitti said.
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| Petitti Insists MLB Network Talent Will Have Free Voice On-The-Air |
The issue : What will the initial programming look like at the Jan. 1 launch?
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| Petitti Insists MLB Network Talent Will Have Free Voice On-The-Air |
The skinny : A first-ever re-airing of Don Larsen’s perfect game in the '56 World Series will give way to a nightly studio show and some archival material. Come February, a leaguewide trip through all 30 Spring Training camps will precede coverage of some World Baseball Classic games in March.
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| Petitti Insists MLB Network Talent Will Have Free Voice On-The-Air |
Greatest hit : “Early on, there’s obviously going to be a reliance on tape and studio material. But overall, we’ll have over 1,400 live hours of programming in the first year, and we think that’s pretty good for a start-up,” Petitti said.
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| Petitti Insists MLB Network Talent Will Have Free Voice On-The-Air |
