WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., won a commitment from Major League Baseball and the cable industry Tuesday for a last-ditch, face-to-face meeting aimed at resolving differences over baseball's Extra Innings premium package before Opening Day.
Satellite TV leader DirecTV has exclusive rights to the out-of-market package, but baseball has offered competitors the chance to match that deal.
MLB president and COO Bob Dupuy and Robert Jacobson, president and CEO of In Demand -- the VOD proxy for cable companies Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications -- agreed to the meeting under pressure from the lawmaker during a Senate hearing that Kerry called to examine exclusive sports deals.
EchoStar Communications, the nation's second-largest satellite TV company, and DirecTV also might take part in the talks.
"It'd be better thing if the games were available to a bunch more people," Kerry said. "There are only four days until Opening Day (on Sunday), it seems like you could get a few extra innings out of baseball."
MLB and DirecTV announced a multiyear agreement March 8 for the Extra Innings subscription package that also guarantees basic-tier carriage of the Baseball Channel when it launches in 2009.
Satellite TV leader DirecTV has exclusive rights to the out-of-market package, but baseball has offered competitors the chance to match that deal.
MLB president and COO Bob Dupuy and Robert Jacobson, president and CEO of In Demand -- the VOD proxy for cable companies Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications -- agreed to the meeting under pressure from the lawmaker during a Senate hearing that Kerry called to examine exclusive sports deals.
EchoStar Communications, the nation's second-largest satellite TV company, and DirecTV also might take part in the talks.
"It'd be better thing if the games were available to a bunch more people," Kerry said. "There are only four days until Opening Day (on Sunday), it seems like you could get a few extra innings out of baseball."
MLB and DirecTV announced a multiyear agreement March 8 for the Extra Innings subscription package that also guarantees basic-tier carriage of the Baseball Channel when it launches in 2009.
- 3/28/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball has called the cable industry out on strikes, saying an offer Wednesday to carry the Extra Innings premium package of out-of-market games falls short of terms MLB set two weeks ago.
MLB and DirecTV announced a multiyear agreement March 8 for the Extra Innings subscription package that also guarantees basic-tier carriage of the Baseball Channel when it launches in 2009. EchoStar and In Demand were told they had until March 31 to decide whether they wanted to match that deal to be allowed to continue to offer the games to their subscribers.
On Wednesday, In Demand -- the VOD proxy for cable companies Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications -- said it would accept the offer "at consistent rates and carriage requirements, which the league had agreed to with DirecTV." In Demand also said it wanted a "most favored nation" provision to determine comparability.
However, MLB president and COO Bob Dupuy said that In Demand whiffed.
"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," DuPuy said.
MLB and DirecTV announced a multiyear agreement March 8 for the Extra Innings subscription package that also guarantees basic-tier carriage of the Baseball Channel when it launches in 2009. EchoStar and In Demand were told they had until March 31 to decide whether they wanted to match that deal to be allowed to continue to offer the games to their subscribers.
On Wednesday, In Demand -- the VOD proxy for cable companies Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications -- said it would accept the offer "at consistent rates and carriage requirements, which the league had agreed to with DirecTV." In Demand also said it wanted a "most favored nation" provision to determine comparability.
However, MLB president and COO Bob Dupuy said that In Demand whiffed.
"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," DuPuy said.
- 3/22/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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