Acting MLB Commissioner Bud Selig responded to the decision
by NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol and ABC Sports President
Dennis Swanson to pull out of their joint broadcasting venture,
The Baseball Network, by saying that the sport would now examine
"all options" (MLB). The owners' TV Committee meets tomorrow,
with Phillies President Bill Giles saying, "One of our first
moves wil be to hire a consultant/negotiator" (Hal Bodley, USA
TODAY, 6/26).
RUPERT MURDOCH, COME ON DOWN! In Washington, Mark
Maske reports that the owners "seem to believe that Fox ...
will push the bidding for a rights fee to something at least
resembling the old CBS deal." One owner: "Fox changes
everything. Now we can make a much better deal just doing
things the traditional way (with a rights fee). It might
not end up where the old (CBS) deal was, but it's going to
be better than what we have now" (WASHINGTON POST, 6/25).
Fox Sports President David Hill said he would not comment
until August 15, the first day on which TBN can officially
be dissolved (Barry Horn, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 6/24). In
New York, Jon Heyman writes that owners "want big-money up
front and they think they can get it from Fox." But losing
NBC and ABC doesn't help "because now there is nobody left
to drive up the price" (N.Y. NEWSDAY, 6/25).
THE EYE IS WATCHING, TOO: CBS Sports President David
Kenin: "We are interested in all major sports properties
and obviously Major League Baseball is one of them. If we
can conceive an arrangement that makes sense, naturally we'd
be very interested in acquiring some kind of baseball
package" (Leonard Shapiro, WASHINGTON POST, 6/24). REUTERS'
Brendan Intinidola calls CBS the "heir apparent." Dennis
McAlpine, media analyst at Josepthal Lyons & Ross: "If you
look at the other networks, NBC, ABC, and Fox, they all have
football while CBS has very little in terms of sports
programming to reach the male audience" (VARIETY, 6/26).
JUST A "PLOY"? Both Ebersol and Swanson reiterated
that their networks were not interested in bidding for
baseball. Ebersol: "This is not a ploy" (Mike Bruton,
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 6/24). But Giants exec/TV Committee
member Larry Baer believes NBC and ABC may bid despite
indications to the contrary. In Washington, Leonard Shapiro
cites sources who indicate that owners felt that ABC and NBC
"were trying to strong-arm baseball into making a deal
through 2000 while eliminating competition from CBS and Fox"
(WASHINGTON POST, 6/24). Fox's David Hill: "They (NBC and
ABC) said they're walking away, but did you see them ripping
up the contract? Didn't Dick (Ebersol) say he wouldn't bid
on the NFL last time?" (Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY, 6/26).
MEDIA/ANALYST REAX: In Atlanta, Prentis Rogers writes
that owners "must face the fact that network television will
no longer be a big-time cash cow, at least until the sport
re-establishes itself as a profitable piece of property"
(ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 6/24). In Baltimore, Milton Kent
calls it a "stunning blow" (Baltimore SUN, 6/24). In
Philadelphia, Mike Bruton writes that MLB "was left
teetering at the edge of an abyss" (PHILA. INQUIRER, 6/25).
In New York, Jon Heyman writes, "This is another black eye
for Baseball in a year of bloody fights without winners"
(NEWSDAY, 6/25). In Boston, Jack Craig writes that the idea
of The Baseball Network was "dumb" in the first place
(BOSTON GLOBE, 6/25). On "Moneyline," CNN's Kelli Arena
reported that the end of TBN "may be exactly what Major
League Baseball wanted" (CNN, 6/23). On CNN's "Baseball
'95," Smith Barney media analyst John Reidy said, "Actually,
Capital Cities/ABC acknowledged they probably made more
money not having the World Series, than if they had
broadcast the World Series" (CNN, 6/24). Analyst Paul
Schulman: "If they have blown off ABC and NBC, which are the
number one and two networks, they've seriously shot
themselves in the foot" ("SportsView," CNBC, 6/23).
THE MAN TO WATCH? Peter Gammons quotes one member of
the TV committee saying that the "man to follow" is Marlins
Owner Wayne Huizenga. Gammons notes, "No owner is more
astute in the entertainment business or can more easily skip
directly to network chairmen" (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/25). Gammons
also noted some owners believe WB Network or UPN could join
the bidding (ESPN Radio, 6/25). Baer, on Huizenga: "He
understands the give and take of negiotiations; he sees what
football and hockey have done with TV; and he knows the
media industry broadly. We felt this would be a bad
business decision for baseball in a vacuum. It just didn't
make sense to foreclose our options on other opportunities"
(John Helyar, WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/26).