Recent court filings from ESPN's lawsuit against MLB
"revealed that the network's quarrel with the league dates
back long before ESPN acquired the entire" NFL cable package
in '98 and "attempted to pre-empt Sunday-night MLB games in
September in favor of NFL contests," according to Steve
Donohue of MULTICHANNEL NEWS. ESPN "suggested" in Federal
Court papers that "internal MLB documents obtained during
discovery proceedings showed" that MLB Commissioner Bud
Selig "sought revenge against ESPN after ESPN fought TBS
Superstation's conversion to a basic-cable network" in '96.
ESPN "opposed" the TBS conversion "because it was concerned
that TBS," which airs Braves games, "would run more baseball
on national basic cable than MLB rights-holder ESPN." While
deposing Selig, ESPN attorney Eric Lobenfeld "asked" Selig
if he told other MLB execs, "If we're reasonable and they
[ESPN] stiff us [on the TBS approval], I'll try to get even
with them every way I can." Selig responded that he had "no
recollection" of such a statement. In his report, Donohue
also lists items sought by MLB in exchange for ESPN moving
the games to ESPN2. Both sides were to have submitted
briefs laying out their cases yesterday and a jury trial "is
scheduled to begin" November 15 (MULTICHANNEL NEWS, 10/25).
NBC PULLS FOR SEVEN GAME SERIES: MEDIAWEEK's John
Consoli reports that if the World Series goes a full seven
games, NBC's total ad revenue from pregame programming
"could total about" $10M, on top of the $148M that NBC
"expects to take in for its in-game inventory." NBC paid
"about" $80M this season for rights to regular and
postseason games. NBC sold its 30-second in-game Series
spots for $300,000-450,000, for a "revenue average" of about
$21M per game. NBC's World Series pre-game has expanded to
35 minutes for weekend games and 20 for weeknights and
features "about four minutes of ads." Consoli adds that
execs at Fox and NBC said that they are "not happy" that the
AP "sends out the exact first-pitch time, which are then
picked up and published by most newspaper sports sections."
The networks "are concerned that some viewers skip the
pregame shows" (MEDIAWEEK, 10/25 issue).
