NBC and Fox "have rejected" MLB's "demands" that they
"triple their payments for broadcast rights," opening the TV
rights bidding to non-rights holders, according to Ronald
Blum of the AP. Industry sources say that MLB's proposals,
which had Fox increasing its annual payments from $115M to
$345M, and NBC raising its annual payments from $80M to
$240M, were met with "refusals from both networks" (AP,
6/27). DAILY VARIETY's Schneider & Dempsey write with
networks "leery of handing over precious airtime for the
low-rated baseball playoff games during October ... baseball
may find it difficult to extract large rights fee
increases." But Fox execs "are confident that in the end
they'll land at least half the package." NBC "is also said
to be interested in keeping baseball -- at a reasonable
price." CBS execs "are said to be less eager to pick up
baseball, mainly because" of the programming disruptions,
while ABC "might be willing to bid for the rights in order
to synergize" with ESPN (DAILY VARIETY, 6/27). BLOOMBERG
NEWS' Scott Newman reports that "by auctioning off its
rights, baseball is betting that it can get a higher price"
if CBS or ABC makes an offer. A "high-ranking" CBS Sports
exec said that the network "is interested in baseball's
postseason package" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 6/27).
