Channel 9 Signs Deal To Broadcast MLB's Season-Opening Series In Sydney

Channel Nine "has signed the free-to-air rights to televise" MLB’s int'l season opener in Australia when the L.A. Dodgers play the Arizona Diamondbacks in Sydney on March 22-23, according to James Hooper of the Sydney DAILY TELEGRAPH. Nine "has trumped Seven to win the rights" to the Sydney Cricket Ground event, with cricket icon Ian Chappell "hand-picked as one of the Nine Network’s figureheads in the central commentary box." ESPN "has also signed on to televise the MLB showpiece on pay-TV and beam it into Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, South America and the Caribbean." In the U.S. market, the MLB Network "has been chosen as the national telecast partner." The anticipated global audience for the MLB’s Australian experiment "is tipped to be in excess of 150 million people." Channel Nine "will telecast the Diamondbacks-Dodgers matches on GEM, while ESPN will show the Team Australian challenge matches" against the MLB clubs at the SCG on March 20 and 21 (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 2/26).