MLB Owners Expected To Vote On New TV Blackout Measure
By Eric Fisher & John Ourand, Staff Writers, SportsBusiness Journal
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MLB Owners Likely To Vote On
Measure To Amend Blackout Rules |
MLB owners, meeting next week in DC, will likely vote on a dramatic new measure to amend the league's longtime territorial map that has governed local TV blackouts. Under a proposal to be presented by MLB President & COO Bob DuPuy, clubs will be required to show games in a local market in order to claim it as part of their territory for TV blackout purposes. In development for more than a year and spurred along in part by the onset of the MLB Network, the measure is intended to fix situations where clubs claim certain areas of the country for blackouts, such as Las Vegas and portions of the upper Midwest, but do not show games there on local TV. As a result, viewers in the affected areas have multiple games blacked out from out-of-market packages Extra Innings and MLB.TV, and have sent complaint letters to MLB HQs by the thousands. For example, for the Giants to have blackout protection in Las Vegas, the team is going to need to cut a deal with a local TV outlet there. Giants games would then continue to be blacked out on Extra Innings and MLB.TV in that area, but now they would be available locally. "We're trying to make this real simple: a club is going to need to be in that market to claim that market," DuPuy said. "It does not make sense to have as many clubs claim these areas as they have. And in the end, the goal is simply to have more baseball available for more fans, which in the end can only help us. Assuming we tie up some remaining things and this is approved by the Executive Council (on Wednesday), I would expect some action on this (from the owners)." Outer markets such as Las Vegas will not be exclusive in the new plan to any particular club, DuPuy said. The new measures also will not apply to national broadcasts such as Fox' Saturday game of the week.
IMPACT OF RULE CHANGE: Numerous clubs contacted this week on the proposal either declined to comment or said they had not yet reviewed it. But the biggest hurdle will likely be local TV contracts that have linked advertising revenue to audience size. "We're going through all the contracts to check through this, but I'm hopeful we can finally get this done. It's overdue," DuPuy said. Most TV contracts give RSNs the right to telecast teams’ games into all of the markets they claim. But RSN executives said that the ruling shouldn’t affect how they do business. “If MLB is just trying to capture the markets where teams televise their games, I don’t think it’s either good or bad for RSNs,” said one RSN executive. “It just is.”
OTHER BUSINESS: MLB owners, meanwhile, also will approve attorney William Neukom as the new control person for the Giants. Neukom, former general counsel for Microsoft, will replace Peter Magowan, who in May announced his intent to step down after 15 years. Neukom has been part of Magowan's ownership group. No votes are expected on maple bats or instant replay, but some discussion will likely occur surrounding both hot-button issues.
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