Poll: Extra Innings Consumers

[stlmark]

Thanks for posting that jim. I'm desperately hoping all these damn fools come to a agreement. I tried to get DirecTV and I can't!

At least we know it's over one way or another this week. Are you going to do mlb.tv if it falls through?

I'm still not sure, but I'm leaning towards no. I do have XM and I can at least listen to the games. I know, it's nothing like watching them.

[Bo Hart]

John Ourand and Eric Fisher of the Sports Business Journal report today on the Sports Business Daily that, "EchoStar's Dish Network appears much closer than cable's InDemand to striking a deal with MLB to carry Extra Innings and the planned MLB Channel, marking a potentially significant breakthrough in the distribution logjam that has lasted for months."

Further reporting by Ourand and Fisher indicate that MLB and DirecTV are considering EchoStar's offer, which most likely would ask for an equity stake in The MLB Channel as is currently the deal with MLB and DirecTV's agreement.

[ghostrunner]

I'm a little surprised DirecTV hasn't balked at all of this. What's the advantage to them if Dish and INDemand both sign on for it? Now they've paid all this money with no exclusivity.

[stlouie_lipp]

John Ourand and Eric Fisher of the Sports Business Journal report today on the Sports Business Daily that, "EchoStar's Dish Network appears much closer than cable's InDemand to striking a deal with MLB to carry Extra Innings and the planned MLB Channel, marking a potentially significant breakthrough in the distribution logjam that has lasted for months."

Further reporting by Ourand and Fisher indicate that MLB and DirecTV are considering EchoStar's offer, which most likely would ask for an equity stake in The MLB Channel as is currently the deal with MLB and DirecTV's agreement.

This would be good news for me....the clock's ticking.

[Bo Hart]

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Kerry urged Major League Baseball on Tuesday to hold off on a deal to put the sport's "Extra Innings" package of out-of-market games exclusively on DirecTV Group Inc. A top baseball official declined to agree, with opening day less than a week away.

Kerry, D-Mass., made the push at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on behalf of subscribers to cable TV and EchoStar Communications Corp.'s Dish Network who had received the package previously.

The dispute concerns which homes will receive baseball's new television network in 2009. DirecTV, a satellite service, has agreed to carry that package as part of its deal. The company would also receive an equity stake in the channel.

At Tuesday's hearing, Rob Jacobson, president and CEO of iN Demand, owned by affiliates of the companies that own Time Warner Cable Inc., Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications Inc., offered to carry the package on the same terms that DirecTV is, while putting off the issue of The Baseball Channel until it is launched.

"This would ensure that for the next two years at least, all baseball fans would have access to the 'Extra Innings' package," he said. "If we're unable to reach an agreement when the channel launches, we'd give baseball the right to cancel the 'Extra Innings' deal. We think this is a fair compromise."

Kerry, often playing the role of mediator, got behind the effort.

"What's the matter with that?" he asked Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer.

"We believe that DirecTV has the right to begin to help us build the channel," DuPuy answered, adding that the cable industry had nine months to negotiate a deal.

Kerry pressed the issue, suggesting that the status quo be kept in place while the sides tried to work out a deal.

DuPuy wouldn't agree to that, although he said, "Our door remains open" for a resolution.

Baseball gave other incumbent carriers until the end of the month to match the $700 million, seven-year deal it announced with DirecTV on March 8. IN Demand recently made an offer it said matched the deal, but Major League Baseball said it fell short.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who has been critical of the National Football League's "Sunday Ticket" deal with DirecTV, which allows viewers to watch teams outside their regional markets, issued a warning to baseball.

"When fans react, Congress reacts," he said, adding, "You may be well advised to act before we do."

Chase Carey, president and CEO of DirecTV, said that the issue was a business one that was best left to the market.

"I don't run down to Washington every time we have a contract issue or a programming issue or a cost issue," he said.

DuPuy said that fans who have gotten the out-of-town games on other providers will still have the option of receiving them this year: by switching to DirecTV or subscribing to MLB.TV to watch the games on the Internet.

"This is not a matter of fans being unable to view Major League Baseball's out-of-market games," he said. "It is a matter of not being able to watch those games on a particular system."

"Extra Innings" had more than a half-million TV subscribers last year.

Carl Vogel, president of EchoStar, said exclusive content deals are bad for fans.

"They harm existing consumers while limiting choices in the future," he said.

Kerry, who has asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate, said in an interview after the hearing that legislation was a possibility but not his preference.

"Obviously, we're interested in it, a number of senators suggested the possibility of Congress doing something, but I'd like to see the parties get together in the next four days and hopefully resolve this," he said.

"If they can't get together, we are where we are and we'll look at what we're going to do."

Nothing really good in the article.

[jim]

The good is that there is still some small amount of time, and DePuy mentioned that he was open. It's not much, but it's better than nothing.

[Bo Hart]

The following is the testimony of Robert Jacobson, iN Demand President/CEO; he's speaking before the senate. I think he makes some good points. I snipped out what I thought was the most notable stuff. You can read more of it here.

In order to break the logjam and ensure customers across American have access to the games, last week we made a counter-offer. We agreed to carry Extra Innings and The Baseball Channel, a new MLB channel not projected to launch until sometime in 2009, on the same terms as DIRECTV -- which is what MLB publicly said they were looking for. Our offer was NOT exclusive. We're ready to execute an agreement by Opening Day. MLB immediately rejected that offer.

...

We began discussions with MLB almost a year ago to renew our non-exclusive deal. Last summer, MLB asked whether we would be interested in offering Extra Innings on an exclusive basis. We said we would not be in the best interest of baseball fans and would not be viable for us given the program access rules, which prohibit exclusive contracts for cable-affiliated programmers, like iN-DEMAND. We expressed a strong desire to continue to license Extra Innings on a non-exclusive basis. We even offered a substantial increase in guaranteed fees – an increase of nearly 400 percent – to no avail.

A major sticking point in the negotiations was MLB’s insistence that cable could only carry Extra Innings if it also agreed to deliver The Baseball Channel to millions of customers, regardless of whether they wanted to view and pay for the channel.

In late February, we made a proposal to MLB that ensured MLB would be guaranteed $100 million annually for Extra Innings and committed that iN DEMAND’s owners would distribute The Baseball Channel to 15 million homes at MLB’s requested price per subscriber -- all on a non-exclusive basis. MLB never called us back.

...

In response, MLB and DIRECTV decided to dress up their exclusive deal to make it LOOK like it wasn’t exclusive. MLB said it would give iN DEMAND the opportunity to “match” the DIRECTV deal, but we had to do so by the end of this month or games would be unavailable to cable subscribers for the next seven years. The problem is that MLB is not really interested in a non-exclusive deal with cable and DIRECTV. Its proposal to cable is, in fact, dramatically more expensive for cable that it is for DIRECTV and is unreasonable and unfair.

...

Last year, Extra Innings was available to almost 100 million homes. Under an exclusive DIRECTV deal, it would only be available to DIRECTV’s 16 million customers. Over 80 million cable and EchoStar customers would be denied access to the games. This would be especially unfair to many baseball fans who previously purchased and enjoyed those games.

...

MLB has a choice. It can offer the game to 100 million homes or 16 million homes. Either way it is guaranteed $100 million per year. We think that the right choice is obvious. On behalf of baseball fans everywhere, we appreciate the Committee’s willingness to hold this hearing and we look forward to working with you to find effective solutions to this growing problem.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

I think the last couple of paragraphs are particularly powerful.

[jim]

tick tock, tick tock.

I'm having a hard time understanding how this could be resolved and offered to customers so quickly. Is it just a flip of the switch that needs to happen? Let's say Friday they decide InDemand can carry this, is it even possible to sign up and be watching baseball on Monday?

[Fan_In_NY]

The following is the testimony of Robert Jacobson, iN Demand President/CEO; he's speaking before the senate. I think he makes some good points. I snipped out what I thought was the most notable stuff. You can read more of it here.

In order to break the logjam and ensure customers across American have access to the games, last week we made a counter-offer. We agreed to carry Extra Innings and The Baseball Channel, a new MLB channel not projected to launch until sometime in 2009, on the same terms as DIRECTV -- which is what MLB publicly said they were looking for. Our offer was NOT exclusive. We're ready to execute an agreement by Opening Day. MLB immediately rejected that offer.

...

We began discussions with MLB almost a year ago to renew our non-exclusive deal. Last summer, MLB asked whether we would be interested in offering Extra Innings on an exclusive basis. We said we would not be in the best interest of baseball fans and would not be viable for us given the program access rules, which prohibit exclusive contracts for cable-affiliated programmers, like iN-DEMAND. We expressed a strong desire to continue to license Extra Innings on a non-exclusive basis. We even offered a substantial increase in guaranteed fees – an increase of nearly 400 percent – to no avail.

A major sticking point in the negotiations was MLB’s insistence that cable could only carry Extra Innings if it also agreed to deliver The Baseball Channel to millions of customers, regardless of whether they wanted to view and pay for the channel.

In late February, we made a proposal to MLB that ensured MLB would be guaranteed $100 million annually for Extra Innings and committed that iN DEMAND’s owners would distribute The Baseball Channel to 15 million homes at MLB’s requested price per subscriber -- all on a non-exclusive basis. MLB never called us back.

...

In response, MLB and DIRECTV decided to dress up their exclusive deal to make it LOOK like it wasn’t exclusive. MLB said it would give iN DEMAND the opportunity to “match” the DIRECTV deal, but we had to do so by the end of this month or games would be unavailable to cable subscribers for the next seven years. The problem is that MLB is not really interested in a non-exclusive deal with cable and DIRECTV. Its proposal to cable is, in fact, dramatically more expensive for cable that it is for DIRECTV and is unreasonable and unfair.

...

Last year, Extra Innings was available to almost 100 million homes. Under an exclusive DIRECTV deal, it would only be available to DIRECTV’s 16 million customers. Over 80 million cable and EchoStar customers would be denied access to the games. This would be especially unfair to many baseball fans who previously purchased and enjoyed those games.

...

MLB has a choice. It can offer the game to 100 million homes or 16 million homes. Either way it is guaranteed $100 million per year. We think that the right choice is obvious. On behalf of baseball fans everywhere, we appreciate the Committee’s willingness to hold this hearing and we look forward to working with you to find effective solutions to this growing problem.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

I think the last couple of paragraphs are particularly powerful.

iNDemand is a cable conglomerate which in some areas of the country refuse to offer the NFL Network to subscribers. So apparently while they sit here and mak it seem like they care about the MLB fan, they turn their back on the NFL Fan. They dont care about any of their subscribers, they care about their bottom line. They are fighting this because they will lose subscribers and hurt their bottom line.

[AJ]

tick tock, tick tock.

I'm having a hard time understanding how this could be resolved and offered to customers so quickly. Is it just a flip of the switch that needs to happen? Let's say Friday they decide InDemand can carry this, is it even possible to sign up and be watching baseball on Monday?

I highly doubt it would be available on Monday........MAYBE you would be able to sign up on Monday, and catch the Cards games on Tuesday, so really that isn't all bad, Sunday's is on ESPN.