The Shoe's on the Other Foot (Re: MLB/DirecTV)

[SirFozzie]

MLB has neatly flipped the situation on DISH Network and the Cable Companies. They announced that DISH Network and the cable companies could also have Extra Innings, IF they did the same thing as DirecTV (Ie, same amount of money and add the MLB Channel, etcetera). This has neatly trapped DISH/the Cable Companies, who will now look like the bad guys if they can't get the deal done.

http://www.forbes.com/digitalentertainment/2007/03/09/cx_jd_0309varietytv.html

[Toddzilla]

Yeah - and knowing how Charlie and Dish Network LOVE to play hardball, this all but guarantees that Dish will not be carrying the Extra Innings package.

Dish Network NEVER walks away from a fight and they NEVER back down from a network. It's done.

[Toddzilla]

Important quote from the article:

But MLB and DirecTV have "designed" the offer "to be impossible for cable and Dish to meet," said Robert Jacobson, president and CEO of In Demand, which negotiated with MLB on behalf of Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications, the second-, third- and fourth-biggest cable operators in the U.S.
Jacobson is referring to MLB's demand that cable and Dish agree to place a new 24/7 MLB channel on the widest-circulated analog tier when the network opens for business in 2009. (DirecTV has agreed to put the MLB channel on its most deeply penetrated tier, reaching about 15 million subscribers.)

[Butter]

DirecTV did the same thing with the NFL Network. I don't understand the big deal about adding 4-5 channels to a basic package. I know, there's only so much programming to go around... but with the amount of space available now, when they make the argument complaining about putting channels on a basic tier, it just sounds petty.

[SirFozzie]

Hey, they just want what DirecTV is giving them

[Kodos]

The foot's on the other hand now!

[Mateo]

Now I'll be able to watch the Nationals take on the Devil Rays! WOOT!

[DanGarion]

But MLB and DirecTV have "designed" the offer "to be impossible for cable and Dish to meet," said Robert Jacobson, president and CEO of In Demand, which negotiated with MLB on behalf of Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications, the second-, third- and fourth-biggest cable operators in the U.S.

Um, those numbers are wrong. Comcast is 1st, Time Warner 2nd. It's great that this news places can't even get simple facts correct.

[gstelmack]

iN Demand saying they will match:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2806948

[Lathum]

Thats great news if it goes through

[SirFozzie]

Agreed, although I do notice they left a hole to wiggle through. InDemand told MLB they will make sure as many people get MLB Channel as on DirecTV.. but DOESN'T say they will put the new channel on the basic tier..

[Ksyrup]

So now perhaps the bluff gets called again. Will be interesting to see if MLB looks for a technical reason why the offers aren't precisely the same in order to cut IN Demand out. They might have made an offer that is slightly different to put the ball back in MLB's court so they can claim they tried to match MLB's offer but MLB wouldn't take it. This could be a real offer, or an attempt to shift the blame back to MLB. Much like everyone assumed MLB put the provision in the DTV deal as a transparent attempt to make it look like they were being open to cable companies.

[LloydLungs]

So now perhaps the bluff gets called again. Will be interesting to see if MLB looks for a technical reason why the offers aren't precisely the same in order to cut IN Demand out. They might have made an offer that is slightly different to put the ball back in MLB's court so they can claim they tried to match MLB's offer but MLB wouldn't take it. This could be a real offer, or an attempt to shift the blame back to MLB. Much like everyone assumed MLB put the provision in the DTV deal as a transparent attempt to make it look like they were being open to cable companies.

I'm concerned that this is what's happening, and that this is just high level negotiating of blame-shifting going on. IN Demand sounded resigned to not matching three weeks ago, and indeed, they technically are not matching the deal as it was written.

[LloydLungs]

Dola

Just as we suspected.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/03/21/extra.innings.ap/index.html

[Ksyrup]

Yep, and they responded quickly so the ball couldn't get rolling for public sentiment in favor of IN Demand.