MLB's PR Stunt.(Major League Baseball)(Brief article)

Broadcasting & Cable, March, 2007 by Grossman, Ben

By Ben Grossman Baseball plays favorites with DirecTV Major League Baseball's announcement last Thursday that it would give In Demand and Dish Network the chance to match DirecTV's renewal price for the Extra Innings out-of-market package looks like a blatant--and many say smart --public-relations strategy to ease pressure from baseball fans and even Washington.

And it sets up a frenzied, three-week battle that could resemble the ongoing carriage fight between NFL Network and the cable operators. The sticking point is MLB's apparent mandate that In Demand and Dish Network, with whom it had earlier contracts, must carry the new Baseball Channel, an MLB-backed network that will launch in 2009, on a basic-tier equivalent to that which DirecTV...

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