MLB Network

[markdublya]

Is there any talk of one? There must be.

If there was a network that covered the Fall and Winter leagues, the Minors, Spring Training and obviously the bigs, and had extensive draft reports and updates/profiles on all the likely picks, it would INSTANTLY be my favorite channel!!!

[Mark Carver]

If so, I'm sure they will look to the NFL Network to find out how not to do it...

[Goop]

dude, that would be awesome.

[JTrea81]

As long as they don't charge too much for it or Time Warner will want to put it in a sports package for 300 bucks a year...

[RShack]

Yes, there is a MLB network in the offing, and it was a big part of the deal by which cable and Dish Network got MLB-EI, rather than it being a DirecTV exclusive. Part of the deal is DirecTV and some of the big cable companies get some equity in that network, it gets to be 1st-tier (like the NFL network wants to be), and that MLB-EI was a big bargaining chip in getting the cable/sat people to sign on for it. Right now, what some big cable companies want from the NFL is to get access to the NFL Sunday Ticket thing that is a DirecTV-exclusive (thru 2010, I think), plus some equity in the NFL Network, in return for putting the NFL network in the 1st tier. In short, the MLB network is the model that the NFL is trying to not agree to. Personally, I think the NFL is screwed (and properly so) and will have to cave in, but we'll see.

[Moose Milligan]

If so, I'm sure they will look to the NFL Network to find out how not to do it...

Ain't that the truth.

You'd think football 24-7 would be a blessing by God, however I hate that channel.

[RShack]

Is there any talk of one? There must be.

If there was a network that covered the Fall and Winter leagues, the Minors, Spring Training and obviously the bigs, and had extensive draft reports and updates/profiles on all the likely picks, it would INSTANTLY be my favorite channel!!!

It's coming for sure. What's not so clear is what it will actually be. Your wishlist is a good one, but doing those things would require some Actual Work. Plus, most of those are things that most baseball fans prolly don't even know exist, much less care about. My guess is that what we'll actually get is an endless supply of baseball game reruns. It's cheap, easy, and requires no work. Hope I'm wrong, but that's what I expect.

[SteveA]

It's coming for sure. What's not so clear is what it will actually be. Your wishlist is a good one, but doing those things would require some Actual Work. Plus, most of those are things that most baseball fans prolly don't even know exist, much less care about. My guess is that what we'll actually get is an endless supply of baseball game reruns. It's cheap, easy, and requires no work. Hope I'm wrong, but that's what I expect.

Well, the NFL equivalent to the minors and fall leagues are the draft and the combine and college football. NFLN has done a pretty good job there....they have a daily show that focuses on college football, they air a couple of bowls, they cover the college all star bowls heavily and in fact air the Senior Bowl, they have blanket coverage of the NFL combine, and they have saturation draft preview coverage in the weeks leading up to the draft.

[gallden]

Wonder how soon this would be going down?

[RShack]

Wonder how soon this would be going down?

2009

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070517&content_id=1970533&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/316238_baseballtv18.html

[gallden]

2009

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070517&content_id=1970533&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/316238_baseballtv18.html

Thanks shack.