As a Red Sox fan living in Manhattan, I was enraged to learn Major League Baseball had signed an exclusive deal with Robert Murdoch and Direct TV to carry the Extra Innings baseball package. For the sports-challenged readers, Extra Innings was a package you could buy through your cable company to see all out-of-town games. Last year, 20+ Million baseball fans subscribed to this service.
But MLB, looking to make money and once again not all that concerned about its fans, signed the exclusive deal with Direct TV - leaving millions of fans in the dark. When thousands of people complained, Bud Selig basically said "well you can always subscribe to Direct TV."
Fans were not happy. I wrote several letters to Bud and MLB, as did thousands of other fans. Baseball columnists around the country began to question the deal. John Kerry stepped in to put some pressure on MLB. And last night, MLB caved and a deal was reached to bring baseball back to Millions of fans who don't happen to live in the same town where their favorite team does.
Major League Baseball reached a deal last night to allow three of the nation's largest cable providers to keep carrying its Extra Innings package of out-of-market games, an accord reached after contentious negotiations and the involvement of Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry .
Kerry held a hearing March 27 on the matter and urged both sides to continue talks after baseball and iN Demand , a joint venture of Comcast Corp. , Cox Communications Inc., and Time Warner Cable Inc. , reached a stalemate.
"This certainly is some hard-won good news at the start of this Red Sox season," Kerry said in a statement. "I still need to review the details, but I am very encouraged so far."
PLAY BALL!!!!
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