(John) Kerry presses baseball to hold off on DirecTV deal

[deadparrot]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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 Telecom 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.

Read more: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-baseball-tv&prov=ap&type=lgns

[ginnyinWI]

1. doing the people's business as usual

People have to understand how "not-DLC" this guy is.

[LisaM]

2. I emailed his office - even though he's not my Senator

I called my two Senators, called MLB twice, called my team, signed an online petition, and wrote an email to MLB ([e-mail]). I know it seems like a trivial issue, but I can't get a satellite because I rent, and they NEVER show the Tigers nationally.

Arlen Spector is actually working on this too. Perhaps I should call his office and tell them that although I am a lifelong Democrat, I appreciate his working on my behalf in this case.

[Neecy]

4. it's really crappy

MLB is handing a monopoly to Directv - I've had them for years and always subscribe to the EI package, but their service is terrible. Wait until all of the people forced to switch to Directv to get EI find out that they can't get an HD receiver for 2+ months, thereby missing a third of the baseball season in HD.

You might want to subscribe to MLB.TV - it's cheaper than EI and you get the spring training games as well. Not fun to watch on the computer, but you'll get to see your Tigers.

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

5. MLB.TV is solid

It allows me to watch afternoon games while I'm at work, its not Extra Innings but it does the job at a cheaper price!

[LisaM]

13. Well I don't have a computer at home, plus I watch the games with friends

I don't want to invite ten people over to gather around a computer screen!

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

15. I see

like I said its not for everyone. It is way ahead of its time. Still waiting for the NHL to get on board the streaming bandwagon.

[LisaM]

16. Ahead of its time?

What's wrong with wanting to watch the games on regular television, with friends, making it a more social event?

[ryanmuegge]

17. Yeah, that sounds super! Gather around my 13-inch Hitachi CRT, guys!

[Zhade]

21. As an employee for DirecTV Sports who is directly responsible on a daily basis...

...for ensuring smooth coverage of MLB (among many other) events, I'm sooooo pleased to see how little you think of our hard work.

(Unless, of course, you mean customer service, which I can't comment on, not knowing its track record.)

[LisaM]

28. I can't get your product. How do you finesse that?

Does anyone understand that many renters are UNABLE to get DirectTV (or satellite at all?)

I might also add that NFL football is a vastly different sport. It generally only comes on one day a week - which is on a weekend - and you can easily go watch your game at a sports bar if you want to (unless you have kids, in which case you are screwed, I guess). Not true with MLB --- I often race home from work just to catch a few innings of the Tigers. I get little enough time at home without heading to a sports bar every night.

And, you can also usually get up to five NFL games a week, about 20% or more of the games, WITHOUT A SPORTS package. You can't get five baseball games on national TV on any given day. I'm not denigrating DirectTV customer service, but if you were working hard at DirectTV to make sure I couldn't get MLB on cable (my only option), I'm sorry if you don't feel I'm appreciating your efforts.

[karynnj]

3. Here's a link to Kerry's opening statement from a thread on DU JohnKerry

http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=1838

Senator Kerry makes a nice case for doing something about this. (click on John Kerry's name)

[northzax]

6. thank god the senate is doing something important!

I was concerned there was a war on or something.

hey folks: if Major League Baseball doesn't want you to watch, take the hint already.

[karynnj]

7. Didn't Kerry have something to do with Kerry/Feingold?

Wasn't he one of the main people who actually worked on the Reid resoltion?

He can actually do multiple things at a time - and he has staff.

[northzax]

11. a full senate hearing

costs about $40,000, all told. great to spend money so people without one company's satelite dish can watch baseball, no?

baseball is telling people to fuck off. take the hint, don't go running to someone else for help. Baseball doesn't care if you can watch the games or not, why is this the responsibility of government to bother with?

[muryan]

8. amazingly the senate can do more than one thing at once!

this isnt exactly the most pressing of issues, but its time sensitive and im glad someone is taking a look at it

[karynnj]

9. Me too

I am not a baseball fan and before I married a baseball fanatic often didn't know or cared who was in the world series.

This touches on the huge problem of media consolidation. That is an issue that I do care about because it is important. It is hard to have a real democracy without a free press and while it is true that the internet lets us become the media, the lion's share of the population gets their news from mass media.

If you don't think that's a problem, think about the 2004 campaign. I hope a future historian contrasts the campaigns as seen via CSPAN and the MSM.

[northzax]

10. this isn't media consolidation

this is a content provider selling its content to the highest bidder. This is the Democratic Candidates in Nevada refusing to appear on FOX. This is a corporation that has managed to get the American people to fund their expansion and growth, and no longer has any need for them. no one forces you to watch baseball, people watch it because they want to, and if the league makes it harder to watch the Tigers in Miami, then Tigers fans in Miami should remember how much their beloved team cares about them in return.

[LisaM]

22. MLB is not just a "content provider". The public supports the team.

MLB does just fine banking off its use of city and state names, not to mention all the public funding for stadiums. I've thought for a long time that municipalities deserve some ownership rights in the sports teams they support, and this issue makes it even more clear.

[northzax]

27. so? 80 million people are invested in American Idol as well

if Fox is dumb enough to put that on pay per view, then that's their problem.

if municipalities are dumb and insecure enough (like my beloved DC) to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars for a part time entertainment venue, then they get what they deserve. Don't think sports is anything but a business. If George Steinbrenner thought the Yankees would be better off in Boston, they'd be there. I mean I like sports as much as the next guy, but I don't think I have any say, or stake, in how things are run. I pay them to watch, if the price is too high, or the games to inconvenient, I don't pay and they get money from someone else.

If a municipality is going to give away hundreds of millions of dollars to multi-millionaires without getting any stake in return, that's really their problem. I still don't see where this is a federal issue (besides the Sherman exemption, which I would like to see repealed anyway)

When you write a stadium lease, cities that discount the terms (as they all do) should mandate that the team make televeision broadcasts available to all fans, whether in the city or not. no pay-per-view, no special cable packages that are not available to the majority of American households. Without such an agreement, sorry, the team will always pick money over you.

[SoCalDem]

12. So, the war's over? the economy's great? Poor people are no longer poor?

The whole world loves us again?

It's shit like THIS that makes my blood BOIL!

First things FIRST..

sports, and the TV coverage of same, is NOT all that important..

grown men being paid millions to play "games" on tv, so other millionaires can try to sell us all stuff we cannot afford, and probably don't even need, is just utter stupidity:)

[onenote]

20. when several million folks can't get baseball games unless they switch to directv

it will be an important issue to a lot of people. Kerry is doing the right thing raising this issue. You don't care about baseball...fine. But millions do and they expect the folks who they elect to look into anticompetitive behavior, exclusive deals, etc. that impact them.

[LisaM]

14. It's about baseball's anti-trust monopoly, and the public airways

It's like the pet food recall. Sometimes it takes an issue that people relate to emotionally to create change. That's how it is.

It's also a quality-of-life issue, and a question of marginalizing, for example, people who live in cities and rent, as I do, and can't even HAVE a satellite. Today, baseball, tomorrow, who knows?

I spend plenty of time caring about and trying to do something about the economy, war, inequality, etc., and if I want to spend my quality time at home watching baseball, which is fun and relaxing for me, I don't really think people should begrudge me that. People got quite upset about the Net Neutrality issue - as if having fast access to web sites is just as important as the economy or the war - and I agreed with them. This is, IMHO, part of the same overall picture, dividing access between the haves and the have nots. Because it's baseball involved doesn't make it any less of an issue regarding monopoly and media consolidation.

[VegasWolf]

18. Wow Kerry, way to focus now that the war is over and the economy is doing

so well. Jesus.

:mad:

[karynnj]

19. That is extremely unfair

He can do multiple things at one time and he has staff.

He and Snowe had a nice amendment pass that had many small business programs - all of which are designed to help the small business community - which has been a key source for jobs. The programs include many to help minorities, woman, and the poor in starting business.

As to the war, he has layed out an exit plan - and the ISG recommended many of his ideas. He fought to introduce Kerry/Feingold last year - though Reid et all didn't want to. He was the strongest voice speaking on Iraq in 2006 - many people were totally silent. Not that he and Hagel have a joint bill to help vet small business owners.

[VegasWolf]

23. Okay, I'll buy your argument. My point is that these major issues are still on

the front-burners, haven't been solved, and NEED to be solved. This sounds like a distraction from important issues.

[karynnj]

24. Each Senator has things he can do

On the issues you listed,

- Kerry moved very quickly (with others) on Iraq. The only one who can substantially change things is Bush. Kerry has for the last 3 years laid out very detailed, well thoughtout intricate plans for Iraq and the sourrounding areas. The ISG actually took many of his ideas. At this point, Senator Kerry can only continue speaking out to the country and to his fellow Senators - He hasn't let up for 3 years!

- He and Olympia Snowe have a climate bill that has about the same results as the Boxer/Sanders one - though Kerry has a different approsch.

[VegasWolf]

25. Okay!! You've convinced me! :) nt

[w4rma]

26. Even though this doesn't seem important, at first glance, it's **extremely** important.

This is about monopolies and consolidation and control of the media.

[Hobarticus]

29. Ironic, isn't it?

Something as brand-America as baseball could get sliced and diced up for the benefit of the few. What next?