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Although an official announcement hasn't been made just yet, it appears as if Major League Baseball will continue to be broadcast on ESPN, as well as FOX & TBS for the forseeable future.
According to BOTH USA Today's Michael Heistand & the New York Times' Richard Sandomir, MLB will soon announce long-term extensions with FOX Sports & Turner/TBS Sports, just a few weeks after ESPN announced a long term extension of its own with MLB.
While ESPN & ESPN Radio will pay MLB $5.6 billion over the next 8 years to continue broadcasting baseball on both TV & radio through 2021, it's believed FOX will pay around $500 million a year & Turner Sports will pay around $300 million to continue broadcasting MLB over the same 8 year period. In total, the new deals with ESPN, FOX & TBS are expected to generate double what the networks are currently paying. The networks currently pay $750 million, but under the new 8-year deal, the networks will end up paying a whopping $1.55 billion annually to Major League Baseball.
But wait...there's more. Under the terms of FOX & Turner's extension with MLB, here's what it means for you & me. First, TBS won't be broadcasting as many games as they do now. Instead of the current 26 games every Sunday afternoon & all 4 of the MLB Division Series since 2007, TBS will only broadcast 13 Sunday afternoon games, 1 Wildcard Game & 2 MLB Division Series, plus will also retain digital rights for its newly acquired Bleacher Report Web site. Turner Sports also will no longer blackout games in the teams' respective markets Sunday afternoons like they have now. In plain English, if the White Sox and/or Cubs are featured on TBS on a given Sunday, you'll be able to watch the game on TBS, in addition to whichever outlet is carrying the game locally.
As for FOX Sports, in addition to more Saturday afternoon regular season games as well as the MLB All-Star Game, the network would also broadcast 2 Division Series matchups, as well as the World Series. FOX will also continue to alternate League Championship Series matchups with TBS every year. FOX Sports also plans to put some of these games on a channel called FOX Sports One, a rebranded, retooled general sports network that'll soon replace the motorsports outlet known as Speed.
The biggest loser in this appears to be NBC Sports Network. The 24/7 sports network formerly known as Versus was hoping to increase visibility for its new outlet, but wouldn't meet MLB's asking price and fell out of negotiations. With the NHL currently locked out, NBC Sports Network faces quite a void in their schedule this fall & winter if the NHL indeed cancels games as a direct result of the lack of a new CBA with players & owners. Without MLB, NBCSN now turns their attention in hopes of wrestling away Big East football & basketball rights, as well as NASCAR from ESPN. Both of their contracts will soon be up for renewal.
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