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XM Signs Exclusive with Major League Baseball (1 Viewer)

Chris

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To counter SIRIUS's NFL & Howard Stern recent signings, XM will announce tomorrow it has signed a $700M deal with Major League Baseball.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/041019/baseb...e_radio_2.html

This would be the largest per $ contract in sheer money for any sport.

XM will carry all games for all teams, so look for them to follow SIRIUS route and pre-empt several networks during games.
 

Jose Q

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Oct 11, 1999
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Hey, good for them. They needed to answer back the Sirius announcements made lately and with this they have. Baseball is the sport that translates the best to radio even though football is the most popular in the U.S.
 

DaveBB

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I think it makes more sense. On half of NFL football Sundays I'm at St. Louis Rams games. The other half I'm at a sports bar or a buddie of mine who has Sunday Ticket and two TVs set up next to each other. There's very little reason to listen to the radio for football.

However the baseball season is 162 games long and played 7 days per week instead of two.
 

Chris

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It is an interesting deal. However, it does mean some interesting switches at XM as well. Unlike football, with so many games, you'll have more channels occupied with the call of the game, far more, then football. How XM handles this will be interesting.

The payout amount was enormous.. at $470M + options to $650M, it's a much larger contract then paid to the NFL or any other single entity (realize, Stern's $500M is $100/year but 3 stations where he covers production cost, etc.)

Both networks have went back to back with very big deals. This is a huge deal for XM, and I think a very, very good one for baseball fans. I'm very intersted in the logistical handling. By broadcasting 162*30 games (teams+games, assuming everyone gets their home call) you get 4,860 games.. at an average clip of 3.75 hours (let's say 4) you get ~19,440 hours worth of programming in a year that XM will have to find a place for in their stream of networks or work on re-compression to make space.

It'll be -very- interesting. But it's a great pickup by XM (see, I highlight things in this forum that aren't just SIRIUS) :)
 

SteveK

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Chris - Although we have to see how everything works out, it's my understanding that MOST (but not all) games will be carried, and that only one broadcast per game will be carried. It may not always be the home team's announcers, but you aren't likely to be able to choose either the home or visiting team. XM and MLB will decide which announcers to carry; chances are it will usually be the home team, but other factors may be considered. From what I've read, XM will carry about 2,000 games each year (but of course that could change if MLB proves to be very popular).

XM is certainly throwing a lot of money at MLB. As a fan, I'm looking forward to hearing different styles from different announcers, but as a (small) stockholder, I'm not certain that this is a good deal, although I certainly hope it is. Time will tell.

Steve K.
 

Chris

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That's interesting. If they do go with only the home call, it would lower the amount of bandwidth they would have to allocate immensely.

I think sports, in general, are a big drawing factor and this should be a good deal; but the one benefit SIRIUS gets with the NFL is that it's only Sunday, so they can take over other channels and bump "repeat" programming.. because baseball occurs during the day, night, etc. every day of the week, it will be interesting how programming bumps occur..
 

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