Why is there no baseball network?

[lonelybrewerfan]

As I see the commercials for the new NFL network I am getting sick. The great game of baseball has bumbled itself to a distant second in the hearts and minds of Americans and I ask myself WHY???????
I don't want to rehash baseball's mistakes over the past 20 years but I do want to ask a question.... Why is there no baseball network??? I would pay a few extra bucks to see it! They could broadcast press conferences to start. How about putting the MLB radio jockeys on TV for an hour a day? The baseball america hour could be televised. Heck, they could have even televise the Fall League. I would have watched for sure. Fill the rest of the time with Classic Games, old TWIB episodes and you would have one fantastic network.

Cmon Bud! Lets get going with an MLB NETWORK!!!!

[gyb13]

don't they have MLB extra innings or something like that?

[SmedIndy]

Not the same, GYB. The other sports have their own networks available on satellite or digital cable. (NHLTV in Canada).

[JamesI]

I would love a baseball network. Where I live, all I get is ESPN games, Yankee games, Brave games, and the occasional Mets game.

[Elmo]

It's all about the structure of Baseball and the way the revenues are done....part of Baseball's penance for having resisted free agency and such - too much of that material is now subject to local 'liens' as it were and MLBPA approvals - so MLB would have to come to agreement on how to divvy up the pie....

Ha Ha....a little MLB humour there....maybe under the next commissioner we can start talking about owner/player partnerships.....and some mechanisms to nationalize revenues in ways that aren't giveaways for the Welfare queens of all time Selig/Phlad.....

[TreAnt985]

I would love a baseball network. Where I live, all I get is ESPN games, Yankee games, Brave games, and the occasional Mets game.
That's more than I get! I can get almost all Braves games and ESPN games, but besides that and maybe 5 Orioles games a year, I'm stuck.
If there were an MLB network, I'd definitely watch it. I'd have to stop watching the weather channel all the time hoping for snow...

[Elmo]

That's more than I get! I can get almost all Braves games and ESPN games, but besides that and maybe 5 Orioles games a year, I'm stuck.
If there were an MLB network, I'd definitely watch it. I'd have to stop watching the weather channel all the time hoping for snow...


If you have broadband - MLBTV is pretty good....it putzes out when there are too many people watching, but you can see a lot of games....

[Craig S.]

I get the Extra Innings package every year, but I still think a baseball network would be great.

Neither the NFL nor NHL channels show live game coverage, but fans of those leagues still watch the networks. Baseball has no shortage of classic games, interesting bios and history to draw from. Throw in player interviews and more intensive postgame coverage, and I'm sure there would be no shortage of programming.

[nyy26wc]

Is the extra innings package something that is only available for dish owners, or would it also be available for digital cable owners?

[Craig S.]

Is the extra innings package something that is only available for dish owners, or would it also be available for digital cable owners?

It's not exclusive to dish providers, unlike the NFL Sunday Ticket package.

I'm guessing it depends on your provider - I know that Time Warner here in the Cincinnati area offers it.

[TimmyB]

An MLB network is going to take some forward-thinking vision, something current management lacks. It all starts with a real commissioner.

[rcartman28]

They're probably watching the NFL Channel for tips and then they'll screw it up somehow anyways......

[nyy26wc]

I'm guessing it depends on your provider - I know that Time Warner here in the Cincinnati area offers it.

I just checked Comcast's website and they carry it.

[nyy26wc]

According to today's Arizona Republic--

"Today's agenda [at the owners' meetings] will include further examination of a baseball 'World Cup' and a baseball-only channel similar to those that the NBA and NFL operate on a 24-hour basis."

[Rajah]

Aren't all these league only networks really just away to wrest power away from the ESPN group anyway? Everything on them used to be shown on an ESPN channel in one form or another (NFL films, ESPN classic with baseball games and old school home run derby and the like, sportscentury, the current Home run derby's, etc).

[nyy26wc]

Aren't all these league only networks really just away to wrest power away from the ESPN group anyway? Everything on them used to be shown on an ESPN channel in one form or another (NFL films, ESPN classic with baseball games and old school home run derby and the like, sportscentury, the current Home run derby's, etc).

If that was their motive, then the channels have been a failure. There's still plenty of football stuff on ESPN's channels and I expect that to continue.