Networks Bid Adieu To Baseball Abc, Nbc End Short-Lived Partnership After Little Headway In Renewal Talks
Baseball’s national television package became as uncertain as its labor situation Thursday when ABC and NBC decided to quit the sport after this season.
The two networks, partners with owners in The Baseball Network, decided to pull out of the joint venture when acting commissioner Bud Selig refused to make a decision on renewing it for 1996.
The joint partnership, which began with the 1994 season, will terminate after this year’s World Series. If ABC and NBC don’t bid on baseball’s rights for next season, owners likely will attempt to sell them to CBS or the Fox Network.
Rich Levin, the spokesman for the ruling executive council, confirmed Thursday that the networks had told baseball officials they were terminating the deal. ABC spokesman Mark Mandel refused to confirm or deny ABC’s involvement would end. NBC spokesman Ed Markey said it wouldn’t surprise him if his network pulled out.
“It wouldn’t come as a surprise,” TBN president Ken Schanzer said when reached Thursday night at his home in Connecticut. “ABC and NBC made clear over the past several weeks what their position was. I’m saddened by it. It would be the end of a terrific enterprise.”
Baseball’s $255 million, six-year contract with ESPN, which runs through 1999, isn’t affected by the decision.
Several large-market clubs had been pushing to terminate TBN, thinking baseball could get more by selling its rights to a network or networks in a traditional deal. Under TBN, the networks acquired the sport with no risk of a loss.
ABC and NBC have pressed over recent weeks to renew the deal, which began last year following the expiration of the $1.057 billion, four-year CBS contract. The agreement would have renewed automatically if revenue for the first two seasons reached $330 million, but a strike caused cancellation of the World Series last year and gave all three partners the option of pulling out.
The renewal period for TBN begins Aug. 15 and baseball officials, still uncertain about their labor situation, have been unwilling to give ABC and NBC an answer.
Selig, reached at his home in Milwaukee, said a statement will be issued today.
In 1993, teams earned $15.4 million each from the national contracts with CBS and ESPN. But a recession and declining rating caused baseball owners to face a cut of perhaps 50 percent in their rights fee.
To combat that, they decided to form the partnership with ABC and NBC, which jointly held baseball’s broadcast rights from 1975 through 1989.
Under the TBN package, each network broadcasts games regionally for six nights during the second half of the season. Baseball officials hoped the regional telecasts would boost regular-season ratings, which declined drastically during the CBS deal.
ABC and NBC contributed $10 million each to TBN’s start-up costs. For the first $160 million in revenue each year, owners get 87.5 percent and the networks split the rest. Schanzer estimated each team would receive $7 million in national broadcast revenue this year.
A unique part of the deal, opposed by many fans, was a provision to regionalize league championship series games. Since the early 1970s, all playoff games were broadcast nationally in their entirety.
The ratings for baseball’s premier events remained second only to the Super Bowl among TV sports. From 1990-93, the World Series averaged a 20.6 rating. From 1991 through last year, the All-Star game average a 15.9 rating.