ESPN lands eight-year Major League Baseball deal

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Top U.S. sports cable network ESPN on
Wednesday said it reached an agreement to extend its contract
with Major League Baseball to broadcast regular-season games
for eight years.

The new contract, which ends in 2013, extends one that was
set to end in 2005. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The pact gives ESPN, a unit of Walt Disney Co., the right
to air up to 80 regular-season games, including Sunday, Monday
and Wednesday night games, and the right to offer programming
across its Web site and digital devices such as cellphones.

The deal raises questions about Comcast Corp.’s plans to
acquire additional sports rights to raise the profile of its
OLN network, which recently gained rights to National Hockey
League games. Wall Street has widely expected Comcast to bid
for rights to air baseball games.

“We do not have the exclusive national cable rights here,”
George Bodenheimer, ESPN and ABC Sports president, said on a
conference call.

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig declined to comment on whether
discussions were held with Comcast, but said, “We have
flexibility in the future.”

Separately, the league has a deal with News Corp.’s Fox
network, which owns the rights to air post-season games. That
contract runs through 2006.

MLB has moved to improve its visibility over the past two
years. It approved the creation of a national cable TV channel
last year featuring archives of classic baseball games and
interviews.