ESPN Takes One on the Chin: Baseball Tonight Banned From All-Star Coverage

If you were dying to hear John Kruk and Steve Phillips' indecipherable mutterings on the All-Star Game live and on location this week, you will be sorely disappointed: the Baseball Tonight set has been banned from the All-Star Game by Major League Baseball.

The reason? ESPN went ahead and reported the All-Star rosters before TBS, who had exclusive rights and a show set up specifically for the breathless revelation that Prince Fielder would indeed be the starting first baseman. Now, the Baseball Tonight set will sit idly in the outfield, being utilized by photographers with hair presumably far more voluminous than Krukie's.

Leagues and organizations do this all the time -- one way of dictating news coverage is by carefully negoiating who/what organization receives access to your events. In a way, this is a routine way for Major League Baseball to control its product. But the fact that it involves ESPN -- making clear that the leagues, and not the networks, still maintain the head spot at the power-brokerage table -- sets a precedent here that many ESPN-bashers will love, and the pro leagues will certainly appreciate. Check the nametag, grandma: you're in MLB's world now.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-09-2007 @ 12:29PM

Bruce Ciskie said...

Frankly, I think this is stupid. It's not like if ESPN were to show highlights of a particular event before the embargo on such highlights has expired. Not at all. Once those names were announced on TBS and (unfortunately) leaked on the AP wire, they were public knowledge.

It's one thing to control the access to highlights and such, but imagine a world where ESPN or other media outlets can't report the score of the Super Bowl until the rights holder's broadcast goes off the air. That's more akin to what baseball is doing than anything else.

They're trying to control the flow of information that is already in the public domain. I don't like that at all, and I wish ESPN had the guts to attack them for it. I'm interested to see if anyone on ATH or PTI this afternoon decides to call MLB out, or if ESPN wants this to go away instead of defending their right to report public information.

"Yeah, Boomer, we know the final score of the Super Bowl, but we can't tell anyone what it was until FOX goes off the air. In the meantime, can you list a few of your favorite nicknames of all-time for us while we wait?"

(And, yes, I know about the embargo and I'm sure ESPN did, too. I'm attacking the policy that was put in place back when TBS got the contract, having not known of that policy until recently.)

7-09-2007 @ 12:35PM

Ed said...

Well can you blame ESPN for not wanting to wait all that time. TBS was to unvail the rosters at 4p.m. but the Brave/ Marlin game would go an extra long time. Next tim e set it up so that it is done as planned. ESPN was never late announcing the rosters.

7-09-2007 @ 12:50PM

Ed--

That's how the AP got the story released too early. They probably set it up where it would move on the wire at 6pm ET, the original time for TBS' show being off the air. When TBS was held up, the AP story moved as scheduled, and had to be pulled later.

7-09-2007 @ 12:53PM

diane said...

I think that is great they have pulled them from anouncing the allstars game. I do not like those two annoucers and turn off the sound when they are on. all of the rambuling around and interviewing football players during the game really get me fired up. i don't know how they got the job with ESPN anyway, they must have been hard up for announcers.