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Major League Baseball laid the smackdown on ESPN telling them "Oh, no you di-int." The words could have been uttered on any daytime TV show from Maury to Springer, but this time they were directed at Sports Cable Channel ESPN. What gives? Why is MLB no longer in bed with ESPN?

It appears that ESPN, much like the spoiled obnoxious child it is, reported information that was supposed to be exclusive. Here's what went down....Major League Baseball gives exclusive licenses to certain content providers (TBS, ESPN, Fox Sports, etc.) so that the provider is allowed to televise or report on the results of baseball related news. Major League Baseball gets a hefty paycheck and the tv channel gets an exclusive right to deliver the goods-be it information or a telecast of a game.

What happened here is that TBS was granted an embargo in that TBS was, for a limited time, the only entity allowed to report the selection of the all star teams. The selection show was scheduled from 4-5 Eastern Time on Sunday. Prior to selection show coverage, TBS was covering a baseball game that was delayed 85 minutes because of rain and went into extra innings. As a result, the selection show did not air until after 6 p.m. ESPN delivered via "Sportscenter" the results of the selection just minutes after TBS announced them.

This pissed off MLB which has revoked any special treatment ESPN was to get at the baseball game. This upset MLB because TBS bargained for the right to be the exclusive carrier of that information (ie. any fan who wanted to immediately know who was selected for AL and NL All Star teams would have to tune into TBS). As a result, MLB decided to treat ESPN as a non-rights holder. What does this mean?

Well, ESPN won't be able to televise Baseball Tonight or a portion of Sportscenter from AT&T Park in San Francisco as they had originally planned. Instead, ESPN will have to cover from their principal place of business--Bristol, Connecticut.

Will we see ESPN at the All Star game at all? The ESPN set was taken down on Thursday, so it appears not.

Interestingly enough, ESPN is quite dependent on its good relationship with the anchor four sports leagues (particularly the NFL and the NBA). Is this a sign of things to come from ESPN? Are they going to continue to test the waters and try to push forward with their monopoly of all things sports and quasi-sports related (that spelling bee is barely quasi-sports...although I won't argue against those cheer competitions).

Labels: ESPN, Maury, MLB, Springer, TBS