ESPN just went double-down on its new deal with Major League Baseball. The 8-year deal, which begins in 2014, will see the WWL shelling out $700 million per year, up from the current $350 million.
And just who is going to pay for that tidy bump in rights? Will it be you? What do you think?
ESPN president John Skipper pushed off that responsibility on the cable distributors during a conference call Tuesday afternoon.
“We don’t determine what your cable bill will be,” Skipper said. “But I’ll tell you, this is a good day for distributor partners. We have just increased the quality and quantity of content we will provide our distributors.
“And no, we are not going to our distributors to ask for an increase for this content.”
OK, ESPN currently charges $5.06 per subscriber for the baseball content and more. It is by far the most of any cable network. That is the reason why CBS, Fox and NBC are enhancing their sports cable operations. They want their piece of the pie, even if it is only a sliver.
Technically, ESPN might not ask for an increase because of the MLB deal, as Skipper said. But make no mistake, the network will be asking for higher fees. Besides MLB, ESPN has to pay for other new mega deals with the NFL, ACC, SEC, the Rose Bowl, etc.
ESPN will seek increased rates because it can. The network has too much content, and it knows a cable operator would face a revolt if it said no to ESPN.
So whenever you hear the announcement of one of these big rights deals, just know that somebody is reaching in your pocket to pull out of a few more quarters. Of course, we’re paying. We always do.
How much of the money ESPN spent this summer was money that was going to be spent on the World Cup, which they were pretty sure they were going to keep.
Folks wanted a CFB playoff? Well, they got one. They just have to pay for it now.