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The Baseball Network was a short-lived television broadcasting joint venture between ABC, NBC and Major League Baseball. Under the arrangement, beginning in the 1994 season, the league produced its own in-house telecasts of games,〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://boards.sportslogos.net/topic/93118-sports-graphics-packages-historically/page-4#entry2117800 )〕 which were then brokered to air on ABC and NBC. This was perhaps most evident by the copyright beds shown at the end of the telecasts, which stated "The proceeding program has been paid for by the office of The Commissioner of Baseball". The Baseball Network was the first television network in the United States to be owned by a professional sports league. The package included coverage of games in primetime on selected nights throughout the regular season (under the branding ''Baseball Night in America''), along with coverage of the postseason and the World Series. Unlike previous broadcasting arrangements with the league, there was no national "game of the week" during the regular season; these would be replaced by multiple weekly regional telecasts on certain nights of the week. Additionally, The Baseball Network had exclusive coverage windows; no other broadcaster could televise MLB games during the same night that The Baseball Network was televising games. The arrangement did not last long; due to the effects of a players' strike on the remainder of the 1994 season, and poor reception from fans and critics over how the coverage was implemented, The Baseball Network would be disbanded after the 1995 season. While NBC would maintain rights to certain games, the growing Fox network became the league's new national broadcast partner beginning in 1996, with its then-parent company News Corporation eventually purchasing the Los Angeles Dodgers. ==Background== After the fall-out from CBS's financial problems from their exclusive, four-year-long, US$1.2 billion television contract with Major League Baseball (a contract that ultimately cost the network approximately $500 million), Major League Baseball decided to go into the business of producing the telecasts themselves and market these to advertisers on its own. In reaction to the failed trial with CBS, Major League Baseball was desperately grasping for every available dollar. To put things into proper perspective, in 1991, the second year of the league's contract with the network, CBS reported a loss of around $169 million in the third quarter of the year. A decline in advertiser interest caused revenue from the sale of commercials during CBS' baseball telecasts to plummet. All the while, CBS was still contractually obligated to pay Major League Baseball around $260 million a year through 1993. As part of MLB's attempt to produce and market the games in-house, it hoped to provide games of regional interests to appropriate markets. Major League Baseball in the process, hoped to offer important games for divisional races to the overall market. Owners hoped that this particular technique, combined with the additional division races created through league expansion (the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins had begun play the year prior) and the quest for wild card spots for the playoffs (1994 was the first year of three divisions for each league) in increasing the national broadcast revenue for Major League Baseball in the foreseeable future. After a four-year hiatus, ABC and NBC (who last aired ''Thursday Night Baseball'' games and the Saturday afternoon ''Game of the Week'' respectively) returned to Major League Baseball under the umbrella of a revenue sharing venture called The Baseball Network. Under a six-year plan, Major League Baseball was intended to receive 85% of the first US$140 million in advertising revenue (or 87.5% of advertising revenues and corporate sponsorship from the games until sales topped a specified level), 50% of the next $30 million, and 80% of any additional money. Prior to this, Major League Baseball was projected to take a projected 55% cut in rights fees and receive a typical rights fee from the networks. When compared to the previous TV deal with CBS, The Baseball Network was supposed to bring in 50% less of the broadcasting revenue. The advertisers were reportedly excited about the arrangement with The Baseball Network because the new package included several changes intended to boost ratings, especially among younger viewers. Arranging broadcasts through The Baseball Network seemed, on the surface, to benefit NBC and ABC (who each contributed $10 million in start-up funds) since it gave them a monopoly on broadcasting Major League Baseball games. The deal was similar to a time-buy, instead of a traditional rights fee situation. It also stood to benefit the networks because they reduced the risk associated with purchasing the broadcast rights outright (in stark contrast to CBS's disastrous contract with Major League Baseball from the 1990–1993 seasons). NBC and ABC were to create a loss-free environment for each other and keep an emerging Fox, which had recently made an aggressive and ultimately successful $1.58 billion bid for the television rights for National Football Conference games (thus, becoming a major player in the sports broadcasting game in the process), at bay. As a result of Fox's NFL gain, CBS was weakened further by affiliate changes, as a number of stations jumped to Fox from CBS (for example, in Detroit, WWJ-TV replaced WJBK). Key figures involved in the creation and production for The Baseball Network: * David Alworth (vice president of broadcasting and production management) * Dan Bell (spokesman for The Baseball Network) * Chris Bevilacqua (director of corporate sponsorships) * Bill Canter (production manager of the 1995 World Series) * Rick Clifford * Ed Delaney (vice president of operations) * Carlos DeMolina (production assistant of the 1995 World Series) * Philip Doucet (technical director of the 1995 World Series) * Dick Ebersol (president of NBC Sports) * Eddie Einhorn (vice chairman of the Chicago White Sox, television producer and a member of Major League Baseball's television committee) * John Filippelli (coordinating producer) * Sam Flood (pre-game producer of the 1995 World Series) * Woody Freiman (associate producer the 1995 World Series) * Russell Gabay (coordinating production manager of the 1995 World Series) * Bill Giles (Philadelphia Phillies president and chairman of Major League Baseball's television committee) * John Gonzalez (coordinating producer & producer of the 1995 World Series for NBC Sports) * Steve Hearns (production manager of the 1995 World Series) * Steve Hirdt (director of information of the 1995 World Series) * Jeff Kibler (associate producer the 1995 World Series) * Steve Lawrence (replay producer of the 1995 World Series) * Ross Levinsohn * Jon Litner (vice president of business affairs) * Bill Melanson (production manager of the 1995 World Series) * Jack O'Hara (executive producer of ABC Sports) * Peter Pascarelli (editorial consultant of the 1995 World Series) * Jed Petrick (vice president of sales) * Chris Pfeiffer (production assistant of the 1995 World Series) * Andy Rosenberg (director of the 1995 World Series) * Tom Roy (executive producer of NBC Sports) * Ken Schanzer (president and chief operating officer) * Bud Selig (owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and acting commissioner of Major League Baseball) * Ray Stallone (director of marketing communications) * Dennis Swanson (president of ABC Sports) * Mike Trager (executive vice president, marketing and sales) * Suzanne Turner (production manager of the 1995 World Series) * Tom Werner (owner of the San Diego Padres and a member of Major League Baseball's television committee) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Baseball Network」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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