It’s always been a gripe of mine how ESPN rolls into town and gets access to players and stories that the NFL or MLB team in our town won’t give the local guys, the guys that cover these teams daily. I don’t blame ESPN for that, but I’m still happy to seem them get a slap on the wrist for this.

Face it, local news needs the leagues and teams more than they need local news these days.

Last I checked, networks pay big bucks to broadcast these leagues, funded in part by local affils.

At the same time, local affils pay big bucks to host the coaches show or other team-related programming.

As for limiting exposure on the web, it’s a smart move by the leagues. Unlike TV, the leagues will be able to control and licence distribution via their own platforms. More money for them. Get used to it.

This is pretty similar. Local stations might want to consider those erstwhile boring community sports stories: The local U-18 baseball team that hasn’t lost all summer, or maybe the teen tennis phenom who’s a fave in some national tournament. It’s not like the media doesn’t already set the agenda for the consumer, and while such stories don’t necessarily interest me, Major League Baseball doesn’t do it for me or many others either until October.

I’ll seldom side with anything ESPN does, particularly its over-the-top production of just about everything, including last night’s perenially weak Steroid Convention, er, Home Run Derby, but isn’t its over-the-top habit exactly what should keep it from receiving the dressdown like the one MLB just gave it?

NFL, MLB, NCAA - if it’s “their” content, they can exclusively sell ad rights on their own channels and try as they might, someone will figure out how to copy/stream it.

The lawyers will get richer, but the media who have traditionally covered this stuff will find it ever so much harder to get through the legal hoops, leaving the pirates to go at wide distribution.

Interesting to see how this will play out, as No. 9 suggests.

you’ll be seeing alot more noon newscasts being streamed.

do you have to look that great when the camera is pointed at the field 90% of the time?

What year are you living in? 1970? The world has moved on from garbage constructs.

What year are you living in? 1970? The world has moved on from garbage constructs.

TBS doesn’t have the rights to the All-Star game (FOX holds those). They have the rights to the All-Star Selection Show. That program aired last Sunday (July 1). And, indeed, the program was delayed because of rain. Which just proves that MLB can’t media manage its way out of a paper bag.

Embargos are one of the dumber things media organizations can do. As far as MLB “punishing” ESPN for reporting a public fact, I’d love to see ESPN effectively go back to MLB and say, “You don’t want us to be there? Then we’re cutting back our coverage. How you like them apples?”