TBS May Air Part of the League Championship Series

[TMC]

http://www.nypost.com/sports/tbs_may...w_marchand.htm

June 24, 2006 -- In what would be a landmark move, Major League Baseball is in serious negotiations with TBS Sports to put a portion of baseball's league championship series exclusively on cable television for the first time, sources have told The Post.

If baseball pulls the trigger on an agreement with TBS, Fox is the favorite to re-up for the majority of league championship series games and baseball's crown jewel, the World Series. There is a chance NBC could be involved.

Announcements could come as early as next week.

This past week, MLB executive vice president for business Tim Brosnan and TBS executives held serious negotiations and moved toward a deal that would provide the cable network with games during the regular season, divisional series games and Game 1 of both the ALCS and NLCS starting next year. It is possible the two sides could expand the package in a final agreement.

Reached last night on his cell phone, Brosnan declined comment.

Brosnan was very busy this week. He also progressed, in talks with Fox Sports President Ed Goren, toward a renewal with that network.

In an effort to match or exceed the $2.5 billion, six-year deal with Fox Sports that expires after this year's World Series, MLB seems to be following the model setup by the NBA.

In its last deal, the NBA decided to take the most money and moved its conference finals to cable, placing them on ESPN and TNT, the sister station of TBS.

In recent years, Fox has regionally telecast league championship games. In New York, for example, an ALCS Yankee game would be on Fox, while the NLCS would be shown on Fox Sports Net.

Now, TBS - which has been broadcasting Braves games since 1973 - could be the new home of part of the league championship series.

"We have been partners with major league baseball for more than three decades and we look forward to being in business with them for many years," said TBS spokesman Jeff Pomeroy, who declined further comment.

TBS already has a contract with MLB to broadcast Braves games nationally through 2012. TBS is in nearly 90 million homes, close to the reach of ESPN.

If MLB moves part of the league championship series to cable, they not only will be following the NBA, but also other leagues. Starting this season, Monday Night Football will be on ESPN instead of ABC. And the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals were broadcast on OLN before the series moved to NBC for the remaining games.

andrew.marchand@nypost.com