'Although nothing officially has been announced about DIRECTV landing an exclusive deal with Major League Baseball for its out-of-market programming package, company officials are saying that the satellite version of baseball will be better than it has ever been on other carriers. In a letter addressed to Federal Communications Commission Media Bureau Chief Monica Shah Desai, DIRECTV CEO Chase Cary said the agency has nothing to fear over the proposed deal because consumers will be the winners in the end.
DIRECTV's rumored deal for MLB's Extra Innings package has attracted heated criticism from law makers, media observers and baseball fans worried their ability to watch baseball will be greatly diminished if the deal goes through. But in his letter, Carey said the satcaster's agreement with the league "is going to be a big win for consumers and is consistent with Congress's and the FCC's pro-competitive policies."
Carey compared the company's plans with Extra Innings to what it has done in the past with the NFL Sunday Ticket and NASCAR Hotpass. The exec said consumers will get a better product with more features, and "more people will choose to subscribe to Extra Innings on DIRECTV alone than when the product was available on cable nationwide." The DIRECTV head also said no consumers will be denied access because viewers, if they desire, can switch from cable to DIRECTV for free.
According to Carey, it was baseball who approached pay-TV providers to negotiate over exclusive carriage of its Extra Innings and only DIRECTV showed interest at a level that satisfied the league - carrying MLB's new The Baseball Channel in the future. Also part of the deal means that The Baseball Channel remains available to DISH Network, cable and other providers.
Another point Carey contends is that allowing the broadband-less DIRECTV to have exclusive rights to Extra Innings will "help stem the flow of subscribers returning to cable in order to purchase the triple-play of voice, video and data... This is the sort of development Congress and the Commission should welcome" because it is "entirely consistent" with the groups' desire to promote competition.
The letter goes on to say that the only real barriers to cable customers who would want to switch to DIRECTV for the programming is "imposed by cable" itself. Carey said the industry penalizes its customers by increasing internet service rates if the sub cancels their video service, and theoretically subs could watch games on MLB.com if cable didn't prohibit a direct connection between the internet and the set-top box.'
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