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25 August 2008

Wolff interview on AN, possible new TV deal?

Blez posted the first part of a lengthy interview with Lew Wolff on AN today. Check it out. Nothing on the baseball village itself. Wolff said the team is working on an improved TV deal that could be done in the next six months.

p.s. Thanks for the rep, Blez!

p.p.s. Thanks to Zonis for finding the Bizjournal article about the A's talks with Comcast. The A's may be looking moving to Comcast Sportsnet West, which is currently home to the Kings. In doing so, the A's could pick up an equity share of the channel, just as the Giants have with CSN Bay Area. If the idea has some vague familiarity to frequent readers of this blog, it should since I wrote about it in May. The circumstances are slightly different, but they're still quite favorable to the A's.

p.p.p.s. I'm not an architect, though I play one on TV.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

So Wolff reads the blog regularly it seems... and apparently you are "an architect or something."

Anonymous said...

Info on the TV deal!

http://eastbay.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2008/08/25/daily16.html

Tony D. said...

R.M.,
I just finished reading that Biz Journal article myself. The obvious good news is that the A's would wind up with a Giants-like deal on CSN West. The bad news...the damn station is out of Sac!! Kings games are blacked out in the Bay Area; could the Giants force A's games to be blacked out also? Again, potentially good for the A's, but it's to bad the A's and Giants couldn't work out a deal like the Cubs and White Sox, where both teams have equity/broadcast from the same RSN. Then again, could be another leverage move to get more favorable terms out of Giants/CSNBA; would the Giants really want to loose the A's, especially with the prospect of them being "San Jose's/Silicon Valley's team?" Interesting stuff.

Tony D. said...

Just read the AN article. In terms of television partner, Mr. Wolff did have this to say: "Or we need to make the partnership (CSNBA?) better and we're in the process of working on that right now." So perhaps the A's are in negotiations with the Giants/CSNBA to make the "partnership better," with the threat of bolting to CSN West acting as leverage. I don't know, but I just don't like the possibility of A's games being based out of Sac; that's just me. I've never liked the idea of Raiders black outs...the A's?

Marine Layer said...

The two teams don't want to share airspace if they don't have to. It's inconvenient and disruptive.

Whatever new cable deal will be constructed won't change the existing broadcast territorial rights. Both teams share Northern and Central California plus parts of Nevada and Southern Oregon. Where the broadcasts originate won't make a difference. They're just studio shows. When FSN had its "local" sports news shows you know where they originated? Chicago.

Besides, it'd make a ton of sense if the A's built a radio/TV studio into the new stadium. Many teams already have such facilities.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps it's a precusor of things to come ... Sacramento A's anyone?

- Tim K.

Marine Layer said...

Nope.

Anonymous said...

ML,

You've done a very good job! I think Lew knows damn well you are not an architect, but doesn't wish to compromise your neutrality. A stance which you've taken great pains to maintain with a reasonable audience. His citation of your blog should put to rest any notions of the relevance of what you are attempting to do. Please keep up the great work! I'm very grateful to have a neutral third party resource to filter out the technical aspects of Cisco field!

Anonymous said...

You're not the ultimate authority, my man.

Marine Layer said...

anon 9:28:

I'd say the Wolffs are the authorities on the subject, wouldn't you? I'm merely trying to present information. Then again, there are some that paint me as a mouthpiece so I suppose to them I am the authority by relation.

If you want to rebut my now three-year old piece analyzing the Sacto situation, feel free. BTW, it's only made worse by the horrific housing market crisis there.