Jewish World Review March 5, 2003 / 1 Adar II, 5763

Evan Weiner

JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


Baseball may no longer be very, very good to Ruppert Murdoch


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Ruppert Murdoch is a lot of things to a lot of people. To fellow baseball owners, he is a sugar daddy in that he is responsible for the over-the-air TV national contract and in many markets local regional cable TV money.

But Murdoch's grip on baseball seems to be fading. The Murdoch- owned Los Angeles Dodgers are for sale and now some of Murdoch's fellow owners thinking of leaving him so they can start regional sports networks, which in a way is going back to cable TV's early days.

The Minnesota Twins will start a cable network in 2004, the Houston Astros are threatening to jump to a regional sports network in 2006 that Astros owner Drayton McLaine would own with Rockets owner Leslie Alexander. The Chicago White Sox and the Cubs could also be planning a network which would undoubtedly cablecast Bulls games as well. The Astros and White Sox are seen on Fox cable affiliates.

Team owners can make more money owning a cable network and that means a good number of owners could be saying goodbye to Ruppert Murdoch.

Appreciate this writer's work? Why not sign-up for JWR's daily update. It's free. Just click here.




JWR contributor Evan Weiner is a radio commentator on "The Business of Sports" for Westwood One's Metro Networks. He is being presented with the United States Sports Academy's Distinguished Service Award for 2003. Comment on this column by clicking here.

Up

03/04/03: At Augusta, the real fun and games will not be on the course
02/28/03: Will sports world soon be awaken to war realities?
02/27/03: Is baseball just a game like every other, after all?
02/26/03: He wasn't a player, manager or an owner, but he belongs in Cooperstown
02/25/03: States lining up to protect "college athletes' rights'"?
02/24/03: Why Gov. Ed Rendell is more important to the Pittsburgh Penguins' future than its owner
02/21/03: Tyson is living proof that both Mencken and Barnum were both right and Warhol was wrong
02/20/03: An endless season
02/19/03: The bills have come due
02/18/03: The world may be falling apart ... but American baseball teams are more popular than ever overseas
02/14/03: Adding jocks to the state's payrolls
02/13/03: How can the financially struggling Cablevision bail out another NHL franchise?
02/12/03: Selig is undermining sports franchises
02/11/03: Politicians and business leaders want to join a business that admits it's failing financially
02/10/03: Hold the pols responsible for rate hikes!
02/07/03: Judge a team's future by journalist's job?
02/05/03: College Sports and priorities
02/04/03: While corporate America parties, one wonders about the world's largest communications company and its future
02/03/03: High schooler picked the wrong $port to excel at
01/31/03: Gaming and games
01/30/03: The NHL's game plan
01/29/03: The moral guardians of basketball need some schooling themselves
01/24/03: America's excuse for a party
01/22/03: Turning San Diego into an armed camp
01/22/03: Will San Diego lose on Sunday --- even if it wins?

© 2003, Evan Weiner