On August 28, 2012, it was announced that ESPN and Major League Baseball had agreed on a new eight-year deal that increased ESPN's average yearly payment from about $360 million to approximately $700 million.
Year-by-year breakdown 2010 The 2010 season marked the first full season in the United States for baseball games to be telecast in the digital format. The national telecast breakdown is as follows, along with the maximum number of appearances per team:
FOX: Saturday afternoon Game of the Week on a regional basis; nine appearances per team. In addition, the network will broadcast the All-Star Game (which was also broadcast in 3-D), NLCS, and World Series. The network starts their telecasts on Saturdays at 4 PM US ET/1 PM US PT, except for three dates (April 10, May 1 and 8) due to NASCAR coverage, when those games started at 3 PM ET/12 noon PT. Two prime time dates were on the schedule on both May 22 and June 26, both starting at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT. Fox Sports en Español holds Spanish broadcast rights to the World Series. In July 2010, Fox's on-screen graphics were repositioned for the 16:9 aspect ratio, as all HDTV programming from the Fox network began to be presented in a letterboxed format using an Active Format Description code for standard definition viewers. The supposed high-definition picture, however, has been derided as coming across as highly imperfect, lacking the detail and clarity normally expected from a high-definition broadcast. Beginning with the 2010 MLB playoffs, Fox has used its NFL theme music for its MLB coverage (and all other Fox Sports properties, including NASCAR and UFC events). There has been backlash from fans who believe that the NFL theme does not belong on MLB coverage, and that the previous MLB theme should return. A poll by Sports Media Watch noted that as of October 23, 2010, while nearly 60% of fans thought that Fox made a bad move, only 11% thought it was a good move and 30% had no opinion (all percentages rounded). ESPN/ESPN2: Sunday Night Baseball on a weekly basis; five appearances per team. In addition, there are games on Monday and Wednesday nights (with the Monday games moving to either Wednesday nights to form a doubleheader or Friday nights when the 2010 NFL season begins), Opening Day games on April 5, and the Home Run Derby on July 12, which was also broadcast on ESPN 3D. ESPN Deportes holds Spanish rights to the Sunday night package. Starting with the April 3 season opener between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, ESPN began using the same graphics package which debuted with Monday Night Football in . The score banner was converted to a score box in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. And instead of numbers to represent the balls, strikes and outs, dots were represented for each: three green dots for balls, two yellow dots for strikes, and two red dots for outs. The pitch count was also introduced, adopted from the New York Yankees' broadcasts on the YES Network, as well as NESN for the Boston Red Sox. College baseball and softball broadcasts, however, continued to use the previous (2007) graphics for the 2010 College World Series telecasts. ESPN's coverage of the Little League World Series also retained the 2007 graphics until midway through, and then adopted the current (2010) graphics package. Baseball Tonight, a daily highlight show aired on ESPN during the baseball season, likewise introduced new graphics adopted from SportsCenter in June 2010. Also in 2010, Jon Miller and Joe Morgan began their 21st consecutive season working together for ESPN. Among U.S. network television sportscasters, only Pat Summerall and John Madden (who called NFL games for CBS and Fox from 1981 to 2001) have had a similar length partnership in the booth. Following the 2010 season, ESPN announced that the television contracts of Miller and Morgan would not be renewed. Miller was offered, but chose to decline, a continued role with ESPN Radio. TBS: Sunday afternoon games starting on April 11; 13 appearances per team. In addition, the network will carry the announcement of the All-Star Teams in the National and American Leagues on July 4 as well as the Division Series and the ALCS as per the alternating contract with FOX. Blackout rules will again apply here as Headline News will be broadcast in the teams' markets during the regular season. From 2007 to 2010, when TBS aired every Division Series game, start times were staggered throughout the day from early afternoon to late primetime. The first game was usually scheduled to start at 1:07 and the last game was usually scheduled for 9:07. If a game ran long, the start of the next game would be shifted to TNT (the game would move back to TBS during the first commercial break after the end of the earlier game, with an announcement from the in-studio crew to switch to TBS). For the LCS round, TBS would show all of the games at a start time pre-set by MLB. All coverage was followed by Inside MLB. This schedule was brought back for 2013 only, with the exception that MLB Network aired the two games scheduled for the early afternoon slot. MLB Network: The network will again air a weekly Thursday Night Game of the Week and Saturday Night Game of the Week, and for the first time, selected afternoon games. Thursday Night games are produced in-house, while Saturday Night games and midweek day games (except for the Civil Rights Game, May 22 and June 26) will usually come off the home team's video production. Blackouts will again apply here, as viewers in the competing team's markets will telecast an alternate game off the home team feed of selected teams. In addition, holiday games on Memorial Day (May 31) and day games on July 5 and in addition, commencing on September 5 (Labor Day), expanded coverage of the pennant races will be taking place with additional games broadcast.
In Canada, Toronto Blue Jays games will be televised on Rogers Sportsnet and Rogers Sportsnet One. RSN also holds the Canadian rights to air the Fox and ESPN/ESPN2 games if they do not conflict with Blue Jays games, as well as the All-Star Game and the entire postseason. Starting May 16, TSN2 holds rights to the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball telecasts.
In Australia free to air channel One HD shows up to 5 regular season games live per week (no postseason coverage), and European channel ESPN America broadcasts games as well.
2011 The national telecast breakdown is as follows, along with the maximum number of appearances per team: Fox: Saturday afternoon Game of the Week on a regional basis; up to nine appearances per team. In addition, the network broadcast the All-Star Game, ALCS, and World Series. Fox Deportes held Spanish broadcast rights to the World Series. Most Saturday games started at 4 PM US EDT/1 pm PDT, except for games on April 9, April 30 and May 7, when those telecasts began at 1 PM US EDT/10 AM US PDT due to NASCAR coverage and on May 14, 21 and 28, the latter because of the UEFA Champions League final as those games were scheduled to start at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT. Starting with Opening Day of the 2011 MLB season, both the Fox broadcast network and Fox Sports Networks began using the same graphics package adopted for NFL on Fox telecasts in 2010, featuring a new horizontal layout with team abbreviations (as opposed to the use of team logos on the NFL version) and scores flanking a display of the inning, diamond, count, outs (represented by 3 lights), and pitch speed in the center. The new scoreboard was also able to slide open to reveal statistical information or home run notifications. ESPN/ESPN2: Sunday Night Baseball on a weekly basis; five appearances per team. A new broadcast team with Dan Shulman and Orel Hersheiser joined Bobby Valentine, replacing Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. In addition, there were games on Monday and Wednesday nights (with the Monday games moving to either Wednesday nights to form a doubleheader or Friday nights when the 2011 NFL season began), Opening Day games on both March 31 and April 1, and the Home Run Derby on July 11. ESPN Deportes held Spanish rights to the Sunday night package. The ESPN Major League Baseball score box was slightly modified beginning with the opening day game between the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees. Numbers indicating the ball, strike and out counts replace the dots used last year; the out dots were adopted by Fox Sports Net on their local broadcasts as well as Major League Baseball on Fox. The pitch speed and count are now fixed below the bases graphic. Also, the area around the bases graphic and ball, strike, and out counter is slightly translucent. Beginning with the Sunday Night Baseball interleague game between the New York Yankees and the Chicago Cubs on June 19, the graphics were slightly adjusted to fit in with the 16:9 aspect ratio for HD broadcasts, similar to what Fox Saturday Baseball, Root Sports and Fox Sports Net have done for their baseball coverage. TBS would follow suit in adjusting their graphics to the 16:9 aspect ratio. TBS: Sunday afternoon games starting on April 3; 13 appearances per team. TBS also carried the announcement of the All-Star teams in the National and American Leagues on July 3 as well as the Division Series and the NLCS as per an alternating contract with Fox. Blackout rules applied as HLN broadcast in the teams' markets during the regular season. In 2011 and 2012, TNT aired its own slate of postseason Division Series games, due to MLB's desire to air fewer games in the early afternoon. This was the first time TNT had ever aired regularly scheduled MLB games, however it used TBS's announcers and production crews with the only difference being the TNT logo in the scorebox replacing the usual TBS logo. In 2011, TNT aired Rays–Rangers Game 1, Tigers–Yankees Games 1 and 2, and Brewers–Diamondbacks Game 3. In 2012, TNT aired Reds–Giants Game 1, and A's–Tigers Games 4 and 5. During the network's coverage of Game 1 of the 2011 American League Division Series between the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays, TBS was alleged to have featured doctored headlines with incorrect attributions. On October 1, during the middle of an at-bat during Game 1 of the 2011 ALDS between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers, TBS suddenly cut to an ALDS game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Texas Rangers, which was airing on TNT, for about 14 seconds. Moments later (as TBS was coming out of a replay and showing the Tigers' dugout), cameras missed Yankees right fielder Nick Swisher making a diving catch (instead showing Yankees pitcher Iván Nova walking off the mound and pumping his fist). TBS (in particular, throughout their coverage of the 2011 postseason) has also been criticized for placing the center-field camera precisely in the center. Therefore, every time a pitcher began his windup, his head would block the view of home plate. MLB Network: The network again aired a Thursday Night Game of the Week, games on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday nights, and selected afternoon games. Thursday night games were mostly produced in-house, while all other games came from home teams' video productions. Blackouts applied, as viewers in competing teams' markets saw an alternative game from the feed of selected home teams. In addition, holiday games on Memorial Day (May 30), day games on July 4, Labor Day (September 5) and in addition, commencing in August, expanded coverage of the pennant races took place.
Two more teams joined the growing cable-exclusive telecast teams in 2011. Fox Sports Midwest produced and televised all St. Louis Cardinals games on the cable station, along with selected areas of the Cardinals' DMA outside St. Louis including Fox Sports Tennessee in Tennessee, Fox Sports Indiana in parts of Indiana, and SportsSouth in Arkansas and parts of Oklahoma. The 2010 season was their last season of splitting games with KSDK.FS Midwest To Air All St. Louis Cardinals Games Locally In 2011 Multichannel News July 15, 2010