April 21, 2009

Baseball fans, rejoice: KBO games are back on cable television.

D-One TV has reached an agreement to broadcast Korean Baseball Organization games starting tonight with the match between the LG Twins and the Samsung Lions.

The deal comes after four cable channels abruptly decided to yank baseball games from their lineups because of conflicts over licensing rights fees. Some games still aired on local channels, but the four cable networks didn’t - and for now, won’t - air the matches listed on their schedules.

D-One TV specializes in movies and reality programs and reaches about 8.5 million households in 80 regions.

The network has not broadcast sporting events in the past, but it decided to seize the opportunity to enter a new arena after the weekend’s turmoil.

Several other cable channels also are interested in obtaining rights to broadcast games. There also is still a chance that the KBO can reach a deal with the four sports cable channels.

The dispute is somewhat unusual, marking the first time in KBO history that games have been taken off of the air because of a conflict.

The issue revolves around the licensing fees the KBO requires from broadcasters for the right to air the games on TV.

Broadcasters, faced with 15 billion won ($11.25 million) in losses last season tied to a drop in advertisements stemming from slumping economic conditions, are demanding a significant discount.

The fee last season was 1.6 billion won. But the broadcast companies have said they need it reduced by 1 billion won.

The KBO had said it would reduce the fee, but only to 1.4 billion won.

The disagreement left baseball fans fuming.

Many of them posted messages on the KBO’s Web site criticizing the broadcasting companies. One baseball fan took aim at the broadcasters for doling out much more for the rights to broadcast Japanese professional baseball games.

“For the broadcasters to spend 10 billion won on Japanese baseball games and yet complain about spending 1.5 billion won on domestic baseball games is a mere ploy to reduce the licensing rights fee,” the fan wrote on KBO’s site.


source: joongang.co.kr