ESPN

[Dan Strassberg]

Yes, WEEI did carry SOME MLB games and clearly did not take the whole
package. However, has WEPN made ANY showing against WFAN in New York? I had
heard that WEPN's New York numbers were in the same, umm, league as WWZN's
Boston numbers. If so, what sort of deal is ESPN giving to major-market
stations, such as 890, to take the whole package? Is ESPN Radio getting
desperate? Maybe the execs are thinking that, with new managment at the
parent company, losers can't have much time left and they are trying to
solve the problem by throwing money at it. Without some sort of reasonable
assurance that he could get a decent return on his investment, would Sutton
be shelling out $9 million for 890, which has probably never made a cent in
its entire history (OK, call it $8,5 million and assign a value of $500k to
WLLH.), or for that matter, would he do it for WWZN, which hasn't made a
cent in probably two decades? Was Sutton maybe in play to buy WWZN when
SNR's problem with "billing irregularities" put the sale of WWZN, WSNR, and
KMPC on hold for "nine months"? Maybe Sutton had already made a deal with
ESPN on the assumption that he was going to buy WWZN, and when that fell
through, he took the only other station in the market that he could find,
afford, and get his hands on quickly. The last requirement rules out WBIX,
which is likely to be in limbo longer than WWZN. I guess you can make a case
that 890 is a better deal than 1510, but you can also make the opposite
case, given that 1510 has been doing sports for quite a few years--however
paltry the numbers.

--
Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@att.net
eFax 707-215-6367

----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Fybush" <scott@fybush.com>
To: "KEVIN GOODWIN" <w1mex@lycos.com>; <bri@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 7:21 PM
Subject: Re: ESPN


> At 07:16 PM 3/15/2005, KEVIN GOODWIN wrote:
> >With ESPN sports radio format coming to WAMG and WLLH 890 and 1400
> >according to the Boston Globe article, both 890 and 1400 will carry both
> >MLB and NFL games. Does anybody list happen to know whether ESPN radio
> >carries NBA games and if and when there is a NHL season whether ESPN
radio
> >carries NHL games as well?
> >
> >To respond to an earlier post about WEEI carrying ESPN MLB games. I don't
> >believe that WEEI can do that. My assumption is that if WEEI takes any of
> >ESPN's product don't they have to take the sports format as well? My
> >assumption is with ESPN it may be an all or nothing deal. Meaning that
you
> >take all of their product not just pick and choose. Besides WEEI can not
> >carry ESPN MLB games because of their with the Red Sox. Also, according
to
> >the Globe article it sounded like WEEI wanted to break ties with ESPN and
> >go FOX Sports Radio instead seeing that they are already an alfiliate of
> >theirs.
>
> ABC will sell the ESPN MLB package without the full-time format under some
> circumstances, but I'd think that if they have a full-time ESPN Radio
> affiliate in a market (as 890/1400 will apparently be), that that station
> would get first dibs on the MLB.
>
> Hasn't WEEI already had some of the ESPN MLB games?
>
> s
>