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Article: Baseball Sued By ESPN; Sides Battling Over Sunday Night Games
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- May 5, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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ESPN sued Major League Baseball yesterday in a federal court in
New York, seeking to block baseball from terminating its regular
season contract with the cable television network after this season
because of a dispute stemming from conflicts with NFL games.
The deal is supposed to run through the 2002 season, but for a
second straight year the network is attempting to switch three Sunday
night baseball telecasts in September from ESPN to ESPN2 so it can
show NFL games, which draw more viewers, on ESPN. ESPN is heading
into the second year of an eight-year, $4.8 billion agreement with
the NFL, and it wants to maximize its Sunday night viewership, and
therefore its advertising revenue.
ESPN2 ...