By Kim Jae-won
Staff Reporter
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) signed broadcasting deals for this season with two major cable sports networks Tuesday, the KBO's agency confirmed Wednesday.
Negotiations between the cable networks and Eclat Entertainment, the agency representing the KBO, had been difficult, as both networks demanded a lower price than the last year because of a weak advertising market due to the economic recession. The KBO's asking price for the rights was 1.5 billion won ($1.19 million) from each company, while the cable networks offered 1 billion won ($797,000). Fees for the rights to resell programs to IPTV were also reached.
Last year, four sports cable networks ― KBS N Sports, MBC ESPN, SBS Sports and Xports ― each paid 1.6 billion won ($1.27 million) for the rights.
``We signed with the two companies on Tuesday. We agreed that the KBO would have the right to resell the programs instead of giving the cable networks the fee,'' an Eclat Entertainment representative told The Korea Times, Wednesday. The agency also said it expects that an agreement with a third network is imminent. ``We will sign with the Xports soon,'' the official added, but declined to release financial terms.
However, talks with a fourth network appear to have broken down. SBS Sports wants to air KBO games on E!TV, the cable channel's sister entertainment network. SBS Sports airs Yomiuri Giants games in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), which are played at the same time as KBO games. Former Samsung Lions slugger Lee Seung-yeop of South Korea plays for the club.
``We hope that SBS Sports will accept the condition that the baseball games be aired on the sports channel,'' the Eclat Entertainment representative said.
However, a cable network representative said he did not believe that the network on which the games will air is the only sticking point. ``The channel is one thing (Ecalt Entertainment) asked for, but that is not the main issue. The big problem is that we did not agree on the fee for the rights to resell to IPTV,'' an SBS Sports representative told The Korea Times.