The Major League Baseball (MLB) season starts tomorrow and it looks like Sirius XM subscribers who subscribe to the satellite radio service with a Sirius radio will not be able to listen to games like their XM counterparts, even if they are paying extra for the “Best of XM” package.
The reason for this is that even though the two satellite radio providers were finally allowed by the Federal government to merge into one company, Sirius XM Radio CEO Mel Karmazin insists on running the merged satellite radio company as though it is really two separate companies. Though he was able to quickly strike a deal with the NFL, the NHL, NASCAR, and the NBA to allow both XM and Sirius to broadcast live games and/or events, he was not able to work something out with MLB.
MLB wanted more money to allow games to be broadcast on Sirius. XM Radio had already pre-paid MLB for the rights to broadcast every game up to March of 2011.
I think this is a problem in that out of all the major sports, baseball is the only one that is actually worth listening to on the radio. When I listen to a baseball game on the radio, I can easily see the game play out in my mind’s eye. I’ve listened to games on the radio and then later watched highlights of these same games on ESPN. The events transpired exactly like what I imagined.
I can’t say the same thing for any other sport.
