Cablevision Systems Corp. has reached an agreement to carry TBS HD, just in time for the start of Major League Baseball’s postseason.
The New York metro area cable operator said it would add TBS HD to its high-definition lineup early next week. The pact, deal terms of which were not disclosed, evidently makes Cablevision the third major distributor to pick up TBS HD, which launched on DirecTV earlier this week. According to a report in the The Boston Globe, the network also has a rollout deal with Comcast that will enable fans to see the postseason action. Comcast officials didn’t return calls by press time.
Beginning Oct. 3, TBS will begin its exclusive coverage of baseball’s four division series and one of the League Championship Series, which it rotates with Fox. This year, TBS, which has a seven-year pact with MLB through 2013, will televise the series determining the National League champions.
Cablevision’s deal expands its HD roster to 41 networks and affords Big Apple baseball fans to see one or likely both of the local clubs perform during the postseason in the enhanced format. The New York Yankees have clinched a wild card position and are still vying to surpass the Boston Red Sox for the American League East title, while the New York Mets hold a one-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies in the battle for NL East supremacy.
TBS HD will become available to iO TV customers with HD-capable set-top boxes on channel 739, beginning Oct. 1. Officials at the operator said the channel will be available across the company’s entire service area by next Wednesday.
“We are pleased to have reached agreement to add TBS HD to our lineup of more than 40 high-definition programming services in time for the MLB playoffs,” said, Cablevision senior vice president of product management John Trierweiler in a statement. “This is great news for local baseball fans, and for our growing base of more than 800,000 HD customers.”
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6382231.html?industryid=47200&q=TB...
http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/09/26/high_definition...
