By Rick Horrow and Karla Swatek
August 23, 2013
For all of the attention paid to rising sports TV rights, there’s still a market for sports on the radio. MLB and Sirius XM Radio announced a six-year extension of their media rights deal that keeps the carrier as the league’s official satellite radio partner through the 2021 season. The deal is believed to build on the 11-year, $650 million contract the parties originally signed back in 2005. The original satellite radio deal was signed with XM prior to its Sirius merger. Even after the companies merged, games weren’t readily available to Sirius users. With the new agreement, all regular and postseason MLB games are available to Sirius Premier and All-Access subscribers.
But as radio rights are increasing, MLB radio broadcasts are seeing a proliferation in drop-in ads to offset rising programming costs, according to Richard Sandomir of The New York Times. Among the more creative ads is Geico sponsoring the 15th out of a Yankees game to promote their “15-minute call” tagline.
