Courtesy USA Today

(February 5, 2009) It's hardly surprising Bob Costas would sign on with a channel devoted to baseball, a sport that famously fascinates him. But for one of the more independent voices in mainstream TV to join the MLB-owned MLB Network is the sports equivalent of joining state-run TV.

But he expects he'll be able to say anything about the sport that he might say on his NBC home base or on HBO, which he's leaving as a result of joining the MLB Network. "Yes, that's my understanding," he says.

He suggests there's "no contradiction between loving the game and having differences of opinion with the powers-that-be" and that, when relevant, he'd raise issues involving steroids. "Even if Barry Bonds wants to sit down for an hour, I'm there. And, he'd get a fair hearing."

Costas will continue his NBC roles, including hosting its Olympic and NFL coverage. He'll call some of MLBN's 26 regular-season games — "we'll play it by ear how many" — as well as appear in various specials for a total of maybe 20 appearances annually. He debuts Thursday with an interview, taped Tuesday, with Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre.

Going to MLBN meant Costas had to leave HBO, where he did quarterly Costas Now talk shows and, until the show was lost to Showtime last year, hosted Inside the NFL.

Says HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg: "Television is about change, and we respect Bob's decision to move."

Asked whether Costas will have to toe any company line, MLBN President Tony Petitti suggests that showbiz trumps any marketing concerns: "You hire people for their viewpoints, abilities and opinions and then let them do their thing."