Bob Costas plans for grow with MLB NetworkCourtesy
USA Today
(January 15, 2010) Bob Costas is like most baseball fans. He wants more.The veteran broadcaster is the most prominent name on the MLB Network's lineup and, like the year-old television arm of Major League Baseball, he's planning on more in 2010. "It was a remarkable first year," says Costas, who still hosts the Olympics and NFL games for NBC but gave up his work with HBO to get back to baseball. He said he hopes to at least double the eight live games he did for MLB Network last year in addition to continuing his series of long-form interviews with current and past baseball figures. The network grew faster than even President and CEO Tony Petitti hoped after its launch last January in 50 million homes, a cable-record for a station's debut. It's currently in about 54 million homes. "The amount of live hours — well over 2,000 — we did was beyond expectations," Petitti says. "We've learned from fans they want us to cover all 30 clubs. We need to do more fantasy-oriented programming." MLB Tonight, the network's signature in-season nightly show, was the one that had everyone both excited and scared a year ago. Figuring out the staffing and pacing for up to eight hours a night was daunting. "That was one thing that really developed beyond expectations. It played out really well. It was like doing our version of March Madness every day," says Petitti, who was directly involved as a CBS executive in the development of that network's signature coverage of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Petitti envisions more stability and consistency in Year 2, not that he feels making decision on the fly in the first year was a bad thing. "There were so many things that got added, like Quick Pitch (the network's morning recap of the previous night's games)," Petitti says. "Certain things became obvious." Baseball maven Costas calls working for MLB Network "enough of a fix that I'm happy. "It wasn't like I had to explain to (Petitti) how to use me," Costas says. "It's appropriate for me to be on the panel for something like the Hall of Fame announcement. But they certainly don't need me to discuss whether Tony La Russa pulled Joel Pineiro too soon." And, Costas says, baseball lends itself to offseason programming better than other sports. "There's such a great blend of the current and topical," he says. "So much archival stuff. There's no such thing as people wanting to watch the 1952 NBA Finals, but they will watch the (vintage) Dodgers and the Yankees." The network will continue its revolving panel of journalists and former players but also has added longtime ESPN analyst Peter Gammons. _______________________
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