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Report: Fox Nears $6 Billion to $7 Billion Deal for L.A. Dodgers TV Rights

Nov 26, 2012  •  Post A Comment

Fox Sports is nearing a deal to pay $6 billion to $7 billion over 25 years for exclusive television rights to the Los Angeles Dodgers, reports Nikki Finke at Deadline.com.

The deal would put the team on Fox’s regional sports network in Southern California as well as on Fox Broadcasting, the story says.

An earlier agreement, which cost Fox Sports about $40 million per season for the TV rights, is set to expire at the end of next season. The new deal means the per-season price will skyrocket to $280 million per season, the piece adds.

The deal could be done by Tuesday between Fox and Guggenheim Partners, which bought the team earlier this year for $2.15 billion, the story notes.

"In the era of DVR, Hulu, Netflix and other ways to watch TV, sports viewers (overwhelmingly male) watch live and therefore don’t always skip through ads," Finke writes.

"This makes sports programming increasingly valuable. It also helps Rupert Murdoch move yet another step closer to that national sports channel, which is his long-term play to rival ESPN — and as a result extract higher fees from cable and satellite companies."

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