By Diane M. Grassi
On January 1, 2009, Major League Baseball (MLB) launched its long awaited Major League Baseball Network (MLBN) on major cable broadcast providers throughout U.S. television markets.
Hailed by MLB itself as a boon to its continued growth, the MLBN hopes to garner $150–$200 million in additional revenue in just its first year of distribution.
And to that end, the MLBN starts right off the bat with a built-in cushion of an instant 50 million television household subscribers or about one third of the cable market share.