5-Hour Energy: A Success Equal Parts Caffeine, Chemistry and…
Walmart's New Health Food Push: Is It Too Hard to Swallow?
News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch is probably too busy plotting world domination to spend much time worrying about something trivial like baseball -- until now.
America's pastime is about to start post-season play, most of which will be televised on the company's Fox television network. Already, there was one huge surprise as the Philadelphia Phillies overtook the New York Mets to win the National League East. But this isn't the type of surprise that the media mogul probably likes because a team from a smaller media market beat one from a larger one.
Remember that last year's series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers had record-low television ratings. Advertisers pay a premium price for television spots on the World Series because of the huge audience it attracts. Fox probably has guaranteed that the commercials will be seen by a set amount of viewers and must refund money to advertisers if these targets aren't hit.
If Murdoch could wave a magic wand, he would no doubt love to see the Chicago Cubs face the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox in the best-of-seven series. These teams all have huge regional fan bases and feature some of the game's biggest stars, such as Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz and Alfonso Soriano.
But Murdoch may not get his wish. As the Mets learned the hard way, things don't always go as planned in baseball.
The series could feature the Cleveland Indians, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Colorado Rockies, or my hometown team, the Phillies, who have played unbelievable baseball over the past few weeks. An exciting series may not bring ratings. It sure didn't last year.
So over the next few days, you can bet that some of the loudest cheers for the Yankees, Cubs and Red Sox will be coming from Murdoch and big News Corp shareholders.
Goldman Earnings Sink After Buffett Dividend
Johnson & Johnson's Income Falls 23%
Burberry Shares Leap on Sales Update
