Sports : CBS Wins TV Baseball Rights

CBS today won exclusive network rights to televise major league baseball with a $1-billion offer that shocked NBC, which has prided itself on its baseball coverage since 1947.

CBS won a four-year contract to televise the World Series, the All-Star Game, the playoffs in both leagues and a 12-game regular-season package beginning in 1990, industry sources said. The network has not televised big-league baseball since the mid-1960s, while NBC and ABC have shared TV rights since 1975.

CBS was stunned by NBC last month when it lost the U.S. television rights to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. NBC won that plum with a bid of $401 million, topping CBS’ offer by $40 million.