Extra, extra

Put away the Slingbox. Cancel the dish. End that free trial of mlb.tv.

Major League Baseball and iN Demand reached an agreement last night that will allow cable companies to carry baseball’s out-of-market package, “Extra Innings,” which is likely prompting a sigh of relief among displaced baseball fans today.

Not too many details in baseball’s press release, of course, but it is perfect timing for Red Sox fans in anticipation of Daisuke Matsuzaka’s major league debut this afternoon. I do, however, love this statement from MLB COO Bob DuPuy.

“Our chief goal throughout the process was to ensure that fans would have access to as many baseball games and as much baseball coverage as possible,” he said.

Yeah. Right.

Some might see this as a loss for DirecTV, which had negotiated an exclusive $700 million agreement with the league to carry the package, including the as-of-yet-unnamed “Baseball Network.” Not so, according to CEO Chase Carey.

“We are extremely pleased with our revised agreement. It recognizes DIRECTV’s role in this process by providing us unique financial benefits in Extra Innings, a leadership equity position in the MLB Channel, an ability to develop expanded features available only to DIRECTV customers as well as exclusivity of MLB Extra Innings against satellite and other key cable competitors.”

Yeah. Right.

So, does John Kerry get the baseball fan vote now in his run for the Oval Office?

“All we ever wanted was a victory for the fans and this outcome is a big step forward,” Kerry said in a statement. “Everyone kept talking and pressing until we had a deal that protects the rights of most fans to follow their hometown team.”

I’m sure we won’t hear any more of how he saved baseball fans from Kerry over the next few months. Still, the deal is done. Rest easy.

Yeah, all right.