I've had a couple of people ask me recently whether I thought (given that U.S. media congolomerates aren't swallowing sports franchises at the same rate anymore) Rogers Communications might be only a temporary corporate home for the Jays, especially given the losses that they are claiming.
To which I have said, I don't think so...
After all, when you have one of Canada's foremost corporate empire-builders heading up your parent, you can be pretty sure they won't want to get smaller.
Rogers Communications definitely appears to be in the baseball business for the long term. In this extensive interview with Ted Rogers there is an incredibly interesting exchange, 3/4 of the way down, that I think is worth quoting:
ROGERS : I'll tell you one reason why. You've heard of the new technology, there's two of them, there are two of these boxes that have a hard drive and can record many hours of television.
LIND : Like TIVO.
ROGERS : TIVO, and when they do that they can delete the commercials. So what is the value of ordinary programming if the commercials are deleted? What is the value to the broadcaster? It gets smaller and smaller. There is one kind of programming that will not be effected and that's live programming and when you think about it, sports and live news are the type. You're not going to be recording a sports event and watching it the next day because you know what the results are. So that's going to be live; you are going to see the commercials. So, we think that sports franchises will become more and more valuable and be quite unique assets.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030525090300999