North America's Major League Baseball has agreed a multi-platform programming partnership with Viacom-owned youth entertainment media group MTV.
The "multi-year" agreement will showcase a range of bespoke content and aims to demonstrate the crossover between baseball and pop culture.
To kick off the partnership, Boston Red Sox 2013 World Series MVP David Ortiz and Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates will serve as executive producers for a 30-episode weekly show to air on the MTV2 television channel that aims to showcase the personalities of MLB players away from the field.
The series is set to debut in April and will be broadcast from inside the MLB Fan Cave, the league’s first-of-its-kind space that mixes baseball with music, pop culture, media, interactive technology and art.
Content from the new partnership will run live on-air and online across MTV's channels and platforms – MTV, MTV2, mtvU, MTV Hits and MTV Jams – integrating MLB players into existing shows and events.
“The MLB Fan Cave has been an enormous success in showcasing the personalities of our star players to young fans and intersecting baseball with pop culture,” Tim Brosnan, executive vice-president of business for MLB, said. “Being able to partner with MTV on a weekly TV series will give us an opportunity to bring that concept to an even broader audience.”