Australian commercial broadcaster Nine has acquired media rights for the US Major League Baseball season-opening games in Australia between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks.
Nine outbid commercial rival Seven for the rights to the event, which will comprise two games in Sydney on March 22-23, according to the News.com website.
Nine will exploit the rights on free-to-air digital television multi-channel GEM in Australia while ESPN will show the event on pay-television in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, South America and the Caribbean.
The league-owned Major League Baseball Network has acquired rights for the contests in the US.
In Australia, ESPN will also exclusively broadcast the exhibition games that the Diamondbacks and Dodgers will play against Team Australia prior to the two regular-season games.