News Corp. joined the bidders for the Texas Rangers:

News Corp. wants to bid on the Rangers to ensure continued TV rights for its Fox Sports unit, a source close to the negotiations said late Friday.

Craig Calcaterra doesn’t understand this reasoning:

This seems rather ridiculous to me. For one thing — to echo what one of the experts quoted in the article says — it’s the tail kind of wagging the dog, ain’t it? I mean, yes, you want to make sure you keep your broadcast rights, but how is taking on the overhead of a bankrupt baseball team the best way to do that? Also: doesn’t anyone at News Corp. remember that FOX used to own the Dodgers? And it was a disaster?

Craig forgets that Mark Cuban also owns a television network. This strikes me as Fox trying to prevent Cuban from competing with them. If Mark buys the Rangers, he could move them off Fox, maybe to one Cuban’s own broadcast properties. As an owner, Cuban might even cut deals with other teams to develop local affiliates for them that Cuban could brand. My guess is Fox is more interested in stopping a broadcast competitor than actually winning the team.