• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, August 7, 2008

The rapidly staffing MLB Network has added a head of affiliate sales, who will be partly charged with building distribution beyond the channel's impressive 50 million homes at launch. Art Marquez joins from the NFL Network as senior vice president of affiliate sales for the Major League Baseball-owned channel that launches Jan. 1.

Marquez could be considered a surprise hiring, given that the NFL Network--where he was vice president of affiliate sales since its 2003 launch--has had trouble cutting carriage deals with leading cable operators, including Time Warner Cable, Charter and Cablevision. It has also had contentious negotiations with Comcast and is in far fewer homes than the NFL had hoped.

But CEO Tony Petitti, to whom he will report at MLBN, said Marquez' work at NFLN "will be a critical asset," as well as his experience at other organizations.

MLBN recently hired the CW's Bill Morningstar to head its sales operations. Since Petitti took the job as the launch CEO, others have joined the executive lineup.

Marquez has previous experience at NBC cable and Univision.

MLBN's 50 million homes include cable- and satellite-serviced households.