-By John Consoli, Mediaweek

NEW YORK The Major League Baseball Network has hired Jennifer Shaw, svp and managing director of Starcom MediaVest Group and longtime sports media buyer on the General Motors account, as vp of advertising pricing and strategy.

She will report directly to Bill Morningstar, head of ad sales at the new network. Shaw is Morningstar's first major hire at the network, which is scheduled to go live in January. Shaw is expected to start at MLB Network next week.

Shaw has spent the past 20 years buying broadcast television and cable sports advertising for General Motors, as well as event sponsorships and working on GM's relationships with the various professional sports leagues.

She was svp of GM's stand-alone media buying unit GM Mediaworks, until the company was merged into GM Planworks, the planning unit operated by SMG, in 1995. At GM Planworks she was svp, managing director of the video investment unit, and continued to work on the GM sports buying account after Planworks was integrated into the general SMG operation this past spring.

Michael Browner, former executive director of media and marketing for GM, once said of Shaw, "She's the most knowledgeable human being, woman or man, on sports who I've ever met."