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Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

bmfc1 May 21 2010 05:22 AM

From the folks at the506.com, here is the map showing coverage for Saturday night's game on FOX: http://www.the506.com/sports/MLB10/may-22.html They're into TV coverage on that board--here is a breakdown by percentages: NYY-NYM 53.057 Bos-Phi 10.993 Det-LA 14.487 ChiC-Tex 21.463. This matters if you don't get the game you want because FOX has an absurdly overbroad exclusivity deal with MLB. As a result, e.g. if you live in LA and want to see the Mets-MFY game, you can't because it, and all other games that start within 3 hours of the beginning of the FOX game, may not be shown on Extra Innings and mlb.tv.

Ceetar May 21 2010 05:39 AM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

Wait, the game's on Fox? I saw 7pm start and assumed it wasn't. doh.

Benjamin Grimm May 21 2010 05:44 AM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

I guess I won't be able to watch, then. Probably for the best.

Gwreck May 21 2010 06:26 AM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

bmfc1 wrote: This matters if you don't get the game you want because FOX has an absurdly overbroad exclusivity deal with MLB. As a result, e.g. if you live in LA and want to see the Mets-MFY game, you can't because it, and all other games that start within 3 hours of the beginning of the FOX game, may not be shown on Extra Innings and mlb.tv. The Mets game starts outside of the usual Fox exclusivity window though. Or does that window get extended because of the primetime game?

G-Fafif May 21 2010 06:28 AM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

Neil Best of Newsday covered the Saturday night experiment recently. Note a bit of the logic used by Fox regarding the 20-inning game providing a ratings boost, as if a once-in-a-generation occurrence wasn't responsible for drawing more viewers to the Mets and Cardinals on April 17 -- it was just the time slot. For the first of two times this season, Fox's regional Game of the Week - including Yankees-Mets - will move to prime time, a first for a national broadcast network in the regular season since 2004. On June 26, they'll do it again, with regional coverage featuring the Yankees at Dodgers. Officially, this is an experiment. But Fox, working with Major League Baseball, wants to explore turning the notion into a regularly scheduled norm come 2011, at least for a number of Saturdays in the summer. ABC/ESPN has done well with its weekly Saturday night college football games, and every Saturday night NASCAR race in Fox's history has won its night, including two this year. Baseball? When a late-afternoon Mets-Cardinals game in April turned into a 20-inning, prime-time epic, ratings soared, a phenomenon Fox Sports president Ed Goren called "sort of an eye-opener.'' MLB executive vice president for business Tim Brosnan said baseball and Fox have had discussions over the years about "what prime-time baseball would look like and what the ratings reality of a Saturday night game would be,'' leading to this year's trial. There simply are more viewers available at night. But there is a scheduling consequence to consider. Many fans take advantage of afternoon games to take young children. Between each team's maximum five Sunday night games on ESPN and nine on Fox, attractive draws such as the Yankees and Mets could see their number of weekend afternoon games decrease, even as less popular teams end up with more afternoon games. "There are some teams that prefer to play at night on Saturdays; it goes both ways,'' Goren said. "And it's not as if we're doing 26 weeks [in prime time].'' For now, all of this is only in the discussion stage; Saturday's numbers will offer more evidence for TV and baseball to chew over. MLB must consider assorted constituents, such as the teams and local channels that carry games. Another element Fox has suggested is adding a larger number of attractive regional games to the slate each week, further enhancing ratings appeal. Even if that happened, Fox still would get the same total number of regional games per year, 72. So if more games were added in certain weeks, there would be some Saturdays with no national coverage. Brosnan said the "prime-time discussion is in its formative stages.'' The notion of expanding the number of exposures in a given window is a separate decision, also in its early stages. "We're very sensitive to the clubs' needs,'' said Brosnan, who said part of the process is balancing needs of fans watching on TV and those attending in person. "We're trying to be the most fan-friendly we can be.'' A decision likely will come this summer, after the prime- time window in late June. "We'll see,'' Goren said. "A lot has to happen, so it's far from a given. Nothing happens without the cooperation of baseball buying in, and for that matter, the people who run prime time at Fox.''

Edgy DC May 21 2010 06:57 AM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

MLB executive vice president for business Tim Brosnan said baseball and Fox have had discussions over the years about "what prime-time baseball would look like and what the ratings reality of a Saturday night game would be,'' leading to this year's trial. Bracing myself.

bmfc1 May 21 2010 06:58 AM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

Gwreck wrote: The Mets game starts outside of the usual Fox exclusivity window though. Or does that window get extended because of the primetime game? FOX says "jump!" and Selig asks "how high?" For the 2 Saturday night games, the exclusivity window moves.

Frayed Knot May 21 2010 08:20 AM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

Oddly, I noticed that last Saturday there WERE games on MLB's Extra Innings on Saturday afternoon - whereas usually only night games can be shown via EI. That's happened two or three times this year while the rest of the weekends have had the daytime blackouts. I don't know why some weeks and not others.

TransMonk May 21 2010 08:22 AM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

I'll be listening on the radio since FOX/MLB assumes I want to exclusively watch the Cubs on Saturday. I got a date with Howie.

Fman99 May 21 2010 09:11 AM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

Ugh. I assume this means Joe Buck on Saturday and Joe Morgan on Sunday.

bmfc1 May 21 2010 09:17 AM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

Frayed Knot wrote: Oddly, I noticed that last Saturday there WERE games on MLB's Extra Innings on Saturday afternoon - whereas usually only night games can be shown via EI. That's happened two or three times this year while the rest of the weekends have had the daytime blackouts. I don't know why some weeks and not others. The exclusivity window was changed from 4 hours to 3 this year so 1 PM starts may be shown on EI when the FOX game starts at 4. If the FOX game starts at 3, then no. Stupid, right? This exclusivity nonsense is why the Mets game @ Florida last year that started at 6 could not be televised until the FOX "window" closed so SNY was forced to join it in progress at 7. With the 7:00 start tomorrow, EI can show games all afternoon but not anything that starts after 4 (and then it's OK at 10). Of course, with all this we see that MLB is telling some of its most loyal fans, the ones that pay more to watch baseball on TV via EI or mlb.tv, that they can't watch games even if they've paid to do so.

bmfc1 May 21 2010 09:18 AM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

Fman99 wrote: Ugh. I assume this means Joe Buck on Saturday and Joe Morgan on Sunday. Yes. They're showing them because it's NY v NY and yet, the NY TV announcers can't call the games.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr May 21 2010 10:40 AM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

Neil Best of Newsday covered the Saturday night experiment recently. Note a bit of the logic used by Fox regarding the 20-inning game providing a ratings boost, as if a once-in-a-generation occurrence wasn't responsible for drawing more viewers to the Mets and Cardinals on April 17 -- it was just the time slot. "Hey, our daytime news ratings really went up when the President got shot!" "Yeah." (Pause.) (Longer pause.) "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" "Move our evening news to the 11:00 AM hour?" "Oh, HELLS yes, BRO MAGRANE*!" (Television execs chest-bump.)

Edgy DC May 24 2010 09:53 AM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

Could the networks have asked for more from this series? [list:7edspt80][*:7edspt80]A split decision favoring the home team;[/*:m:7edspt80] [*:7edspt80]ninth-inning drama in all three games;[/*:m:7edspt80] [*:7edspt80]with the big-shot closer perservering each time;[/*:m:7edspt80] [*:7edspt80]screwups and redemption for big shots and little shots;[/*:m:7edspt80] [*:7edspt80]a little beanball drama;[/*:m:7edspt80] [*:7edspt80]a tragedy;[/*:m:7edspt80] [*:7edspt80]big mmoments for potential future stars (Gardner, Mejia, Davis, Cervelli)[/*:m:7edspt80] [*:7edspt80]a manager tirading;[/*:m:7edspt80] [*:7edspt80]the other manager playing for his life... and making it!;[/*:m:7edspt80] [*:7edspt80]everything ending on a punchout of the highest paid player in baseball.[/*:m:7edspt80][/list:u:7edspt80] Of course, for my own needs, I'd've preferred a sweep of the Milwaukee-over-Pittsburgh magnitude.

bmfc1 May 24 2010 11:20 AM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

You are correct Edgy: SI_JonHeyman ny-ny a ratings winner. highest sat. fox # since '07, best espn baseball # sun. since piazza beaning

metirish May 24 2010 11:46 AM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

bmfc1 wrote: You are correct Edgy: SI_JonHeyman ny-ny a ratings winner. highest sat. fox # since '07, best espn baseball # sun. since piazza beaning Nicely put Edgy...and I guess NY/NY games will never be on during the day if it's possible for FOX/ESPN.

Frayed Knot May 24 2010 12:14 PM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

The knock on NY-NY matchups is that they frequently DON'T get real high ratings - possibly based on the idea that you over-saturate the one market you were going to get anyway while the rest of the country holds its collective nose and goes elsewhere. That it was a big FOX rating isn't surprising as bad night shows generally get more viewers than good daytime ones. That the ESPN game did so well - especially opposite the 'Lost' finale and an NBA playoff game - is a mild shocker.

Edgy DC May 24 2010 12:26 PM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

Am I crazy that the NBA has seriously lost relevance in recent years? I mean, besides just with me?

bmfc1 May 24 2010 12:30 PM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

More info on Saturday's ratings: Prime Numbers: MLB on FOX Hits Three-Year High Featuring five of the top 10 television markets, it is no surprise that FOX drew strong numbers for its first primetime MLB telecast since 2004. Regional MLB action featuring Yankees/Mets drew a 3.6 overnight rating on FOX Saturday night, up 57% from afternoon coverage featuring Phillies/Yankees last year, and the highest overnight for a regular season MLB telecast on FOX since Yankees/Red Sox in '07 (3.7). The 3.6 overnight marks a 16% decline from the last primetime regular season telecast on FOX -- Yankees/Red Sox on a Friday night in '04. Saturday's telecast drew the highest overnight of any sporting event on broadcast over the weekend. On cable, the NBA Conference Finals drew overnights of 4.4 and 6.1 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Overnights for NASCAR's All-Star Race, which also aired on cable, were not immediately available. http://sportsmediawatch.blogspot.com/20 ... three.html

Frayed Knot May 24 2010 12:39 PM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

Am I crazy that the NBA has seriously lost relevance in recent years? I mean, besides just with me? The NBA is in a weird place. No one thinks the quality is any good, but it's such a star-driven sport that sportswriters can't help themselves from genuflecting towards it and treating it as half sporting event, half soap opera. Even that view has calmed down somewhat from the Jordan era but, just like then, games are still advertised as being clashes between individuals more than teams. Coming attractions will be billed as: KOBE vs LeBRON (and, btw, the Lakers are playing Cleveland) The fact that ESPN/ABC has a piece of the action means that the reflected buzz it generates often exceeds the primary interest.

G-Fafif May 24 2010 12:39 PM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

Fox and MLB will soon announce a revised schedule for the second half of the 2010 season, in which all games will be Mets-Yankees. "It gave us good ratings that one weekend in May," said commissioner Bud Selig. "It will obviously give us good ratings every single day." When the subject of golden geese and their egg production was raised, Selig had no comment.

Frayed Knot May 24 2010 12:46 PM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

bmfc1 wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: Oddly, I noticed that last Saturday there WERE games on MLB's Extra Innings on Saturday afternoon - whereas usually only night games can be shown via EI. That's happened two or three times this year while the rest of the weekends have had the daytime blackouts. I don't know why some weeks and not others. The exclusivity window was changed from 4 hours to 3 this year so 1 PM starts may be shown on EI when the FOX game starts at 4. If the FOX game starts at 3, then no. Stupid, right? Very much so. Now all we have to do is figure out why they're starting some national games at 3PM and others at 4PM.

G-Fafif May 24 2010 12:57 PM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

MLBN's pickup of the Minny-Milwaukee feed continued after the Mets game was underway. It was gripping in its own right with extra innings, jams escaped and what appeared to be dandelions blowing all through Target Field. Perhaps if I wasn't a partisan, I wouldn't have stayed with Fox's game of the week. But the more baseball there is, the more likely I am to watch all of it. Expansiveness, not exclusivity.

bmfc1 May 24 2010 01:38 PM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

Another ramification of the FOX blackout window: if Matsuzaka went into the 9th w/a no-hitter, you couldn't turn to Extra Innings or mlb.com to watch and ESPN and MLBN couldn't put it on live. The only way to see it would be if FOX decided to switch.

metirish May 24 2010 01:41 PM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

Chris Rose said that if Dice got to two out in the ninth still going for it then they would take us there.....thnakfully he didn't get there and we were spared whatever Kevin Millar would have said about it.

Edgy DC May 27 2010 01:32 PM Re: Mets on FOX, 05/21/10

Ken Rosenthal, the fox in the FOXhouse.