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New TV Deal

Frayed Knot Jul 12 2006 04:28 PM

Newsday: A new seven-year deal between Major League Baseball and two of its television partners, Fox and Turner, will mean more televised games on different networks, as well as a change in the World Series schedule. Basics: - Fox continues to have exclusive rights to the World Series and All-Star Game. - Also broadcast the ALCS in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013 and the NLCS in 2008, 2010 and 2012. - Fox will also air 26 Saturday games of the week, eight more than the current contract. - Turner, through TBS, will air all Division Series games from 2007 through 2013, becoming the first cable network to exclusively broadcast MLB playoff games. - TBS also to air 26 regular-season Sunday afternoon games from 2008-13. - Beginning in 2007, the World Series will begin on the first Tuesday following the completion of the LCS. So it's Tues/Wed, then Fri/Sat/Sun, then games 6 & 7 on Tues/Wed I assume. - What remains unsigned for now is the LCS in the years that are NOT broadcast on Fox in alternating years beginning in 2007. ESPN, NBC and Turner are believed to be interested in broadcasting those LCS.

Willets Point Jul 12 2006 04:39 PM

]Fox continues to have exclusive rights to the World Series Oy!

Elster88 Jul 12 2006 04:54 PM

TBS

Johnny Dickshot Jul 12 2006 05:03 PM

That's great news!* *For people who think Joe Buck isn't a total fraud who puts on a pretend "deep announcer's voice" and transparently conjures up excitement where it doesn't exist, as in last night's first inning when you could practically see him applying the makeup as he overdramatically and foolishly declared "And the 2006 All-Star Game begins on a... foul ball..." ...and for people who haven't heard everything Tim McCarver will ever say by 2012 by 1987... ...and for people who prefer their TV picture to be 48% covered with graphics and 17% plastered with advertisements, and who like that all the good seats at the park are occupied by reflected-glory celebrities in brand new caps whose series haven't yet been cancelled, and those who get into the whole idea of announcers becoming revolting sweaty buttwhores for unimaginative and insulting "viral advertising" schemes, and, certainly, all of those who don't care to see the first pitch of the inning anyhow.

ScarletKnight41 Jul 12 2006 06:14 PM

Great - I love hearing "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" in the middle of baseball games.

metirish Jul 12 2006 08:54 PM

The thought of Skip Carey or his brother as lead voice for TBS makes me want to vomit.

Iubitul Jul 12 2006 09:00 PM

metirish wrote: The thought of Skip Carey or his brother as lead voice for TBS makes me want to vomit. Skip Carey is still the author of the funniest line I have ever heard come out of a broadcast booth.

metirish Jul 12 2006 09:02 PM

And that line would be?

Iubitul Jul 12 2006 09:11 PM

During a game between the Braves and the Dodgers, Skip decided to have some fun. All through the first few innings of the game, he kept calling Jose Offerman, "Eric". "Eric Offerman flies out to center" "Eric Offerman throws to first" "Eric offerman with the nice play in the hole" etc. etc.... Finally, about halfway through the game, Don Sutton can't take it anymore. "Jose. His name is Jose, not Eric. I know I shouldn't ask this, but why are you calling him Eric? His name is Jose" Carey finally reeled someone in.. "Jose? His name is Jose? Oh. Every day, I see 'E Offerman' in the boxscore, so I tought his name was Eric"

Elster88 Jul 12 2006 10:21 PM

That's somewhat similar to what Jim Rome got slapped around for.

Frayed Knot Jul 12 2006 10:35 PM

That FOX will continue to be the main network for Game of the Week and the WS isn't a big deal IMO. Y'all might hate Buck/McCarver and the nonsense the Foxies put on but it's not like a different network is going to be a whole lot better or use it to plug their upcoming shows any less. Would baseball on NBC - getting a full dose of the Ebersol/Olympic treatment - be any better? It's not like they're going to suddenly broadcast GotW with the same reverence that they did 50 years ago. Or do we really want them on ABC w/it's continued ESPN-ization of their sports dept? I can already hear Brent Mussberger anchoring things: "You're looking live at Shea Stadium in New York City ... " Which network carries the main ball for the foreseeable future is pretty much irrelevant to me. The more interesting parts here are: - that ALL of the 'Division' round games are moving to cable TV via Turner's networks, and that possibly the LCS series that's NOT being telecast by FOX will also move to cable. This is similar to what the NBA did in their last contract; ie. take the most money and have the games be a bigger priority for the smaller outlet that's broadcasting them but at the same time those games are being restricted to a lesser distribution. - that there'll be a Sunday afternnon GotW in addition to Saturday's - and, I guess, in addition to the ESPN Sunday Night game (I think ESPN's reg season sked is on a seperate contract). What I hope is that Turner is NOT getting an exclusivity deal for Sunday afternoons. As it is no team can air a game on local TV opposite the FOX national time slot - which is why so many games have gone to Sat night starts (or late aft). Sunday games should remain during the day.

Johnny Dickshot Jul 12 2006 11:11 PM

All pertinent points, and sure it's typical to take shots at whoever's doing the games, but that was a poor broadcast last night. The moment for me was seeing Wright hit a HR and they were doing some dumbass interview. Other guys got to the plate without a word about them; and they missed at least parts of the gameplay in freaking commercials. It was a disaster.

Gwreck Jul 12 2006 11:13 PM

="metirish"]The thought of Skip Carey or his brother as lead voice for TBS makes me want to vomit. I think you're referring to Skip's son (Harry's grandson), named Chip. Strange that you'd like Fran Healy but dislike Skip/Chip Caray. Skip and Fran in particular seemed pretty similar to me.

Willets Point Jul 14 2006 02:18 PM

Haven't read it yet but here's an analysis of the deal.

Elster88 Jul 14 2006 02:59 PM

]``A product that remains flat is a good product,'' said Tony Vinciquerra, president of Fox Networks Group, who negotiated the deal with baseball in a Bloomberg News report. ``In an environment where there are 200 channels for viewers to choose from, we think flat's a good thing.'' Good point.

Edgy DC Jul 14 2006 03:26 PM

I'm dubious that the E Offerman story went down as reported.