I noticed the local FOX station (WFXB in South Carolina) is picking the Yankees at Red Sox game over the Phillies at Braves game (which I thought they would be airing). The other local FOX station (WTAT) which I also recieve on cable is airing the Phillies at Braves game. These FOX stations are only about 100 miles or so apart for their markets that they cover.
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Bigger MLB Matchup over Regional MLB Game
- Thread starter radiolives
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Remember...at Fox, Yankees/Red Sox trumps all! 
oldiesfan6479 said:Remember...at Fox, Yankees/Red Sox trumps all!
Which is why I refuse to watch baseball on Fox.
oldiesfan6479 said:Remember...at Fox, Yankees/Red Sox trumps all!
I never got the impression they were as in love with the Red Sox as Epstein's & Steinbrenner's Personal Network is. With Fox, it seems to me that it's Yankees and Dodgers, maybe because of Fox's ownership of the Dodgers a few years ago.
Ken said:
I have no idea what overlap the 2 Fox stations have is but my guess is it's an early season game and if there is significant OTA or cable overlap, it'd be done more as a counter-programming measure (even though it is the same network)
Unfortunately, like it or don't, Yankees/Red Sox is always a big draw with the casual baseball fan. Personally, I'd'a picked the Phillies/Braves because of Cliff Lee on the mound for the Phils (and he got his ash-can handed to him as well). But I'm not a casual baseball fan. Fox national goes with the matchups that can bring in the potential higher ratings (especially this early in the season). It's unfortunate, but true. That's why MLB Extra Innings exists (and MLB Network, and the RSNs). It's the same disease NBC had when it carried its Game of the Week - most times early in the season it was always the marquee teams, but at least later on they carried the big divisional matchups. I remember one game between the Tigers and Twins late in 1987 - these days, you couldn't sell that game, despite the fact at the time were both challenging for the division lead. These days, you'd probably see Yankees vs. whoever, or Dodgers vs. whoever, even if the Blue Jays were on top in the AL East and the Yanks and Dodgers were floating around out of the wild card race. It's not about baseball - it's about ratings.
The Braves radio network pbp guy, Jim Powell mentioned this during the game Saturday. He says the Braves were getting complaints from throughout the SE US where fans normally accustomed to watching the Braves were seeing Yankees-Sox. Powell noted that markets as close to Atlanta as Rome, Ga, which is home to a Braves class "A" minor league team, were getting the AL matchup. If I am not mistaken, Rome is in the Chattanooga DMA. Fox loves the Yankees-Red Sox. I get it. I know it is about ratings and $$$ but I could just about guarantee Fox did not get better ratings for the April 9 game in markets where the Braves are normally the "home" team. Thank God for the internet. For the computer savvy in our midst, there are ways to see what you want when you want.
Dan Dennis said:
It's about the audience that the advertisers want to reach and the teams that have a national following. That's the Yankees, Dodgers, & Cubs, followed by the Red Sox, & Cardinals. At least one of those five teams (OK, four, since the Cubs getting there is a sign of Armageddon. ;D ) must be in the World Series to get any kind of numbers, which today means a 10 rating/18 share or better.
A single-market series is a guaranteed failure as well. The 1989 Earthquake Series and the 2000 Subway Series were ratings disasters outside of SF/Oakland and NYC, respectively.
The ideal WS for national advertiser interest (as well as less whining about the matchup by Joe Buck. ;D ) is the Yankees or Red Sox vs the Dodgers or Cardinals. A Rangers/Phillies series (which certainly could happen this year and would be an excellent series) would be a virtual nonentity despite the fact that it'd be a battle of teams in Top 10 markets. But neither team has a national following, so nobody outside of hard-core baseball fans will care. Just like last year's Rangers/Giants series, which averaged about an 8 rating despite two Top 10's playing.
What I don't like is the fact that since I am originally from Boston and now live in the Philly area, I cannot watch the Red Sox game. Of course, WTXF in Philly was showing the Phillies game. I buy the baseball package on DirecTv and I can watch all the Sox games for the entire season (and most of them on NESN in HD) except those on FOX that are on Fox 29. Why won't MLB and FOX include these Saturday games in the package? I'd be watching a game on FOX, just like I do with the Sunday Ticket if the Pats happen to be a FOX game at the same time the Eagles are playing on FOX or both on CBS at the same time (not usually on the same network). Instead of watching the Phillies game on FOX, I listened to the Sox on my XM radio. If I had the option, I would have tuned my DirecTv tuner somewhere in the 700s and watched the Sox on FOX. For awhile, I was getting WNYW in HD before they lit up the Philly HDs so, it wasn't an issue.
Bill_W said:
Because Kennesaw Molehill Selig, the individual team owners, and Fox/ESPN don't want it. I can understand Fox and ESPN getting exclusivity on Saturday afternoons and Sunday nights, respectively, since they paid big money for that privilege. But why in the world do the teams claim territorial blackout rights as much as 500 miles away from their ballparks? Gameday Audio is never blacked out, even in the local markets, so why is MLB.TV?
The cable channel carrying the teams isn't available in all cases in the blackout zone, so those areas should not be blacked out. In any case, the regional sports networks shouldn't have this right outside of the team's local market. Maybe they should allow MLB.TV to charge, say an extra $10 or $20 for the season to lift the regional blackout, with that money going to the RSNs. But that makes too much sense. It would be money that they wouldn't get otherwise.
KeithE4 said:
I'm talking about just the Fox games. Why won't they allow me to watch a different Fox game as a subscriber to the MLB package? I'd be watching Fox still. Is it the local stations that don't want this? My Fox station is Fox o&o. I would have rather seen the Red Sox on Fox instead of the Phillies game last Saturday, being the fact I was born in Boston and live near Philly now. I understand that WTXF will show Phillies but, show the other Fox game to MLB subscribers just like I can watch another Fox football game than what WTXF is showing me on the Sunday ticket.
Bill_W said:
What you're saying makes far too much sense. That's why MLB will never go for it.
The teams aren't allowed to televise during Fox games either, even if they wanted to (and some of them might). Fox has total exclusivity between 1 PM and 7 PM Eastern time on Saturdays. If they only want to run one game per region, they have that right. It's dumb, but nobody has ever accused Bud Lite of being the sharpest tool in the shed. :
While on the MLB on FOX topic. That contract runs till 2013. Could we see another network out bid FOX possible? I could see ABC/ESPN going after it. Would work great come playoffs too. Also anything to get MLB away from FOX is a good thing.
Not true. It used to be that FOX had exclusivity for all Saturday afternoon games, but last season that changed. Now FOX has exclusivity in the three hour window that it televises games. Most Saturdays FOX broadcasts games between 4 and 7PM Eastern time. That allows DirecTV and cable outlets who have MLB Extra Innings to broadcast games up until 4PM. This has allowed many more Saturday games to be broadcast.
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