fox released its saturday baseball telecast schedule a few weeks ago. i noticed all games will be starting two and a half hours later than in previous seasons. 3:30et pregame and game is at 3:55et(as opposed to 1pm pre-game and 1:25et). three fifty five pm starts? are they kidding us?!
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Later starts for Game of The Week on FOX
- Thread starter radiodouble
- Start date
Good news for east coast fans. This will allow teams to have more games during Saturday afternoons. Fox has exclusive coverage of all baseball games during its game time. In the past, that would mean any team that wanted a game Saturday afternoon, but wasn't picked up by fox, would have to go without havning the game on TV.
West coast teams will now have to have there games at 4:00 (there time) if they want them on TV.
West coast teams will now have to have there games at 4:00 (there time) if they want them on TV.
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toby
Guest
Now if they can only get rid of all the things that makes a Fox baseball broadcast unwatchable, starting with Tim McCarver.
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chuckydoll
Guest
Fox baseball: Good cop/bad cop
First pitch is 3:55 ET/12:55 PT. As games take about 3 hours or so to play Fox will have to hope that the games don't drag on past 7 ET, otherwise local programming will have to be joined in progress after the game.
MLB should have insisted on a first pitch of 3:40 ET/12:40 PT. That would have given Fox stations some wiggle room and also not affect the clubs' radio networks.
He is not the problem. Fox relies too much on Boston/New York/Chicago/Los Angeles. That is the problem.
The St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series but won't get a Fox game until mid-April -- against the underachieving Cubs. The Detroit Tigers are the American League champions yet won't get a Fox game until mid-May.
First pitch is 3:55 ET/12:55 PT. As games take about 3 hours or so to play Fox will have to hope that the games don't drag on past 7 ET, otherwise local programming will have to be joined in progress after the game.
MLB should have insisted on a first pitch of 3:40 ET/12:40 PT. That would have given Fox stations some wiggle room and also not affect the clubs' radio networks.
toby said:
He is not the problem. Fox relies too much on Boston/New York/Chicago/Los Angeles. That is the problem.
The St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series but won't get a Fox game until mid-April -- against the underachieving Cubs. The Detroit Tigers are the American League champions yet won't get a Fox game until mid-May.
F
Frasier
Guest
MarcB said:
Sweet, can I have your tickets? ;D
The later start could work better for stations that carry syndicated college football in the fall. In my area WJKT Fox 16 in Jackson, TN carries SEC football from the Lincoln Financial network and the games generally ran from Noon to 3:30 ET. During September and October none of the SEC games were carried, probably because of it overlapping with baseball from Fox, which I assume they were required to carry in its entirity. With a later start time (although Fox definitely shouldn't go any later) it looks like any Fox stations that also carry SEC football should be able to carry both games.
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chuckydoll
Guest
Good cop/bad cop, part deux
The Cardinals are one of the prestige clubs in Major League Baseball. The Tigers led the AL Central until the last day, eliminated the Yankees ;D in the first round, then beat Oakland to win the pennant.
My earlier point remains true: Fox relies too much on Boston/New York/Chicago/Los Angeles. NBC had a similar policy in the 80's and it hurt the ratings so much that NBC gave up on Saturday-afternoon baseball.
ansky212 said:
The Cardinals are one of the prestige clubs in Major League Baseball. The Tigers led the AL Central until the last day, eliminated the Yankees ;D in the first round, then beat Oakland to win the pennant.
My earlier point remains true: Fox relies too much on Boston/New York/Chicago/Los Angeles. NBC had a similar policy in the 80's and it hurt the ratings so much that NBC gave up on Saturday-afternoon baseball.
Re: Good cop/bad cop, part deux
Add in the fact, that like St. Louis, Detroit has also a strong baseball tradition, even though their awful years through 2005. There is too much of reliance on those big-markets clubs, even they deserve to be there. I would to see some variety in the Game of the Week, and I'm not saying plugging-in awful teams like the Royals and Pirates (located in two other historically baseball-rich towns), but see more annual competitors like Florida, Philadelphia, Minnesota, etc.
chuckydoll said:
Add in the fact, that like St. Louis, Detroit has also a strong baseball tradition, even though their awful years through 2005. There is too much of reliance on those big-markets clubs, even they deserve to be there. I would to see some variety in the Game of the Week, and I'm not saying plugging-in awful teams like the Royals and Pirates (located in two other historically baseball-rich towns), but see more annual competitors like Florida, Philadelphia, Minnesota, etc.
Re: Good cop/bad cop, part deux
I'm not arguing about tradition. I have been a baseball fan for over 25 years and I agree that St. Louis and Detroit have great traditions. But all Fox is looking for is ratings and they will get those ratings in the largest markets. New York/Boston/Chicago are all huge markets and huge baseball towns and will pull in great ratings. St.Louis and Detroit are both relatively small markets. It's all about $$$$$
ShawnHill1 said:
I'm not arguing about tradition. I have been a baseball fan for over 25 years and I agree that St. Louis and Detroit have great traditions. But all Fox is looking for is ratings and they will get those ratings in the largest markets. New York/Boston/Chicago are all huge markets and huge baseball towns and will pull in great ratings. St.Louis and Detroit are both relatively small markets. It's all about $$$$$
F
Frasier
Guest
Fox = NY Honks
And not to get off on a tangent here, but when it comes to the NFL, Fox always seems to have their No. 1 broadcast team calling Giants games. Haven't you noticed Joe Buck calling quite a lot of Giants games this season? The fact that they were in playoff contention is beside the point: even the game where the Giants played the Panthers (Chris Weinke making his first start in years) Bucky called that one.
And in Week 17, with the Giants already having played their game the Saturday night prior, didn't anyone find it a little odd for Bucky to be in the studio instead of calling a game?
chuckydoll said:
And not to get off on a tangent here, but when it comes to the NFL, Fox always seems to have their No. 1 broadcast team calling Giants games. Haven't you noticed Joe Buck calling quite a lot of Giants games this season? The fact that they were in playoff contention is beside the point: even the game where the Giants played the Panthers (Chris Weinke making his first start in years) Bucky called that one.
And in Week 17, with the Giants already having played their game the Saturday night prior, didn't anyone find it a little odd for Bucky to be in the studio instead of calling a game?
Re: Good cop/bad cop, part deux
Ok, no argument there about bigger markets equals bigger ratings. I think we're clear about that.
ansky212 said:
Ok, no argument there about bigger markets equals bigger ratings. I think we're clear about that.
Re: Fox = NY Honks
For the record, here's Buck's schedule from this past season (from memory, so there may be some errors)
Week 1: Cowboys/Jaguars
2: Giants/Eagles
3: Giants/Seahawks
4: Saints/Panthers
5: Cowboys/Eagles
6-8: Away doing baseball
9: Cowboys/Redskins
10: Saints/Steelers
11: Bears/Jets
12: Bucs/Cowboys(Thurs.), Eagles/Colts (Sun.)
13: Cowboys/Giants
14: Giants/Panthers
15: Eagles/Giants
16: In studio
17: Falcons/Eagles
The Giants, Eagles and Cowboys had the same number of appearances on Fox's "A" game.
Foe Paw said:
For the record, here's Buck's schedule from this past season (from memory, so there may be some errors)
Week 1: Cowboys/Jaguars
2: Giants/Eagles
3: Giants/Seahawks
4: Saints/Panthers
5: Cowboys/Eagles
6-8: Away doing baseball
9: Cowboys/Redskins
10: Saints/Steelers
11: Bears/Jets
12: Bucs/Cowboys(Thurs.), Eagles/Colts (Sun.)
13: Cowboys/Giants
14: Giants/Panthers
15: Eagles/Giants
16: In studio
17: Falcons/Eagles
The Giants, Eagles and Cowboys had the same number of appearances on Fox's "A" game.
Re: Good cop/bad cop, part deux
St. Louis & Detroit may have strong baseball traditions, but their fan-base is mostly rural-midwest (in the case of the Cardinals, going back to their huge radio network back in the Harry Caray/KMOX era), or just Michigan (in the case of the Tigers, who have almost no following outside of that area).
With a few exceptions (ads for light beer and pickup trucks, for example), national advertisers want to reach mainly the Top 5 markets, which just "happen" to be the ones that get most of the games (Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Angels, Cubs, White Sox, Phillies, Red Sox). The fact that those teams are competitive (OK, maybe not the Cubs ;D ) doesn't hurt. We'll see some Tigers and Cardinals games this year, but not as many as they deserve.
ansky212 said:
St. Louis & Detroit may have strong baseball traditions, but their fan-base is mostly rural-midwest (in the case of the Cardinals, going back to their huge radio network back in the Harry Caray/KMOX era), or just Michigan (in the case of the Tigers, who have almost no following outside of that area).
With a few exceptions (ads for light beer and pickup trucks, for example), national advertisers want to reach mainly the Top 5 markets, which just "happen" to be the ones that get most of the games (Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Angels, Cubs, White Sox, Phillies, Red Sox). The fact that those teams are competitive (OK, maybe not the Cubs ;D ) doesn't hurt. We'll see some Tigers and Cardinals games this year, but not as many as they deserve.
I guess the only good news here is that Fox will be airing baseball at the BEGINNING of the season instead of waiting until May like they used to do (I think).
A 3:55 start time is just absurd. I wonder if they'll have a postgame show.
A 3:55 start time is just absurd. I wonder if they'll have a postgame show.
F
Frasier
Guest
Re: Fox = NY Honks
As I stated earlier, Buck was in studio for Week 17. (The Falcons/Eagles game was the one in which the Eagles, after learning they clinched a playoff berth, sent out their scrubs.)
And Week 16 was when the Giants got slammed by the Saints 30-7, and I know Buck called that game because I recall hearing his voice under seeing highlights on another station.
Buddy Hayes said:
As I stated earlier, Buck was in studio for Week 17. (The Falcons/Eagles game was the one in which the Eagles, after learning they clinched a playoff berth, sent out their scrubs.)
And Week 16 was when the Giants got slammed by the Saints 30-7, and I know Buck called that game because I recall hearing his voice under seeing highlights on another station.
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Morgan Wick
Guest
Enough about the "terrible ratings" for the World Series. They were in the teens, I think Fox will take that for primetime. It was about the same as the NBA Finals and among all sports, was behind only the championships for the NFL and college football and the Olympics and Daytona 500 and might have been beat some games by the college basketball championship. At its best it beat every golf major, the World Cup, and walloped tennis, the NHL, and all the lesser sports. A down year for the World Series is still pretty damn good.
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