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Major League Baseball television contracts


 

Baseball Comes to Fox

Soon after the Baseball Network fiasco, Major League Baseball made a deal with Fox and NBC on November 7, 1995. Fox paid a fraction less of the amount of money that CBS paid for the Major League Baseball television rights. Unlike The Baseball Network, Fox went back to the tried and true format of televising regular season games (aproximately 16 weekly telecasts that normally began on Memorial Day weekend) on Saturday afternoons. Fox did however, continue a format that The Baseball Network started by offering games based purely on a viewer's region. Fox's approach has usually been to offer four regionalized telecasts, with exclusivity from 1-4 p.m. in each time zone. When Fox first got into baseball, it used the motto "Same game, new attitude."

Related Topics:
Fox - NBC - November 7 - 1995 - CBS - Memorial Day - Motto

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Like its predecessor NBC, Fox determines its Saturday schedule by who's playing a team from one of the 3 largest television markets: New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago. If there's a game which combines 2 of these 3 markets, it will definately be aired. In Fox's first season of Major League Baseball coverage in 1996, they averaged a 2.7 rating for its Saturday Game of the Week. That was down 23% from CBS' 3.4 in 1993 despite the network's infamy for its rather haphazard Game of the Week schedule.

Related Topics:
New York - Los Angeles - Chicago - 1996

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Announcers

27 year old Joe Buck was named Fox's #1 play-by-play man. Ironically, Buck was teamed with Tim McCarver, who was considered the main reason behind the firing of Buck's father Jack from CBS five years earlier. Other commentators for Fox have included:

Related Topics:
Joe Buck - Tim McCarver - Jack

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Innovations

On July 8, 1997, Fox televised its first ever All-Star Game (out of Jacobs Field in Cleveland). For this particular game, Fox introduced "Catcher-Cam" in which a camera was affixed to the catchers' masks in order to provide unique perspectives of the action around home plate. Catcher-Cam soon would become a regular fixture in Fox's baseball broadcasts.

Related Topics:
July 8 - 1997 - Jacobs Field - Cleveland - Camera

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In addition to Catcher-Cam, other so-called "innovations" that Fox has provided for baseball telecasts have been:

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  • Sennheiser MKE-2 microphones and SK-250 transmitters in the bases.
  • Between 12 and 16 microphones throughout the outfield, ranging from Sennheiser MKH-416 shotgun microphones to DPA 4061s with Crystal Partners Big Ear parabolic microphones to Crown Audio PCC160 plate microphones.
  • The continuous "Fox Box" graphic, which contained the score, clock and other information in an upper corner of the TV screen. In recent years, the Fox Box has morphed into a strip across the top of the screen.
  • Audio accompanying graphics and sandwiched replays between "whooshes."
  • "Mega Slo-Mo" technology.
  • Scooter, a 3-D animated talking baseball (voiced by Tom Kenny) that occasionally appears to explain pitching mechanics, purportedly for younger viewers -- approminately the 10- to 12-year-olds --.http://www.thedartmouth.com/article.php?aid=2004042305050
  • Ball Tracer, a stroboscopic comet tail showing the path of a pitch to the catcher's glove.
  • Strike Zone, which shows pitch sequences with strikes in yellow and balls in white. It can put a simulated pane of glass that shatters when a ball goes through the zone (a la the computerized scoring graphics used for bowling).
  • The "high home" camera from high behind home plate. Its purpose is that it can trace the arc of a home run and measure the distance the ball traveled. The "high home" camera can also measure a runner's lead off first base while showing in different colors (green, yellow, red) and how far off the base and into pickoff danger a runner is venturing.

Ratings

During the 2000 World Series that was televised by Fox, 61% of the televisions in New York watched Game 5. The next 30 largest television markets, during that same exact viewing period, registered double digit percentage losses compared to the market in New York City. The 12.4 rating for the 2000 World Series wound up being the worst in World Series historyhttp://groups.google.com/group/rec.sport.baseball/browse_thread/thread/17a7415ba2d1fcc/b8c63dca983ee259?lnk=st&q=NBC+Major+League+Baseball&rnum=106&hl=en#b8c63dca983ee259. On the subject of the poor ratings, Fox Sports president Ed Goren commented, "There's no question the viewership never built. Normally, through a Series, it builds from game one to a Game 2, from a Game 2 to a Game 3. We would have liked to have seen higher numbers, but they are respectable in today's world."

Related Topics:
2000 World Series - New York - New York City - Fox Sports

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In 2003, the national ratings for Fox's Saturday baseball coverage jumped by 8% when compared to 2002. The games earned an average national rating of 2.7 with an 8 share over 18 weeks of coverage. That's up from the 2.5 rating and 8 share in 2002. It was the highest since Fox posted a 2.9 rating in 1999. Observers credited the ratings boost to Fox's decision to shift two of its broadcasts from September to May so it wouldn't have to go against college football.

Related Topics:
2003 - 2002 - 1999 - College football

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Also in 2003, Fox's coverage of Game 7 of the American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox averaged nearly 18.6 million households. An average of 27.5 million viewers watched Game 7, the largest average viewership for any LCS game since 1991. The game also ranked as the fourth highest-rated MLB telecast ever on Fox at the time, behind only three World Series telecasts. The game achieved a 34.4/49 in New York and a 52.9/73 in Boston. In addition, coverage of Game 4 of the 2003 ALCS gave Major League Baseball its first-ever LCS ratings win (11.6) vs. Monday Night Football (8.4), out-rating ABC's prime time football telecast by 38%. Meanwhile, Game 7 of the National League Championship Series between the Florida Marlins and Chicago Cubs (16.9) also helped Fox produce the two highest-rated nights (October 15 and 16) of prime time programming on any network during the 2003-2004 network television season at that particular period.

Related Topics:
American League Championship Series - New York Yankees - Boston Red Sox - 1991 - Monday Night Football - ABC - National League Championship Series - Florida Marlins - Chicago Cubs - October 15 - 16 - 2003 - 2004

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In a year-to-year comparison, the overall average household rating for the 2003 League Championship Series on Fox was 65% higher than the average rating for the 2002 LCS, representing the greatest year-to-year percent increase in LCS history, and the biggest year-to-year jump for any sports event in recent history. The 2003 LCS also increased by 82% in adults 18-49 versus 2002. Overall, the 2003 League Championship Series was the most-watched LCS since 1995, and the most-viewed ever on Fox. The 11.8 prime time household rating average for League Championship Series games was also 53% higher than the household average for NBC, ABC, and CBS (7.7).

Related Topics:
1995 - NBC - ABC - CBS

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Friday, April 16, 2004, Fox tried to capitalize off of the momentum of the intense 2003 ALCS between heated rivals the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. The game between two teams aired nationally from Fenway Park in Boston at 8 p.m. ET. In the case of important games, the network has the rights to negotiate with Major League Baseball for prime time coverage. Another such occasion occured on September 8, 1998 when Fox covered Mark McGwire's record breaking 62nd regular season home run.

Related Topics:
April 16 - 2004 - Fenway Park - September 8 - 1998 - Mark McGwire

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Despite a four game World Series in 2004, Fox drew the highest World Series ratings in a decade, and its League Championship Series ratings rose sharply over the last two years, largely from the big-market New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox grudge matches.

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See also

References

◄ Major League Baseball television contracts: The Baseball Network: 1994-1995
Major League Baseball television contracts: Trouble at NBC: 1996-2000 ►

~ Table of Content ~

►Introduction
►Baseball Firsts
►NBC's Game of the Week
►Monday Night Baseball
►Major League Baseball on CBS-TV: 1990-1993
►The Baseball Network: 1994-1995
►Baseball Comes to Fox
►Trouble at NBC: 1996-2000
►Sources

 

 

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