The Royals and FS K.C. on Thursday announced that 156 of the team's regular-season games will be televised this year, the most in the club's history. FS K.C. will televise 150 games as well as two Spring Training contests, while six games are scheduled to air on Fox and FS1 as part of MLB's national TV packages. The schedule adds 10 more broadcasts than in previous years. Ryan Lefebvre will provide the play-by-play call for 95 games, while Steve Physioc will handle the other 55 games. Rex Hudler will return for his third season as an analyst while Jeff Montgomery will provide analysis throughout the season on "Royals Live" with host Joel Goldberg (FS K.C.). In K.C., Blair Kerkhoff notes the Royals last year "set a team ratings record." The year-to-year increase was the largest in MLB. Royals TV ratings "averaged sixth overall among the 30 clubs last year," up from 15th in '12 (K.C. STAR, 2/28).
NO WILD, WILD WEST: In L.A., Bill Shaikin reports Fox "does not plan to respond to the Dodgers' onslaught of programming with an expansion of Angels shows." FS West and Prime Ticket Senior VP & GM Steve Simpson said that FSW "would provide as many as 12 hours per day of Angels coverage on some days -- with a live game broadcast, live pregame and postgame shows, a game replay and magazine shows." FSW in the last five years "has expanded its Angels coverage to include 150 regular-season games (up from 128), added pregame shows home and away, introduced three magazine shows, and expanded spring broadcasts from five games to 26." Fox also "produces daily Angels camp reports and promotes the team by airing them on Clippers, Kings and Ducks broadcasts" (L.A. TIMES, 2/28).
