Fox Earns 13.4/21 Overnight For World Series Game Five Conclusion

Fox Earns 13.4 Overnight For Conclusion Of Phillies-Rays World Series Game Five

AFTERNOON DELIGHT? Fox Sports President Ed Goren yesterday on Sirius XM Satellite Radio said that the net "would consider televising World Series games earlier in the day or evening in exchange for lowered rights fees." Goren: "We would certainly have that discussion, and if it was laid out properly, that would certainly be a possibility. In fact, think about this: We play a day game, then we have our normal prime-time programming. We get a double dip of revenue" (NEWSDAY, 10/30).

TAKE TV OUT OF SCHEDULING EQUATION: The WASHINGTON EXAMINER's Phil Wood writes, "This is the World Series, Bud. This should be baseball's time to shine. Yet you continue to allow television to dictate when and even whether the games should be played. ... I certainly understand that the TV revenues are paramount to the profitability of the sport. But you'll never convince me that the game isn't losing generations of fans by making the World Series inaccessible to kids" (WASHINGTON EXAMINER, 10/30). In Toronto, Gary Loewen writes Selig and MLB "have served notice that the fans, and even the players, don't quite compare in importance with the corporations and the television networks." Loewen: "Watching the World Series used to be a family affair. Now families unite at the breakfast table, checking the newspaper for the score of the game the night before" (TORONTO SUN, 10/30). But in N.Y., Richard Sandomir writes of last night's Game Five conclusion, "No one can say kids could not stay up for this World Series finale" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/30).

FINAL REVIEWS: In St. Pete, Tom Jones writes Fox announcers Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, instead of "getting caught up in the hoopla" of the World Series, broke down "each at-bat, offering the various scenarios and their opinions that real baseball fans could chew over." Buck said of resuming Game Five last night in the bottom of the sixth inning, "This just has an odd feel about it." Jones notes Buck "said what everyone has been thinking for two days." Jones: "No network -- over-the-air or cable -- covers sporting events better than Fox. From its announcers to its graphics to its production, Fox is the best in the business." Jones awards Fox an "A" for its coverage of the Phillies-Rays series (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 10/30). The N.Y. TIMES' Sandomir writes, "I was hardly bothered by Fox's longtime penchant for cutting too often to crowd shots. But nearly every shot of the towel-waving crowd at Citizens Bank Park was visually arresting, especially with the terry cloth towels not soaked by rain." Fox also offered viewers a "nice touch" by providing a recording of Phillies play-by-play announcer Harry Kalas "making his call of the final out on local radio" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/30).

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