Fox' regular-season baseball coverage "will move to Saturday prime time for eight weeks in a row," according to Michael Hiestand of USA TODAY. The move, expected to be announced today, will start May 19 "with regionalized coverage of five games, led by" Red Sox-Phillies at 7:00pm ET. Fox' idea is to "package five or six games in prime time, compared with the usual three" in the net's afternoon slots. Fox "doesn't face competition from local TV baseball since other MLB games can't start within three hours of the beginning and end of its coverage window." In addition, putting "extra games in prime-time coverage means involving more team home markets, which helps ratings." Fox Sports co-President & COO Eric Shanks said that the Saturday night "action prompted Fox to raise ad sales rates by about 30%." He said prime-time action can be hyped as a "Baseball Night in America -- we want to eventize it." Shanks suggested that baseball "might get even more prime-time slots next year, though that might face resistance from teams protecting local TV games" (USA TODAY, 2/15).
