Fox earned a 2.4 overnight Nielsen rating for the first of its MLB Saturday primetime telecasts, which was led by Red Sox-Phillies in 39% of markets and White Sox-Cubs in 26% of markets. That figure is down from a 3.0 for the net’s first primetime broadcast last year, which featured Red Sox-Yankees in 71% of markets. The 2.4 overnight is also down from the net’s first primetime broadcast in ’10, which drew a 2.7 overnight for coverage featuring Yankees-Dodgers (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
WRONG CHOICE IN TAMPA? In Tampa, Tom Jones writes, “Fox kicked off this season's baseball game of the week in prime time Saturday with a slew of regional games. I understand why it would show the Phillies and Red Sox interleague game to most of the country, including Tampa Bay. Those are big-market teams with large followings all over. However, wouldn't you like to have seen Fox make the decision to show the Orioles-Nationals game, a matchup between two up-and-coming teams?” (
TAMPA BAY TIMES, 5/21).
NATIONAL PRIDE: In DC, Thomas Boswell wrote, “It’s way past time to get MASN to fork over the hundreds of millions of dollars in future cable TV fees" to which the Nationals "have every contractual right." The Nationals will get $29M this year from MASN, but “argue that their ‘reset’ fee for the next five years, based on comparable markets that have signed vast new deals, should be almost" $110M annually. An MLB committee is due to "give its opinion on a fair market price" for the Nationals' regional TV rights June 1. For a franchise with the lowest payroll in the NL East, a MASN reset "will be transformational,” with a deal potentially falling in the $70-90M range. Boswell wrote, “If the Nats got shafted, many owners would scream. What’s the point of having a legal monopoly if you don’t band together to drive up prices for your product?” (
WASHINGTON POST, 5/19). In Raleigh, Luke DeCock noted Time Warner Cable customers in North Carolina “might as well get used to life without MASN -- and the blackout of all games televised by MASN, including the Extra Innings package.” The net remains available on DirecTV, Dish Network and most smaller cable systems in eastern North Carolina, but “barring an appeal to the Supreme Court, and there doesn’t appear to be much left to appeal, it won’t be coming to Time Warner any time soon” (
Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 5/20).
ROCKY ROAD: In Denver, Dusty Saunders writes despite the Rockies' struggles on the field, coverage in the Root Sports broadcasting booth “has improved.” The reason is most of the April and May games have “featured a broadcasting duo rather than a trio.” Root Sports Exec Producer Ken Miller: “We'll use three in a booth when we believe such coverage helps our telecast. It probably works the best for us during series against teams like the Rangers and the Red Sox, when viewers want a lot of information from the booth about popular opponents.” Saunders notes, “While disagreeing about a baseball booth triumvirate, I have no quarrel with Miller's production coverage, particularly live camera work and replay shots” (DENVER POST, 5/21).
