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The following is a detailed description of the various television networks, rights fees, and announcers who have called Major League Baseball games throughout the years.
Major League Baseball on CBS is the branding used for broadcasts of Major League Baseball (MLB) games produced by CBS Sports, the sports division of the CBS television network in the United States.
WPCH-TV, virtual channel 17, branded on-air as Peachtree TV, is an independent television station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The station is owned by the Meredith Local Media subsidiary of Des Moines, Iowa-based Meredith Corporation, as part of a duopoly with CBS affiliate WGCL-TV. The two stations share studios on 14th Street Northwest in Atlanta's Atlantic Station district; WPCH-TV's transmitter is located near Shepherds Lane and Arnold Avenue in the Woodland Hills section of northeastern Atlanta. On cable, the station is available on Charter Spectrum channel 7 in both standard and high definition, and on Comcast Xfinity channels 7 (SD) and 807 (HD). There is no separate website for WPCH-TV; instead, it is integrated with that of sister station WGCL-TV.
The Major League Baseball Game of the Week (GOTW) is the de facto title for nationally televised coverage of regular season Major League Baseball games. The Game of the Week has traditionally aired on Saturday afternoons. When the national networks began televising national games of the week, it opened the door for a national audience to see particular clubs. While most teams were broadcast, emphasis was always on the league leaders and the major market franchises that could draw the largest audience.
Major League Baseball has been covered on cable television since the 1960s.
Braves TBS Baseball was a presentation of regular season Major League Baseball game telecasts featuring the Atlanta Braves National League franchise that aired on the American cable and satellite network TBS. The games were produced by Turner Sports, the sports division of the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, TBS's corporate parent. The program, which made its debut in 1973, ended national broadcasts in 2007.
Major League Baseball on TBS is a presentation of regular season and postseason Major League Baseball game telecasts that air on the American pay television network TBS. The games are produced by Turner Sports.
Major League Baseball games not broadcast exclusively by its media partners are televised by regional sports networks, which present sports programming of interest to their respective region. Most MLB broadcasters are members of chains such as NBC Sports Regional Networks, Fox Sports Networks, and AT&T SportsNet, although several teams are broadcast by regional networks that are independent of these chains. Some teams own partial or majority stakes in their regional broadcaster.
Several Major League Baseball teams have historically carried their games on superstations, which are broadcast television stations that are distributed on a regional or national basis on cable and satellite television.
WGN Sports is the programming division of WGN-TV, an independent television station located in Chicago, Illinois, United States—which is owned by the Nexstar Media Group—that is responsible for all sports broadcasts on the station, some of which were previously also broadcast on its former national superstation feed, WGN America.
Major League Baseball on NBC Sports refers to Major League Baseball television coverage on the chain of NBC Sports regional networks.
Thursday Night Baseball is the de facto branding used for live game telecasts of Major League Baseball on Thursday nights.
On December 14, 1988, CBS paid approximately $1.8 billion for exclusive television rights for over four years. CBS paid about $265 million each year for the World Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the Saturday Game of the Week. It was one of the largest agreements between the sport of baseball and the business of broadcasting.
In September 2000, Major League Baseball signed a six-year, $2.5 billion contract with Fox to show Saturday baseball, the All-Star Game, selected Division Series games and exclusive coverage of both League Championship Series and the World Series.
Sunday Afternoon Baseball is the de facto branding used for nationally televised live game telecasts of Major League Baseball games on Sunday afternoons during the regular season.
References
- ↑ Hiestand, Michael (2007-10-09). "Fox's Buck makes pitch for late show". USA Today.
- ↑ Postseason exclusivity boosted the price for TBS. If MLB continued to allow local outlets to air their team's games, the rights would have been "significantly diluted," according to Neal Pilson , the former president of CBS Sports who now runs a broadcast consulting company. "The TBS sales people now can assure advertisers that this is the only place where people can see the games," Pilson said. "It's a judgment baseball had to make. It had to balance the revenue stream, which is formidable, against the loss of a certain number of homes."