BASEBALL 84

vice president, general manager of the network and former manager of the ON TV sports system, which broadcast Tiger games over parttime STV outlet, wXON-TV Detroit, until last spring. PASS has contracted to use WDIV's facilities to produce its sports coverage year-round, according to Wischman, who said the network will broadcast live via Westar V, each night starting at 7:30 p.m. The pay cable network is in its first year of a seven-year contract with the Tigers, while WDIV is in the first year of a new five-year contract with the team.

At WDIV, Tigers games last season were said to have produced the highest average local ratings of any major league baseball team in the country (averaging a 20 rating/40 share). Chevrolet, Miller Brewing Co. and McDonald's will again be the major sponsors of the station's coverage of the games.

WIR(AM) Detroit will again originate radio broadcasts for a network of 39 stations carrying Tigers games, according to Jim Long. vice president, general sales manager at the station. Major sponsors this season will be Anheuser-Busch, Chevrolet, Marathon Oil, Bank of Commerce and Little Caesar's Piz

Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers cut in half the number of regular season games licensed to local broadcast TV in 1984, to accommodate the team's participation in an exclusive, regional pay sports network, set to launch April 3 on cable systems reaching at least 200,000 subscribers Sportsvue, a joint venture of the Brewers and the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team, will broadcast 200 sporting events cach year, including 67 Brewers games, 33 Bucks games, professional hockey and soccer and sporting events at the University of Wisconsin and Marquette University. The regional network is recommending cable op erators charge subscribers $8 per month for its service, and although Bill Haig, vice president of TV and radio for the Brewers. refused to discuss compensation the network is receiving from cable systems, industry Sources say Sportsvue is asking for 60% of the revenues from sale of the service.

Although 450,000 homes in the Milwaukee area have been wired for cable, the city itself has not yet been cabled. In an attempt to secure interim pay TV coverage of the games in the city, the Brewers team is negotiating with a subscription TV service and an MDS operator, according to Haig.

WVTV(TV) Milwaukee, which last year broadcast 60 Brewers games, is in the first year of a new, two-year contract with the team, enabling the station to broadcast 30 regular season games, all of them away from home, plus. for the first time, eight presea son games. Although Mike Schuch, WVTV vice president and general manager, de clined to discuss fees paid for this year's rights, sources in Milwaukee confirmed it paid $950,000, down from the $1 million paid in 1983 for the right to broadcast 60 regular season games.

Advertisers have been supportive of the preseason games, according to Schuch, and

local sales are on target. Schuch said the station has sold out the 13 minutes of time it has to sell in each of the 38 games broadcast on its seven-station regional TV network. Major sponsors are Miller Brewing Co., Toyota and True-Value Hardware.

The Milwaukee Brewers Radio Network, now in its second year of operation as a subsidiary of the team itself, will again produce its own coverage (including pre- and postgame shows) of all 162 regular season games and 17 preseason outings to be played this season. WTMKAM), the network's origi nating station, will again share the cost of transmitting the games to a regional network advertising rights, according to Steve Smith. of at least 50 stations and again has the local vice president, general manager of WTM). who called the station's partnership with the Brewers Radio Network, "a win-win situation" and "a relationship we hope will continue far into the future."

Los Angeles Dodgers

KTTV(TV) Los Angeles continues to originate Dodger coverage with the on-air team of Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett and Ross Porter. The station, which will feed at least one other outlet, is broadcasting 46 regular and four preseason games. Mark Wolfson, an inde pendent producer based in Hollywood, has joined KTTV as producer/director of the baseball telecasts, succeeding Rob Hiestand, named coordinator of the internal Dodger telecasting operation as well as director of the new live Dodger Dugout series. Adver tising and promotion plans were still being finalized for the new season.

ON TV, the subscription television service over KBSC TV Corona, Calif., enters its eighth season televising 15 home games from Dodger stadium. This is the final year of the ON TV contract, and the Dodgers are said to be considering other pay TV options. Among them: a regional cable sports channel jointly owned and operated by Sportschannel, Warner Amex Cable, Oak Communications (ON TV's parent company) and Daniels & Associates. Talks are ongoing among the proposed partners and several Los Angeles teams which they hope will participate-including the Dodgers, the Angels, basketball's Lakers and hockey's Kings

At KABCIAM), assistant creative services director Shelley Wagner reports play-by

play will begin March 6 with exhibition games from Vero Beach, Fla. Air personalities will originate sports and other programing from the preseason headquarters through opening day. The station's daily sports callin senes, Sports Talk, will originate from the ballpark in Los Angeles for home games. KTNQAM) will originate all Dodger games in Spanish, feeding two other stations.

New York Yankees

The Yankee's television rights holder, WPIX(TV) New York, enters the 1984 baseball season with a new three-year extension to its current five-year pact, set to terminate this year. Sponsors for Yankees games include Anheuser-Busch, Toyota, Citibank, Chrysler-Plymouth and Canon. "Thirty-second spots are up 20% to $7,200," said a WPIX spokesman.

As for radio, WABCAM) is entering its fourth year of a six-year agreement--initial three-year agreement with option for additional three years as the originating station of Yankee games. However, the team retains the radio broadcast rights with Hackensack. N.J.-based Adler Communications handling sales. "We sell advertisers 18 pre- and postgame packages," said WABC vice president and general manager James Haviland.

Forty games this season will be televised over pay cable TV via Sportschannel, a subsidiary of Cablevision, which will be in its third year of a 15-year deal. "Beginning in 1985 we will start televising 100 games," said Sportschannel Vice President Larry Meli. Major sponsors on Sportschannel includes Anheuser-Busch. Toyota and Getty Oil

Toronto Blue Jays

Telemedia Broadcast Services holds the radio rights to Blue Jays games. The originaling radio station for a network of 26 will be CICLAM) Toronto. It will broadcast all 162 games plus seven exhibition games. Major sponsors of the radio network are General Motors (Pontiac division), Labatts Brewery, McDonald's, Panasonic, Gulf Oil, Canada Imperial Bank of Commerce, Speedy Muffler, Chilton and Coca-Cola, according to Len Brumson. TBS president. Broadcast television rights are held by Labatts Brewery, which also owns 45% of the Blue Jays.

California Angels

KTLA(TV) Los Angeles signed a new TV rights contract with the California Angels this year. ON TV will carry 15 Angels home games this year, over STV outlet KBSC-TV Corona, Calif., under a contract extending through this season. KMPCIAM) will again originate all Angels exhibitions and season contests this year, and the Dodger/Angel "Freeway Series" in March. Major sponsors signed for the games include AnheuserBusch, Chevrolet, Avco Financial Services and Chevron KMPC's contract is renegotiated each year, although both the station and the team are commonly owned by Gene Autry.

Chicago White Sox

Television originator WFLD-TV is in the second year of a three-year contract with the White Sox, while its radio counterpart, WMAQAM), is entering the third year of a five-year agreement. The regional sports cable channel in the area, created by the owners of the White Sox, Bulls (basketball). Sting (soccer) and Black Hawks (hockey), and known as Sportsvision, has been purchased by Sportschannel, the joint venture owned by Cablevision Systems, Woodbury, NY, and the Washington Post Corp. The regional pay service will carry 100 White Sox games in 1984 (60 home games and 40 away). With the purchase of the pay channel from the teams, Sportschannel negotiated a 10-year cable rights agreement for carriage of White Sox baseball. Sportsvision, as the service is still known, has about 15,000 subscribers who pay between $10 and $12 a month for the channel. There are 10 cable systems in the Chicago market, serving about 400,000 basic subscribers. In addition, the teams' relationship with ON TV continues this season, with the STV outlet (WSNS-TV, ch. 44) carrying 80 of the 100 games that will be seen on the regional cable service. ON TV now has about 90,000 subscribers, but is in the process of merging with the competing Spectrum STV operation, owned by United Television. Combined, those two services will command be

tween 130,000 and 140,000 subscribers.

WFLD-TV will air four preseason and 51 regular season games, most of which are away games. Among the sponsors that the station has signed is Chicagoland Dodge Dealers. Tom Hoyt, general manager of WMAQAM), said the sales pace for White Sox baseball has doubled over a year ago, so that the station is "almost sold out" at this point. Sponsors include Chicagoland Chevrolet Dealers, True Value Hardware, Zenith,

BASEBALL 24

Texaco, General Finance, Farmers Insurance, Eastman Kodak, Mr. Z's Pizza and Budweiser.

Kansas City Royals

The Kansas City Royals will be broadcasting on a radio network of 105-110 stations in 11 states, the largest in the American League, according to Bob Fromme, general manager of the Royals Radio Network, the Stauffer holder. Communications-owned rights Stauffer is also licensee of WIBW(AM) Topefirst time the radio network will be distributka, Kan., the originating station This is the ed by satellite, Fromme said, over Westar III to each affiliate. (Stauffer had installed three-meter receive satellite dishes at each affilliate.) Major sponsors on the radio network are Pabst Brewing, Datsun, Getty, Guy's Potato Chips. WIBW will originate

broadcast for 178 games-162 regular and 16 spring training games. Broadcast television rights are held by Taft's WDAF-TV Kansas City, Mo., which holds the rights to broadcast 41 away games. Cable Television rights are held by Sports Time, the cable sports network owned by Anheuser-Busch, Multimedia, and Tele-Communications, which holds rights for 50 games, about equally divided between home and away games. Major sponsors of broadcast television games, which will be satellite delivered to 18 stations in 11 states, are Miller Beer and Chevrolet.

Texas Rangers

The club again retains broadcast rights to Rangers games and takes a key role in setting up networks and selling time. KKAS-TV Fort Worth is again the originator of television coverage, feeding 30 games to a network of 13 stations. In radio, WBAPLAM) Fort Worth remains the flagship for a 12-station network and will feed coverage of all 162 regular season games and 25 spring training games. Roy Parks, executive director of the Texas Rangers Baseball Network, reported sales already close to last year's total and likely to exceed last year's by about 15%. Miller

Broadcasting Feb 27 1984

Beer, Chevrolet, Gulf Oil and Dr. Pepper are among the major TV clients; Chevrolet, Budweiser and Coca-Cola are among those in radio One hundred games will be on pay cable on Home Sports Entertainment Network, a five-state group of cable systems organized by Warner Amex after it acquired cable nights in a deal said to yield the Rangers $2 million to $3 million a year for five years (BROADCASTING, Feb. 21, 1983). The games are part of a pay cable package for which subscribers pay, on average, about $9.95 a month.

Minnesota Twins

Midwest Radio-Television's wCCO-TV holds the broadcast television rights to the Minnesota Twins, but is again subleasing them to United Television's KMSP(TV) Minneapolis. The cable television rights had been the subject of a legal dispute after Midwest bought what it believed to be all radio and broadcast television rights and first refusal for cable television rights from Midwest Federal Savings and Loan Association. A jury ruled in Midwest Radio-Television's favor, and the company is now waiting for a judge to reaffirm the jury's decision and settle the matter, reported Jim Rupp, Midwest Radio-Television president. Total rights payments to the Twins are about 10% above last year-$1.5 million.

Oakland Athletics

KBHK(TV) is concluding the third year of a three-year contract joint venture agreement with the A's for television coverage, with 44 games scheduled this season, including 12 home games. In addition to its usual promotion strategy, the station for the first time plans to promote its coverage by advertising on local cable systems carrying ESPN and CNN. KSFO(AM), also entering the final year of its three-year contract with the A's, has signed sponsors Anheuser-Busch and Chevrolet. San Francisco's KBRG(FM) is originating Spanish language coverage and may feed other stations in the U.S. and Mexico.

Seattle Mariners

KSTW(TV) is telecasting 50 live games this season, two of which will be at home. Coverage is being fed to stations in Kennewick and Spokane, both Wash.; Boise, Idaho, and Portland, Ore. Bruce Lumpkin, general sales manager, reports "sales are ahead of last year," and cites such major sponsors as Anheuser-Busch and Union Oil. Negotiations are in the final stages to sign other advertisers, including Burger King. True Value Hardware and Chevrolet. The station has signed a new two-year contract. On radio, a spokesman for KVKAM) reported that six major advertisers have been signed for the baseball coverage, but declined to name them because of "competitive consider

BASEBALL 84

ations." The Mariners are in negotiation with Group W Satellite Communications on a contract covering cable television, but it is not known if an agreement will be reached by the start of the season

Atlanta Braves

Five preseason exhibitions will be among the 150 Braves games that WTBS(TV) Atlanta will telecast, according to Don Ellis, execu tive producer of sports at the superstation. TV rights to the Braves schedule are held by Turner Broadcasting System, which owns WTBS and the Braves. The telecasts will be channeled to 5,968 cable systems, reaching 29.3 million homes. Rotating as announcers will be Ernie Johnson, Skip Caray, Pete Van Weiren and John Sterling. Among national sponsors signed are Toyota, Red Man chewing tobacco, Eastern Air Lines, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch and Gulf. WTBS has scheduled A Tale of Two Seasons, a documentary on the Braves, in prime time, Sunday, March 25. Like a similar offering last March, A Long Way to October, it will be narrated by veteran sports commentator Red Barber. The Braves organization retains its radio rights and does its own selling. This year, game originator will be WCNN(AM) Atlanta, switching from WSB(AM) there. Announcing is to be handled by Johnson, Caray, Van Weiren and Sterling. Top national accounts

Share and share alike. KPOX TV Vancouver. Wash and STW TV Seattle have begun what they call an "informal busi ness partnership under which the sta tions will exchange programs of common interest Starting in April the first of 25 Seattle Mariner baseball games telecast away from home by KSTW TV will be fed to KPDX TV The stations say their partnership is a "two way street," with KSTW TV now in the process of planning sports and special events programing of interest to both markets.

include Anheuser-Busch, Eastern and CocaCola.

San Diego Padres

KCST TV San Diego enters the second year of its three-year pact with the Padres, feeding coverage to three other stations. About 50 games will be telecast. According to Jerry Coleman, Padres radio TV director, the team will make games available to about 400,000 area cable subscribers on a pay-per-view (PPV) basis through Cox Cable, Sun Cable and American Cable Television. Negotiations are in progress to link the PPV network to other area cable systems, he said. Subscribers will be offered two separate PPV packages of either 40 or 20 games. The Pa

dres will produce the games, although the team and one or more cable systems may originate local pre- and postgame shows.

KFMB(AM) will be in the second year of its three-year pact with the Padres, feeding four smaller stations. A Spanish-language network of about 15 stations will be originated at XEXX(AM) Tijuana.

Houston Astros

The club continues to retain broadcast

rights, setting up its networks and handling sales to advertisers in most cases, although the stations also have spots to sell. KTXH(TV) Houston is again the TV originator and will feed coverage of 75 games to a network of 12 stations, although the number of games vanes in each market. KRBELAM) Houston will again onginate radio coverage for a network of 30 to 35 stations, with KRBE FM simulcasting the night games. Radio network coverage will include all 162 regularseason games plus 17 preseason contests. Art Elliott, director of broadcast operations for the Astros, is also in the process of setting up a "small" Spanish-language network, with KYST(AM) Texas City, Tex., as the originator, to cover all regular season and a dozen preseason games. Elliott reports advertising sales moving well, with AnheuserBusch, Datsun and First City Bank of Houston among the major sponsors on both radio and TV and with Coca-Cola among others

signed for radio and Gulf Oil for TV.

Eighty Astros games will be carried on cable by the Home Sports Entertainment Network, a group of some 40 systems (led by Warner Amex) operating in five states, The games will be part of the pay-cable package, for which charges to subscribers are said to average about $9.95 a month.

San Francisco Giants

KTVU(TV) San Francisco/Oakland is carrying the Giants in the first year of a new five-year contract, feeding three other stations Playby-play continues with Gary Park and Hank Greenwald The station is carrying 31 regular season games, with major sponsorships signed by Lowenbrau beer and Toyota. Among the on-air promotional campaigns this year is one that will feature actor Ronnie Schell spoofing cold weather in Candlestick Park, a tie in to the Giants's "Hang In There" campaign.

KNBRIAM) also begins a new five-year radio contract this season, carrying all pre- and regular season games. The station will feed seven others, while KOFY(AM) enters its third year of Spanish-language coverage.

St. Louis Cardinals

Pay cable becomes part of the St. Louis Cardinals broadcast picture in 1984 as Sports Time cable network, cablecasts 52 games of the Cards schedule. The Cards' coverage is part of a regional Mid-America package of fered by Sports Time, under which it will present 52 games each of the schedules of the Cardinals, Kansas City Royals and Cincinnati Reds. Although individual cable systems will set the actual pay fees, a Sports Time official said that projected fee is from $9 to $12 per month for the package. The package extends as far west as Colorado and as far east as West Virginia On a local basis, KSDK(TV) St. Louis will cover 40 road games. Tony Bello, director of sales, says that 85% of last year's sponsors have renewed already.

Cincinnati Reds

The Reds, who retain radio rights, will continue to have WLW(AM) as originating station for all exhibition contests (two in Puerto Rico) and the full 162-game regular season slate. Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall will announce. Jim Winters, director of broadcasting for the Reds, reported in midFebruary that in-game radio positions were 100% sold and pregame and postgame spots were 95% gone. Leading the list are Anheuser-Busch. Marathon Petroleum and Chevrolet. The last is new to the Red's radio lineup and, in that connection, there will be a "Chevy Home Run Inning" in each game. Prizes will range up to a new Chevrolet for a grand slam home run.

WLWT(TV) will telecast 48 Reds games in a continuation of its multiyear rights con

BASEBALL 24

tracts with the team. TV announcers will be Ken Wilson and Ray Lane Cable rights to the Reds have been granted to Sports Time, the new regional pay sports channel in 15 Midwestern states Sports Time is a joint venture of Multimedia Inc. (whose holdings include WIWT and a minority interest in the Reds), Anheuser-Busch (owner of the St. Louis Cardinals) and Tele-Communications Inc. (BROADCASTING, July 25, 1983, et seq.). Bill Spiegel, general manager of Multimedia Sports Productions, said 52 games are planned on a Reds lineup that will have the potential of reaching more than six million homes.

New York Mets

WOR-TV will begin its 22d season as the originator of New York Mets television broadcasts, a partnership arrangement it has had with the baseball club since the Mets were formed in 1962. Among the sponsors returning this season to the station, which sells the time, are Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser), Nissan Motors/Datsun and Manufacturers Hanover Trust. Participating advertisers include Coca-Cola and Getty Oil. "We made a commitment to upgrade the production of the games," said WOR-TV vice presi dent and general manager, Peter Leon. "There will be more on-air promotion this season, as well as more reports on the Mets in our local newscasts," Leon added. WOR TV is carried on approximately 130 cable systems nationwide

On the radio side, Mutual's WHN(AM) is in its second year of a three-year deal. "Sales have been a little slow because of the Olym pics," said Brian Moors, station vice president and general manager. "But we anticipate the majority of our major sponsors from last season to be back this year,” he said.

On cable. Sportschannel is in its third year of a 30-year agreement airing 60 games both home and away Fran Healy replaces Bud Harrelson as announcer.

Philadelphia Phillies

Both Phillies broadcast rights holders are in the early stages of multiyear contracts— WTAF-TV is entering the second year of a 10year rights agreement, and WCAUTAM), the third year of an 11-year radio rights pact. Prism, the regional pay cable outlet which was purchased by Sportschannel (Cablevision and Washington Post Co.) last June, continues to hold the local cable rights in a multiyear agreement.

WCAU, which will broadcast all 162 regular season games this year, as well as 18 exhibition games, has a regional network of 25 radio stations. Among the Phillies sponsors this year are Budweiser. Coca-Cola and Eastman Kodak. WTAF TV will carry 80 regular-season games and three exhibition games Sponsors include Anheuser-Busch, Roy Rogers, Datsun and Mellon Bank.

The cable programing network Prism. which now has about 375,000 subscribers, will carry 30 exclusive Phillies home games

Broadcasting Feb 27 1964

this season. Subscribers pay between $10 and $12 for the service, which currently programs about 75% of its program time with nonsports entertainment and 25% sports.

Pittsburgh Pirates

In television, KDKA-TV Pittsburgh is the originator again and will feed a network of five stations, covering 40 games. Carolyn Wean, general manager of KDKA-TV, repor ed sales going "very well," with AnheuserBusch, a major national advertiser, returning along with a number of local sponsors. In radio, KDKA(AM) will again originate the games, covering all 162 regular season contests and 15 exhibition games on a network of some 35 stations Daniel Friel Jr., KDKA(AM) general manager, said he was "pleased" with sales progress, with Budweiser, Mellon Bank and Chevrolet among the major clients. Cable rights are held by Home Sports Entertainment Pittsburgh, a group of area systems operators led by Warner Amex. The cable network will carry 76 games this season as part of a pay cable package. Its price varies from system to sys tem but averages around $9.95 a month.

Chicago Cubs

WGN-TV will provide coverage of 149 regular season games and four exhibition games. A spokesman said sales are progressing well, with about 70% of the advertising inventory sold. The major sponsors are Anheuser-Busch, True-Value Hardware. Toyota, Union Oil and Cannon Camera. He said the sales pace is outdistancing last year's. On radio, WGN(AM) has assembled a network of 46 stations in seven states. An official said sales are ahead of last year with major sponsorships by Heileman Brewing. True Value Hardware, Chevrolet and Talman Home Federal & Savings Association. WGN(AM) is providing 25 games of the Cubs schedule to wOJO(FM) Chicago, which will provide play-by-play in Spanish.

Montreal Expos

Canadian brewer Carling-O'Keefe will be entering its fourth year of a six-year arrangement with the Montreal Expos as television broadcast rights holder. Each year the brewer sells back the TV rights for a certain number of games to CBC-TV which is assembling an English network of 41 stations and a French network of 18 stations.

CHCFAM) holds the English-language radio broadcast rights, transmitting the games to a network of 35 affiliates, all of which are located outside Quebec province. The 1984 season is over 75% sold out, reports Arthur Sutherland, CHCHAM) vice president and general manager. The station is in the fourth year of a five-year deal. CKAC(AM) continues to hold the French language radio broadcast rights, distributing the signal to a network of 40 stations.