FOX announced Wednesday that five Detroit Tigers games will be moved to FOX’s “Saturday Baseball Game of the Week” regional broadcast.
The network also announced that it will move its regular season coverage to the Saturday prime-time slot for eight weeks including two Tigers games on June 2 and June 30, respectively.
According to James Schmehl of Mlive.com, FOX will package five or six games in its 7PM slot, compared with the usual three in the network’s afternoon.
“We’re pleased that we were able work with our partners at Major League Baseball to develop our most extensive primetime schedule yet,” FOX Sports co-president Eric Shanks said in a statement. “Our hope is to increase viewership and by featuring so many teams, create additional exposure for the game’s many stars so they become more familiar to a broader fan base.”
Furthermore, the Tigers will also be televised regionally during FOX’s “Opening Day” coverage on April 7th against Boston at 4PM ET. The May 5th and September 15th afternoon games were also selected.
Here is the good and bad regarding this move according to Schmehl…
The good: If you like NBC’s “Football Night in America,” prepare for FOX’s baseball version: “Baseball Night in America” for its prime time games. It found success last year and should rival ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.”
FOX won’t face competition from local TV baseball since other games can’t start within three hours of the beginning and end of its coverage window — so the Tigers should receive plenty of eyeballs for all regionally-slotted games.
The bad: Tigers fans transplanted to areas outside the regionalized broadcast won’t get the luxury of watching their team play on games scheduled on FOX. The games are subject to blackout on FOX Sports Detroit and MLB.TV.
The good and bad: The Tigers will have five Saturday games broadcast on FOX, including two in prime time. It’s possible the club could be scheduled for additional national broadcasts as the season progresses.
The New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants each have nine national broadcasts — the max number of slots scheduled. The Oakland A’s, Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates received the fewest with two games apiece.
Ref: Mlive.com, FOX
