The Royals television package, expanded to a record 140 games this year, won't be available in its entirety to subscribers of Cox Cable.
Today's noon game in Detroit, which will be televised on Fox Sports Kansas City (formerly Fox Sports Midwest), will be the first of 40 games not carried by Cox, the only cable provider in Topeka and large parts of Kansas. Tuesday's home opener against the New York Yankees will be carried on Cox (cable channel 34), but the Wednesday and Thursday home games against the Yankees won't.
For the first time in club history, Royals TV games are available only through cable and satellite outlets. There are no over-air telecasts.
Of the 140 scheduled TV games, only 100 — the same number offered a year ago — will be available to Cox customers after the company elected not to pay an increased subscriber fee to Fox Sports Kansas City, which now produces and distributes all Royals telecasts in the first year of a long-term contract.
Most cable and satellite TV providers agreed to the new deal and will carry all 140 games, 88 of which will be broadcast in high definition, said Geoff Goldman, a spokesman for Fox Sports Kansas City.........................