From Scout.com, only mention is of Directv, not Dish network, I am thinking that is not a good sign at all!
Fastball Sports Productions has even bigger hopes and plans than the Cleveland Indians entering the 2006 season. Unlike the Tribe, which is coming off 93 wins a year ago and is considered a championship contender, the new television outlet is an expansion club scrambling to get ready for its first game.
The good news is they've got a veteran group of announcers, producers, directors, cameramen and technicians ready to take the field. It's basically the same entourage that has delivered Tribe telecasts for years.
The unsettling aspect at the moment is that fans are worried about rate hikes or that their cable companies will simply refuse to add the new network to their packages.
Fastball Sports Productions president Jim Liberatore explained programming details for the fledgling network, which is called SportsTime Ohio.
He also announced that the long-time game broadcast team of former big-leaguers Mike Hegan and Rick Manning and veteran play-by-play announcer John Sanders will return. They will be joined by WKYC-TV (Channel 3) sports director Jim Donovan, who will be the pregame host.
This will be Hegan's 18th season, Manning's 17th year and Sanders' 16th with the Indians.
"We are finalizing the details on what promises to be one of the best baseball programming concepts that Indians fans have ever seen," Liberatore said. "Viewers will benefit from the features we are adding, such as High Definition to all of the Indians' home game telecasts (as well as to all of the 20 over-the-air broadcasts that will be seen on WKYC-TV), more programming throughout the season and additional cameras. This will be a great package that lays a strong foundation for the expansion of SportsTime Ohio in the months and years ahead."
Liberatore attempted to ease the anxiety among fans who are worried that their local cable outlet will not show Tribe games this year -- or raise rates significantly in order to do so.
Right now, only 900,000 subscribers of Time Warner Cable in Ohio are assured of being able to see the Indians' cable telecasts this season, but Liberatore said discussions are ongoing with numerous other outlets.
"We are confident that by opening day, we will have at least 90 percent of the Cleveland area covered," he said.
"We sent term sheets out (to cable providers) only 2 1/2 weeks ago. The delay was our fault because of late startup, but we are making up ground with every operator and moving at an advanced pace."
As for possible rate hikes, Liberatore believes the product will be worth it.
"I understand companies wanting to keep their rates down, but this is not the product with which to make that decision," he said. "This will be the highest rated program in the market."
Highlights of the planned programming include:
*** 130 regular season games, with an additional 20 games to be seen on over-the-air broadcasts by WKYC-TV (with Donovan doing the play-by-play); also eight spring training games will be aired.
*** High Definition broadcasts with an expanded number of cameras (10, two more than in the past). Liberatore said fans with HDTV capability will see baseball like never before and also have surround sound that brings the experience of being at the game into viewers' homes.
*** A 30-minute program hosted each week by Donovan will look at what's happening around Major League Baseball. During the regular season, the show will be shown live each Monday at 7 p.m. on WKYC-TV and repeated frequently on SportsTime Ohio. During the off-season, Donovan will look at what's happening with players and the business of baseball during a weekly broadcast on SportsTime Ohio.
Liberatore said plans are to build SportsTime Ohio into a fulltime network that will feature original local programming centering on the interests of Ohio sports fans. That could include coverage of high school powerhouses like Cleveland St. Ignatius and Lakewood St. Edward in various sports, Mid-American Conference college sports and Cleveland State University sports.
"We believe there will be strong interest in programming that covers local teams and issues and that understands and speaks to the passions of Ohio sports fans," Liberatore said. "But above all of that -- we are going to do nothing but get the Indians' programming right."
Liberatore said that rather than telecasting minor-league games, the network would concentrate on trying to provide a look at individual players in the Indians' farm system. He said that just because some Tribe minor-league teams (Akron, Lake County and Mahoning Valley) may be in the Ohio viewing area, telecasts of complete games would be unlikely -- though Donovan and others may give reports on various prospects on those clubs in addition to players at Triple-A Buffalo, Class A Kinston or Rookie League Burlington.
Liberatore also confirmed that negotiations are continuing with satellite distributors. Fans who subscribe to the Major League Baseball package will receive Indians games just as they did in 2005. Liberatore said he "sees no reason" why DirecTV would not carry the Tribe.
"We believe our proposals to these systems are fair and reflect the tremendous value of Indians programming, as confirmed in several different viewership surveys," Liberatore said.
The total 158-game package will be the largest in club history -- with 83 of those games being shown in HD.
The schedule begins with eight spring training games, six of which will be shown on a tape-delayed basis. Liberatore said the reason for that is because those games are also being tape- delayed on the Indians radio network and the new TV entity did not want to give results ahead of time (even though Internet and all other news outlets will have provided reports long beforehand on those days).
Here's the spring training TV schedule:
March 12 vs. Yankees (delayed to 4:30 p.m.)
March 13 vs. Devil Rays (delayed to 7 p.m.)
March 14 vs. Blue Jays (delayed to 7 p.m.)
March 16 vs. Twins (delayed to 8 p.m.)
March 18 vs. Astros (live at 1 p.m.)
March 29 vs. Astros (live at 1 p.m.)
March 30 vs. Tigers (delayed to 8 p.m.)
March 31 vs. Reds (delayed to 7 p.m.)
The Indians will open the 2006 regular season Sunday, April 2 on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball at 8:05 p.m. from Chicago against the defending champion White Sox.
SportsTime Ohio will make its regular season broadcast premiere on Tuesday, April 4 at 2:05 p.m. from Chicago.
The Indians' first game on WKYC-TV3 will be the home opener at Jacobs Field on Friday, April 7 at 3:05 p.m.
Cleveland's WJW-TV8 and FOX Sports National are scheduled to broadcast two Indians Saturday contests in 2006:
June 3 vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at 1:20 p.m.
June 10 at Chicago White Sox, 1:20 p.m.
In addition to the season opener on April 2, the Indians are scheduled to be on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball on April 30 against the Texas Rangers at 8 p.m.
Here's the schedule of games on "free" TV, WKYC, Channel 3 in Cleveland:
April 7 vs. Minnesota, 3:05 p.m.
April 23 at Kansas City, 2:10 p.m.
May 14 vs. Detroit, 1:05 p.m.
May 21 vs. Pittsburgh, 1:05 p.m.
May 29, vs. Chicago White Sox, 1:05 p.m.
June 4, vs. Los Angeles Angels, 1:05 p.m.
June 13, at New York Yankees, 7:05 p.m.
June 25, vs. Cincinnati, 1:05 p.m.
July 3, vs. New York Yankees, 7:05 p.m.
July 16, at Minnesota, 2:10 p.m.
July 19, at Los Angeles Angels, 3:35 p.m.
July 30 vs. Seattle, 1:05 p.m.
Aug. 1, at Boston, 7:05 p.m.
Aug. 6, at Detroit, 1:05 p.m.
Aug. 13, vs. Kansas City, 1:05 p.m.
Aug. 27, vs. Detroit, 1:05 p.m.
Sept. 3, at Texas, 2:05 p.m.
Sept. 8, at Chicago White Sox, 8:30 p.m.
Sept. 10, at Chicago White Sox, 2:05 p.m.
Oct. 1, vs. Tampa Bay, 1:05 p.m.
Broadcast dates and times are subject to change. Fans are encouraged to call their local cable or satellite providers to inquire about the availability of Tribe telecasts.
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I have the supers package).....Some of the Orioles games are on Comcast Sports Net and they are available here..As are some of the Reds games on FOX CIN.....
