It's the Seven-Year Itch

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Boo. This can't end well.

[devo 0]

God damn it. This sucks.

[CanadianChris 0]

Great. Seven more years of Buck and McCarver. Can't wait.

[the max 0]

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Vern Gagne 0]

Great. Seven more years of Buck and McCarver. Can't wait.

 

McCarver probably would have jumped over to the new network. If not McCarver, probably Joe Morgan.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I can't see McCarver announcing that much longer. How many tv analysts remain national for so long? Joe Buck is underrated I think. The big problem has always been the presentation, namely selling everything possible about the broadcast right down to the National anthem.

 

I'm glad to see TBS pick up some games. Their presentation is top notch.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Buck has that strong announcer's voice. I don't care for the way he's a corporate shill, but the voice makes most things seem important and he isn't afraid to be critical, even if it goes against the grain.

[ISportsFan 0]

The question is who is going to get the other LCS that Fox doesn't get -- TBS, ESPN, or someone else?

[bob_barron 0]

Wait...does this mean no more Braves on TBS?

[geniusMoment 0]

Wait...does this mean no more Braves on TBS?

MLB’s announcement will include a 7-year agreement with Turner Sports to broadcast the Divisional rounds on TBS starting next year. Regular season games will start in 2008. The new deal does not impact broadcasting of Braves games.

[Guest]

That means they need to have a show that's somewhat like Inside the NBA. The deal could turn out to be really good.

[Hektik 0]

Wait...does this mean no more Braves on TBS?

MLB’s announcement will include a 7-year agreement with Turner Sports to broadcast the Divisional rounds on TBS starting next year. Regular season games will start in 2008. The new deal does not impact broadcasting of Braves games.

An article I read said it doesn't impact Braves games for next year. They don't know for 2008 and beyond.

 

They will probably end up choosing different games to broadcast like ESPN does. Why would TBS continue to air only Braves games if AOL Time Warner is going to sell the team?

[Slayer 0]

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

what he said

[Guest Felonies!]

Well that ruined my day.

[Guest Princess Leena]

McCarver should die soon, so that's not bad.

 

Buck needs to keep his stupid opinions to himself, and he's ok.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Info on Braves:

 

TBS will show 70 Braves games nationally next year, then 45 per season locally through 2013. Up to 13 of those Atlanta games can be shown on TBS' Sunday package.

 

So no more national Braves games after next year unless its one of those sunday games.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

A TBS with no WCW AND no Braves! Say it ain't so.

[bob_barron 0]

That's awful, this is going to really hurt the Braves. It's going to make it very hard to follow the team.

[Guest Felonies!]

This leaves the Cubs as the only team with a significant portion of the schedule available across the country.

 

Come on, 13 Braves games all year? ESPN shows more Yankees games a year than that.

[bob_barron 0]

I hate TBS' limited schedule of them as it is. Oh no, we need to show 4 episodes of Friends!

[Guest Felonies!]

Oh no, we need to show 4 episodes of Friends!

Not like you can't watch 4 episodes of Friends on your WB affiliate, and your UPN affiliate.

 

Oh well, it's been downhill since Chip Caray has been doing most of the games. "Chipper Jones, line drive, could be trouble..." What?

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

My problem with FOX is that they seem to be more interested in talking about anything other than what is actually happening on the field (players relatives, current events, ads, the Yankees whether the Yankees are actually playing or not, and basically anything else they can think of). Last year for the All-Star Game we had the international MLB feed in Canada and the presentation was substantially better.

 

It is a shame because their NFL coverage is pretty good.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

That's awful, this is going to really hurt the Braves. It's going to make it very hard to follow the team.

 

Im surprised they didnt do it sooner given MLB EI.

[bob_barron 0]

Oh no, we need to show 4 episodes of Friends!

Not like you can't watch 4 episodes of Friends on your WB affiliate, and your UPN affiliate.

 

Oh well, it's been downhill since Chip Caray has been doing most of the games. "Chipper Jones, line drive, could be trouble..." What?

 

I don't mind Chip, but nothing beats Skip and Pete.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Eh, I really don't care. I just hope no players attempt to "fake moon" a hostile crowd.

[bob_barron 0]

Braves' run on TBS to end in '07

Turner Sports gets exclusive rights to all Division Series games

By Mark Bowman / MLB.com

 

PITTSBURGH -- For more than two decades, TBS was known primarily as the channel that carried Braves games and "The Andy Griffith Show." Beginning next year, it will gain a new identity through its broadcast of postseason baseball.

Just before the start of Tuesday night's All-Star Game at PNC Park, Major League Baseball announced its new television agreement for 2008-2013. Beginning in 2007, the agreement provides Turner Sports -- TBS' governing body -- exclusive broadcasting rights to all Division Series games and 26 Sunday afternoon regular-season broadcasts.

 

At the same time, TBS announced that next season will be the final one in which it will exclusively air Braves games for a national audience. Beginning in 2008, the only regular-season broadcasts will be those Sunday afternoon contests, which may or may not feature the Braves.

 

"It's a landmark day for Turner," Turner Sports President David Levy said. "We've been covering baseball either through ownership or television for the last three decades. This brings us into a fourth decade. This is something we're very proud of. We love the relationship with baseball. This adds to it."

 

Ted Turner's historic decision to begin beaming Braves games to a national audience came in 1977. This is the 30th consecutive season in which the team he formerly owned has benefited from the national attention it receives courtesy of TBS' coverage.

 

But as TBS has changed its identity and such sitcoms as "Friends" and "Seinfeld" have generated more advertising revenue, the network has started to decrease its Braves coverage. During the 2007 season, it will carry 70 Braves games. After that, the national exclusive relationship between the two will essentially be over.

 

"Unfortunately, we can't have it all, and some things had to give," said Levy, a staunch Braves fan. "Ultimately, it came down to a financial situation."

 

Though fans in such places as South Dakota and Oregon won't benefit, WTBS -- the channel's local Atlanta feed -- will carry at least 45 games per season from 2008-13. These games also could be carried on TBS in the club's six-state home territory, which includes Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.

 

With this new agreement, TBS will choose each of its 26 Sunday afternoon broadcasts. The network has the opportunity to choose one team up to 13 times, meaning that the Braves would likely be included in at least a few broadcasts.

 

Beginning this year and extending through the life of the agreement, TBS will have exclusive broadcasting rights to all tiebreaker games needed to determine division winners or Wild Card entrants. In addition, the network will begin carrying the All-Star Game selection show next year.

 

But the jewel of the deal for Turner Sports is the exclusive rights to carry all the Division Series games for each of the next seven seasons. If any of the past 15 years are any indication, the Braves will appear in at least a few of those broadcasts.

 

"Postseason baseball is something Turner has always looked at as an opportunity," Levy said. "We're not a 24-hour sports channel, so we have to pick and choose what we can put on our air and what makes sense for us from a brand standpoint and marketing standpoint. Postseason baseball fits that criteria."

 

 

This news is awful. I wish somehow Ted Turner could buy back the team.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

This might as well go here:

 

PITTSBURGH – Even the commissioner of baseball isn't immune to the sport's television blackout rules.

 

Bud Selig admitted Tuesday that he has been restricted from watching some games this season – and that he intends to change the policy that leaves some cities without as many as six baseball games each night.

 

"I don't understand (blackouts) myself," Selig said at a luncheon with the Baseball Writers Association of America. "I get blacked out from some games."

 

While he did not outline a plan, Selig said he had spoken with Major League Baseball about addressing the blackout issue.

 

"Right now," he said, "I don't know what to do about it. We'll figure it out."

 

More than 1,000 fans emailed Yahoo! Sports to voice their frustration with baseball's territorial-rights rules that black out games on the Extra Innings pay-per-view package and MLB.TV. The rules, developed about 40 years ago to protect teams' marketing areas, have fallen woefully out of date with a sport able to televise every game.

 

Instead, fans in Las Vegas cannot watch the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks. And no one in Iowa can watch the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals. And so on, all across the country.

 

In protest, fans have mobilized to send Selig letters of complaint. They seem to have finally found an advocate in the commissioner.

 

"I hear more about people who can't get the game," Selig said, "and, yes, I've already told our people we have to do something about it."

 

While Selig intends to take care of the territorial blackouts, he won't be doing anything about the blanket blackout on Saturday afternoon.

 

The article went on to mention the new contracts with FOX and TBS..

 

I get pissed when Os games on National networks like ESPN (and a couple weeks ago with the Os vs the Braves on TBS and vs the White Sox) get blacked out here despite the fact that there is no TV coverage here besides those national broadcasts.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

This is horrible for the Atlanta Braves as one thing they could always count on was being able to reach a national audience every week. Without TBS, the value of the franchise won't be nearly as high. I'd be foaming at the mouth if the Blue Jays lost their coverage like that. It is one of the things that helped do in the Expos.

[Guest Smues]

Son of a bitch. This really pisses me off. I better hope in 2008 I have a cable system that offers whatever channel the Braves are on and I have the money to afford it. Thanks a lot TBS.

[Guest]

You'll have to buy MLB Extra Innings.