No More TBS Braves Telecast

[Royals Fan]

http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/NASApp...=.jsp&c_id=atl


found this article looking at the braves website. Sad see it happneed.


07/11/2006 8:26 PM ET
Braves' run on TBS to end in '07
Turner Sports gets exclusive rights to all Division Series games
By Mark Bowman / MLB.com

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• Official press release
• MLB, FOX reach seven-year extension


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."


Mark Bowman is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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[westofyou]

The station that stood on Teds Shoulders with Barney and Andy will now play nothing but Sex and the City and Family Guy episodes to the horror of most of americas parents.

[KoryMac5]

For years TBS was the only way I would ever get to see the Reds play. Lots of memories from those broadcasts.

[dabvu2498]

The station that stood on Teds Shoulders with Barney and Andy will now play nothing Sex and the City and Family Guy episodes to the horror of most of americas parents.
And me too.

Barney and Andy are getting harder and harder to find these days.

[REDREAD]

How sad is it that reruns of Friends can outdraw baseball? (I'm guessing the higher ad rates mean higher watching). I mean how many times can people watch the same sitcom over and over?

[Jpup]

it's a sad day for baseball. This is much like TNT/TBS dumping wrestling because it wasn't "high brow" enough for them. This would never happen if TBS was still on Ted Turner's watch. It's a shame.

[westofyou]

This would never happen if TBS was still on Ted Turner's watch. It's a shame.

Sure it would, because it's a different era with different competition.

[Reds Fanatic]

I wish they would have put these games on TNT instead of TBS. We could have got them in HD on TNT. TBS is not carried in HD.

[Jpup]

Sure it would, because it's a different era with different competition.

i beg to differ.:)

[Unassisted]

It could mean that Time-Warner is looking to unload the Braves down the road, which would make some sense, given that they're not a very good fit with TW's core businesses. They may have some plan to have the team's next local TV contract add real value to the team and plump up its bottom line in preparation for a sale.

The deal the team has now probably isn't comparable to what the high bidder would pay and mainly serves to perk up the programming lineup of another TW division.

[macro]

How sad is it that reruns of Friends can outdraw baseball? (I'm guessing the higher ad rates mean higher watching). I mean how many times can people watch the same sitcom over and over?

You gotta remember, though, that in the 80s there were many nights when the Braves were the only baseball on TV, unless the local team was playing on the local station. The Cubs were national on WGN, but they played all their home games during the day. If you were a sports fan, chances are you'd watch the Braves.

These days there's just so much stuff available, and the Braves telecasts must've gotten lost in the shuffle. I shed no tears about this. It saddened me to see my area of Kentucky go from being Reds country in the 70s to having so many Braves and Cubs fans spring up everywhere. The effects of that are still felt today.

[Big Klu]

I miss the old days of TBS--The Addams Family, I Dream Of Jeannie, Gilligan's Island, Green Acres, The Andy Griffith Show, Sanford & Son, Georgia Championship Wrestling (with Gordon Solie), and Braves baseball. :(

I always liked the fact that for six series a season (three in Atlanta and three in Cincinnati), the Reds would definitely be on TV in an era when televised games were still somewhat uncommon. And although some folks don't care for him, I've always liked Skip Caray.

A sad day for baseball fans. :(

[Chip R]

It could mean that Time-Warner is looking to unload the Braves down the road, which would make some sense, given that they're not a very good fit with TW's core businesses. They may have some plan to have the team's next local TV contract add real value to the team and plump up its bottom line in preparation for a sale.

The deal the team has now probably isn't comparable to what the high bidder would pay and mainly serves to perk up the programming lineup of another TW division.

Looking? IIRC, the team has been on the block for a while now.

Yeah, they had a real sweetheart deal with TBS back in the day. Since TBS paid the Braves only a part of what the rights were worth, the Braves could hide revenue that way. I believe that is called a related party transaction.

This is good news for baseball fans. Like macro said, local teams have lost a generation of fans to ATL and the Cubs because their games were on so much for no extra charge.

[Heath]

Does this mean that Don Sutton and Chip Caray are national?

[Unassisted]

Looking? IIRC, the team has been on the block for a while now.

This is good news for baseball fans. Like macro said, local teams have lost a generation of fans to ATL and the Cubs because their games were on so much for no extra charge.I had in the back of my mind I had heard the club was for sale, but I was too lazy to look it up. ;)

I agree with your point that the demise of the baseball Superstations could be a good thing for increasing interest in the local brands of MLB.

[Handofdeath]

When they were at the top of their game WOOOHH!!! There was nobody better! Saturday night the best athletes in the world walked that aisle and gave blood, sweat, and tears to entertain the masses. And nobody did it better than the Nature Boy!!! Sixteen time World Champion and for more than 30 years the man all others are measured by!!

[KronoRed]

Does this mean that Don Sutton and Chip Caray are national?
The horror

[Jr's Boy]

I wish they would have moved all Braves games to Turner South.

[cumberlandreds]

I'm kind of sad to see this too. Back in 1978 or 79 when WTCG-17, now WTBS came to our little cable company in Cumberland, Kentucky I was thrilled. It was first satellite station the cable TV in Cumberland added and it caused quite a stir among the subscribers. They had to raise the rates $1 a month to bring this channel on the air to us and many of them didn't like that. I couldn't believe I was going to be able to see a MLB game nearly every night even though the Braves were no good. Except for the Saturday afternoon game of the week,Monday night baseball and an occaisonal Reds game on WLEX you weren't able to see many games. I have always enjoyed Skip Caray and Pete Van Weiren. Ernie Johnson did games then too and I always thought he told good stories from old days of the Braves from back in the 40's and 50's when he played. You could always count on them being on along with Cubs from WGN in the afternoons. I haven't watched them as much the last few seasons since I was able to get MLBEI and could watch the Reds nearly every night but it will be different knowing you don't have that TBS option of watching the Braves.
On a side note about WTBS did any of you watch night tracks back when music videos were first becoming popular in the early 80's? I would stay up half the night on Friday's and Saturday's watching those. This was back before MTV or VH-1.

[Caveat Emperor]

Call me cynical, but I wonder if Major League Baseball didn't lean a little bit on the Braves/TW to eliminate what amounted to a free "Extra Innings" subscription for any Braves fan living abroad.

Now anyone displaced from the Atlanta area or who became a Braves fan because they were the only thing they grew up watching on TBS will have to pay MLB to subscribe either online or through cable/satellite to watch.

Watch and see if WGN doesn't get leaned on in the near future to reduce and/or eliminate nationwide free Cubs coverage.

[Jpup]

Watch and see if WGN doesn't get leaned on in the near future to reduce and/or eliminate nationwide free Cubs coverage.

Haven't they already cut way back on the amount of games on WGN?

[westofyou]

Haven't they already cut way back on the amount of games on WGN?
Yep.. because that revenue stream has been milked...time for a new and better cow.

[RBA]

WTBS/TBS was a big advertisement for the Braves. Yes, we got to see the Reds more, but we were and the rest of America were seeing a lot more of the Braves. Once you start watching a certain team day in and day out, it's hard not to take an interest in them. TBS ruined the Reds stronghold in several states. This was an example of the Reds not protecting their terrority and MLB letting the Braves get away with it. IMO, the Braves/TBS/Time Warner and MLB owe the Reds just compensation for competing in their terroritorial markets. The Braves TBS deal affected the Reds revenue and fan base more than it did to any other team.

[Chip R]

Haven't they already cut way back on the amount of games on WGN?

They are also playing fewer day games now so that may be a reason why they cut back too.

CE, you may have hit the nail on the head there. Now I do not know if it is like this in ATL but in CHI, WGN is a regular channel. I think anyone with rabbit ears can pick it up. The problem with cracking down on those superstations is that if you crack down on them, you have to crack down on every other regular channel that would broadcast games for a team. For example, if Ch 19 here in Cincinnati showed some Reds games, it would be the same as WGN showing Cubs games. Fair is fair and if they made WGN stop doing that, they would make Ch 19 stop doing it too. That would mark the end of free locally televised games except for the Fox game of the week. Now WGN may have a split feed where they can show Chicagoland viewers one show and cable subscribers everywhere else another show at the same time. That may be a way to keep free local broadcasts but at the same time not infringe on other teams territories.

[dabvu2498]

The Braves TBS deal affected the Reds revenue and fan base more than it did to any other team.
St. Louis might have an argument with that. Lots of formerly Cardinals territory in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Western Ky. was inundated by WTBS to the point of no return. Of course, the transition was really not finalized until 1991.

As an aside, I didn't realize that TBS was no longer WTBS and that there is a separate entity now.

Also, I no longer have WGN on my cable... are they still a "regular" broadcast station? Edit: ChipR answered this for me. Thanks!

Edit: My old cable system used to get WOR from NY with all the Mets games as well.

[westofyou]

Back in the day the west coast Reds fans got... WGN. WOR, WTBS, Giants Reds games and the radio at night for Dodger and Padres games, it was possible to see at least 50 games some years from 2400 miles away.

[RBA]

Back in the day the west coast Reds fans got... WGN. WOR, WTBS, Giants Reds games and the radio at night for Dodgers and Padres games, it was possible to see at least 50 games some years from 2400 miles away.

I lived 180 miles North of L.A. on the Coast. I would get both Dodgers and Giants TV games. Not so many Giants games however. I also picked up Dodgers/Giants and Padres games vs the Reds on the radio.

I also got ahold of a shortwave radio and picked up some games on Armed Forces Radio. This would be my first experience to listen to Marty do play by play. I usually could get a Reds game a couple times a week.

And I had WTBS and WGN, no WOR on cable.

But I threw a fit when they took WGN off the Cable and replaced it with a new channel called MTV. :bang: