November 21, 200421 yr Opening Day is little more than 4 months away! But all contracts for television and radio must be done before Spring Training. So March is the latest for talent to be hired and February is the latest for a rightsholder to sign a deal with the team. Well now comes the situation for the Marlins: 1) Fox Sports Net Florida has a "cable" telecast deal for 95 games + 3 preseason games until the 2011 season. 2) The Marlins currently have no radio deal, but 560 WQAM, 790 ESPN Radio, and Clear Channel South Florida are currently entangled in a very tight bidding war. 3) The Marlins "free TV" telecast deal with PAX for 55 games has expired and FSN Florida is trying to add these 55 games to their "cable" package so that they may carry all 150 games on FSN Florida like FSN does with the Panthers and Sunshine does with the HEAT. 4) FSN would extend their deal with the Marlins until 2020 with 150 games a year on FSN Florida. They would also guarantee cash for the Marlins in the coming years to help pay rent. 5) Tommy Hutton, Craig Minervini, Dave Van Horne, and Jon Sciambi have been confirmed by one source or another to be returning. 6) Len Kasper has departed for Chicago, so his replacement must be found. 7) The Marlins Radio Network needs to be set up for 2005. 8) If the Marlins decline to go with all games on FSN, they must make a deal with a "Free TV" outlet and set up the Marlins Television Network for 2005. On A Side Note: -All Marlins games on FSN (whether 95 or 150) will likely have the Marlins on Deck Pregame included. -FSN will telecast all Marlins home games in HD in 2005 according to reports. -The Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, and the Toronto Blue Jays air all locally televised games on cable. The Marlins could join this club by taking FSN's offer.
November 21, 200421 yr Thanks CapeFish, I just hope whoever carries Radio in the Boynton Beach area also carries the pre-game show. That was not true last year.
November 21, 200421 yr Author Thanks CapeFish, I just hope whoever carries Radio in the Boynton Beach area also carries the pre-game show. That was not true last year. 618973[/snapback] WQAM kept Marlins On Deck only on their air and not on the network. Most flagships do this.
November 21, 200421 yr Boy... seems stupid to me. If you're going to radio-cast a Marlins game, anticipating certain baseball listeners, why not start a half-hour earlier with the Marlins On Deck program (which is a very good program.) Guess it must be a dollars and cents decision, beyond me.
November 21, 200421 yr Author Many of the stations have other programs locally and they make more with those. If it makes you feel better the same goes with the Dolphins network.
November 21, 200421 yr As always good stuff, Cape! The Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, and the Toronto Blue Jays air all locally televised games on cable. The Marlins could join this club by taking FSN's offer. Although it'd be nice to get all these games on Extra Innings, I'd rather not the Marlins join that cast of characters.
November 21, 200421 yr Author As always good stuff, Cape! The Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, and the Toronto Blue Jays air all locally televised games on cable. The Marlins could join this club by taking FSN's offer. Although it'd be nice to get all these games on Extra Innings, I'd rather not the Marlins join that cast of characters. 618983[/snapback] Well most of those teams have historically large and loyal fanbases and they moved to cable in order to reap in more money, be in one place on the dial, and make most games available nationwide via Extra Innings. Free TV games cannot be on Extra Innings.
November 21, 200421 yr I read that Comcast was aggresively looking to open their next regional sports network in Florida, which would hopefully mean they would compete for the Marlin's TV rights. That should translate into mo' money. :thumbup
November 21, 200421 yr Author I read that Comcast was aggresively looking to open their next regional sports network in Florida, which would hopefully mean they would compete for the Marlin's TV rights. That should translate into mo' money. :thumbup 619102[/snapback] Nope. Marlins and FSN are married through at least 2011 and that may get longer. Rainbow Media could sell FSN Florida to Comcast though, but it would still be the same channel just a different owner and name.
November 22, 200421 yr Author Isn't the Sunshine Network also owned by Fox? 619473[/snapback] Fox owns a part of Sunshine Network with Florida's cable companies. Cablevision's Rainbow Media (in partnership with Fox) owns FSN Florida. They are seperate and competing entities however. Sunshine is based out of Orlando (created to air Magic games) and FSN Florida (formerly SportsChannel Florida) is based out of Sunrise in Broward County (created to air HEAT games in 1988)
November 22, 200421 yr Author BTW, the Yankees are considering eliminating their 20 game package on WCBS-2 and airing all their locally televised games on YES. This seems to be a trend in the NBA, NHL, and now MLB it seems. More $$$, More games, and More Programming for Fans. If FSN gets the local rights to the Marlins, every game could be on TV according to the ESPN and FOX contracts. FSN would just have to make the logistics possible for them to locally televise games when there is a Panthers or Devil Rays conflict. FSN has a system in place called FSN+ which is a seperate channel on cable and satellite that would air the game is the main FSN channel has something else on.
November 22, 200421 yr Isn't the Sunshine Network also owned by Fox? 619473[/snapback] Fox owns a part of Sunshine Network with Florida's cable companies. Cablevision's Rainbow Media (in partnership with Fox) owns FSN Florida. They are seperate and competing entities however. Sunshine is based out of Orlando (created to air Magic games) and FSN Florida (formerly SportsChannel Florida) is based out of Sunrise in Broward County (created to air HEAT games in 1988) 619495[/snapback] Cablevision! Thats it! Comcast wanted to buy Cablevision's sports holdings. If thats just ends up replacing Fox Sports Florida with some Comcast Florida Sports channel, I doubt it'll change anything about the Marlin's TV deal. I was hoping for two statewide sports channels Comcast/FoxSports.
November 22, 200421 yr Nice stuff Cape! I like PAX. It doesn't have as much commercials and in game advertising.
November 22, 200421 yr Author Nice stuff Cape! I like PAX. It doesn't have as much commercials and in game advertising. 619996[/snapback] Actually, PAX telecasts are done by FSN but there aren't many sponsors willing to buy into them. I forsee PAX being set aside and the Marlins going cable-only in 2005. The money is just too great.
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