Monday, April 05, 1999
Reds only team on cable only
Fox Sports Ohio will carry games
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
For the first time in 44 years, you'll need more than rabbit ears and a TV to see local Reds broadcasts this year.
Beginning today, the Reds are all-cable.
Fox Sports Ohio will air today's 2:05 p.m. game with the San Francisco Giants. It is the first of 84 games on FSO, but the two over-the-air stations that carried games last year — Channel 12 and Chan nel 64 — no longer are part of the package.
About 35 percent of homes in the Tristate do not have cable. The Reds are the only team in Major League Baseball without some local over-the-air package.
“I'm stunned,” said Marty Brennaman, the longtime Reds radio play-by-play man. “If this was a trend, I'd say there's something to it. But why is this the only team in baseball in this situation?”
Fox Sports Ohio (formerly SportsChannel), secured the rights starting with the 1996 season. For the three years Fox has had the rights, the network bought time on Channel 12 and 64 to air games it produced.
Sources say that arrangement was a money-loser for Fox. So Fox tried to work out a new arrangement with 12 and 64; none could be reached.
“They weren't interested in the same deal,” Channel 64 General Manager Bill Pulliam said.
The Reds would like to have an over-the-air carrier. “Most assuredly,” Reds Managing Executive John Allen said. “This isn't something we're giving up on.”
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