The Players will do more with less

One good thing for golf fans who this weekend will be watching the Players Championship -- or, as it is now officially called, the Players -- is fewer commercial interruptions.

The PGA Tour, much as Augusta National does with the Masters, has limited the number of sponsors and the number of commercial breaks. The idea is to raise the stature of the tournament.

“For overall coverage of this Players, the biggest and most dramatic thing for us is having fewer commercials,” said NBC golf producer Tommy Roy. “In the past we’ve had as many as seven or eight 2-minute-20-second commercials per hour. That is now reduced down to four one-minute-and-change breaks.

“That is huge for us. By having fewer commercials we can show much more golf. What used to happen was when we had all those commercials per hour, especially on the front nine, is that we had to give up something and often that was the drive. Now, with limited commercials, we can truly appreciate what this golf course is all about, placement golf, and see the wonderful holes on the front side as we do the backside.

“It’ll be similar to the Masters.”

Another good thing about the Players coverage this year is that, for the first time, it will be in high definition.

So viewers with HD capability will get a clearer picture of either the rain dropping on the TPC Sawgrass course or the balls dropping into the water surrounding the infamous “Island Green” 17th hole.

Sporting events televised in HD are becoming more prevalent. It’s sort of like when television went through a conversion from black and white to color. At first, color telecasts were rare, then became commonplace. Surely, that will be the case with HD.

The Dodgers’ three games against Cincinnati this weekend are among the 50 that FSN Prime Ticket will televise in HD this season.

KCAL, Channel 9, which along with sister station KCBS, Channel 2, moved into a high-tech studio at the start of the month, is now televising everything in HD, and that includes its 50 Dodgers games.

FSN West will televise 50 Angels games in HD, including the three-game series that begins Tuesday in Seattle.

FSN West and FSN Prime Ticket will televise more than 200 events in HD over the next fiscal year beginning July 1, three times as many as it will end up having done this fiscal year.

KCAL’s HD signal is available on Time Warner Cable via Channel 409, but not yet available on DirecTV.

The HD signal provided by FSN West and FSN Prime Ticket is available on Channel 413 on Time Warner, on either Channel 96 or 97 on DirecTV, and on various channels on cable systems such as Charter and Cox, depending on location.

A Cox subscriber in Orange County on Wednesday night found the Angels’ telecast in HD on Channel 717, normally the Mojo HD channel.

Contacting your provider is probably the best way to find the correct channel and tier.

“When it comes to HD, our two main objectives are, one, get channel clearance and, two, educate the public about where to get it through team websites and various means,” said Steve Simpson, senior vice president and general manager of the two FSN networks. “Televising games in HD is important to the teams and important to the viewers, and we’re thrilled to do it.”

As for the additional cost, Simpson said, “It’s the price of doing business in today’s environment.”

Court rules against NFL

A New York Supreme Court decision Thursday could have far-reaching implications in regard to how cable companies distribute NFL Network. The court ruled that Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, has the right to put NFL Network on a sports tier.

“This decision means that our customers who are NFL fans will be able to watch the NFL Network without burdening those who are not NFL fans with extra costs,” said David L. Cohen, executive vice president.

NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky said, “The final word on this issue is most likely going to come from the appellate courts. If this decision is upheld, the biggest harm will be to consumers. They will have to pay more for less.”

Good deal for AFL

Arena Football League Commissioner Dave Baker, in town to attend his son Sam’s graduation from USC today, took time Thursday to talk about the success of his league’s new five-year contract with ESPN.

At first glance, the success is difficult to detect. The average rating for AFL telecasts on ESPN2 this season is a 0.3, compared to a 0.9 for AFL telecasts on NBC last season.

But, Baker said, that doesn’t tell the story.

“With ESPN, it’s not just the broadcasting of games, it’s the exposure of our players and teams across 15 multimedia platforms,” Baker said. “Our commercial inventory is virtually sold out and we will have more inventory next year, ticket revenue is up 10% over last year, merchandising is up, arenafootball.com traffic is up over 20%.”

It’s another example of the power of the ESPN empire.

Short waves

Soccer analyst Julie Foudy tackles an interesting topic in her first major reporting role for ESPN, examining the issues facing pregnant college athletes. Her piece, titled “Pregnant Pause,” will be on “Outside the Lines” Sunday at 6:30 a.m., with a repeat at 9 a.m. on ESPNews.

Among those interviewed are UCLA volleyball player Becky Mehring, the wife of former UCLA soccer player Luke Mehring and the mother of Mason. “You don’t expect to get pregnant, you don’t expect to have a baby and be a mom, but it’s not the end of the world,” Mehring says. “Your life could actually get better.”

The Tennis Channel made two announcements this week. One is that veteran network sportscaster Bill Macatee will host and produce its prime-time centerpiece show during the French Open, which begins May 27. The other is that during the French Open, the network’s cable and satellite distributors will make it available to 50 million subscribers, which is five times more than its current reach on various tiers.

CBS and the United States Tennis Assn. announced a new six-year deal for rights to the U.S. Open tournament through 2011, superseding an earlier agreement. The new deal represents a 20% decline in the rights fee but now includes a revenue-sharing component.

NBC reported Thursday that last Saturday’s Kentucky Derby coverage averaged a viewing audience of 11.5 million, up from 10.6 million last year. And the overall rating of 7.5 was up from last year’s 7.0.

larry.stewart@latimes.com