The New Dodger Owner Puts More Games on Fox

The Dodgers traditionally have televised fewer games on local television than any other team in the major leagues. With Fox taking over ownership of the Dodgers, that is going to change.

Although the number of cable telecasts this season will be 40, same as last season, that number will jump to 80 in 1999.

Fox announced that Thursday, which was not only the day the Dodger sale was approved but the day after the settlement of a lawsuit filed by KTLA, Channel 5, against Fox and the Dodgers in Los Angeles Superior Court on Dec. 22. The settlement allows for more cable games. Channel 5 this season will carry, over the air, 48 Dodger games.

All 40 Dodger cable telecasts this season will be on Fox Sports West 2, but in the future, some games also could be carried by Fox Sports West.

Kitty Cohen, the general manager of Fox Sports West and West 2, said that’s up for discussion but there are no plans for that now.

That is bad news for Century and Comcast subscribers, because those companies do not carry West 2. And it doesn’t appear either company will pick up West 2 at any time soon.

For most cable subscribers, it is good news. A 48-game regular-season Channel 5 package plus an 80-game cable package means about 130 of the Dodgers’ 162 games will be locally televised in 1999. Plus, another dozen will be televised nationally.

That will put the Dodgers in a class with teams like the New York Yankees and Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies that televise almost every game.

In the suit filed in Superior Court, Channel 5 claimed that last September an advertiser informed the station that Fox Sports West 2 was planning to televise as many as 80 Dodger games this season.

The station sued because, it claimed, an increase in the number of cable telecasts would reduce the value of its package.

Channel 5, which will begin its 48-game package with the Dodgers’ season opener at St. Louis on March 31, agreed March 31, 1996, to a five-year deal that came with a reported rights fee of $15 million.

The contract, which runs through the 2001 season, gave Channel 5 the rights to as many as 95 games. With 52 telecasts, including four spring training games, on its schedule, that left a surplus of 43 games.

The station sold the rights to 40 games to a proposed microwave service called Tele-TV, which never made it on the air.

Tele-TV made a separate deal with Fox Sports West, sub-licensing the 40 games so they could be shown on Fox Sports West 2.

Channel 5 contended in its suit that Fox Sports West 2 did not have the right to televise more than 40 Dodger games.

Now that the suit has been settled, one Fox source said eventually there could be as many as 100 cable telecasts a season, plus the 50 or so games on over-the-air television.

Channel 5 could continue as the over-the-air carrier after its current deal expires in 2001, but Channel 9 might also be involved.

“Of course we’d be interested in the Dodgers,” said Don Corsini, Channel 9’s general manager.

But considering all of Channel 9’s sports inventory, could it handle a 50-game Dodger package?

“Given our commitment to news and entertainment programming, we would have to give careful consideration to that,” Corsini said.

Channel 9 has a deal with the Disney-owned Angels that runs through the 1999 season, plus a five-year option. The station also has a long-term contract with the Disney-owned Mighty Ducks as well as deals with the Lakers, Kings and Clippers.

Channel 11, the longtime Dodger flagship station before Channel 5 took over in 1996, is now a Fox station, so it might be assumed that the station might someday again become the Dodgers’ over-the-air outlet. But a Fox spokesman said that is not possible because of the Fox network’s prime-time lineup.

Said Rick Feldman, Channel 13’s general manager: “We had discussions with the Dodgers the last time they were available and couldn’t get a deal done. Sure, it would be great to have the Dodgers, but my guess is, when the KTLA deal expires, that will be the end of the Dodgers on free local television.”

Fox’s Cohen disagreed. “I think they’ll always have an over-the-air station,” she said.

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Another player comes into the local sports television picture in October with the arrival of ESPN West.

Beginning with the 1998-99 NHL season, ESPN West will carry 40 Mighty Duck games and in 1999 will have 37 Angel games. Fox Sports West, which will televise 40 Angel games this season, will co-exist with ESPN West in 1999 and televise 34-40 Angel games.

After that, there will be no more sharing of product by ESPN West and Fox Sports West. They will go toe to toe to see how many regional sports networks this market can support.

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The Dodgers have a new flagship radio station, which was launched a year ago. The station has gone through a number of name changes, going from KIIS AM to XTRA Sports 1150 to KXTA 1150 (which was never used on the air) to AM 1150 Sports Radio Los Angeles and, finally, back to XTRA Sports 1150.

XTRA 1150 and XTRA 690 are both owned by Jacor Communications.

Jacor, which paid $35 million for Dodger radio rights over five years, has upgraded 1150’s signal to 50,000 watts and, according to director of operations Bill Pugh, “We’re still fine-tuning and tweaking it.”

Stations in Santa Barbara and Thousand Oaks, XTRA 1340 and XTRA 850, have been added to the network to fill the gaps in those areas and efforts to improve other areas are being made.