New Fox Sports channel means fewer postseason baseball games on Fox
Scheduling the month of October is going to get a lot easier for the folks at Fox.
For years, Fox has had to uproot its October schedule because of postseason baseball. That often meant shows that premiered in September suddenly went missing for a few weeks because of playoffs and the World Series. Although baseball is a good promotional platform, it could also be a momentum killer for a new show trying to build an audience.
But starting in 2014, Fox’s baseball headaches will be greatly reduced. That’s because Fox Sports 1, the new national cable channel that launches in October, will start carrying the league championship series that is usually on Fox. A league championship series can run from four to seven games.
That means the only postseason baseball on Fox will be the World Series. Although that is also a best-of-seven event, it is a lot easier to deal with roughly one week of preemptions than the two weeks required for the entire playoffs.
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Follow Joe Flint on Twitter @JBFlint.
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