But you still need to activate your account.
Unless a local station steps up to the plate with the right kind of offer, most non-cable television viewers in central and northern Maine will be shut out of watching the World Series.
The Fox Network won the TV rights to the 1996, 1998, and 2000 World Series with the new Major League Baseball contract and also has the rights to the All-Star games in 1997 and ’99, the 1997 Super Bowl, and this year’s Stanley Cup finals.
Fox is also sharing coverage of baseball’s divisional playoffs and league championship series’ with NBC.
That’s great if you’re a sports fan who gets Fox on cable or satellite. If you don’t, you’d better find someone who does or settle for listening to the games on the radio.
“If they don’t have cable, I don’t know how they’re going to get those events,” said Doug Finck, vice president and general manager of Portland’s WPXT (Channel 51), Maine’s lone Fox affiliate.
There may be a solution. Fox may offer the games to stations in markets without Fox affiliates if they either become Fox affiliates or pay a flat fee, which could be as high as $50,000, or more.
“What I would expect would happen is because of the magnitude of the games, they’re going to charge a lot of money for them if that station elects not to become a primary affiliate,” said Finck.
In 1995, WABI-TV in Bangor (Ch. 5) reached an agreement with Fox to televise the NFL’s NFC playoff games. Perhaps the same arrangement could be made again.
“I haven’t heard a thing. But I’d be very interested in anyevents. Those aren’t something you’d let go by. But at this point, I don’t know anything about it,” said Steve Hiltz, WABI’s program director.
Dan Comeau, national sales manager at WVII (Ch. 7) said he’d heard about the availability of the games and said “we’re still talking, but it’s piqued our interest.”
“I don’t know what Fox wants to do, but my guess is, if I was in Fox’s shoes, Channel 7 would be a likely candidate to contact because they’ve got the most to gain ,” said Finck.
Attempts Wednesday to reach Fox and WLBZ (Ch. 2) officials for comment were unsuccessful.
The deck of Boston Red Sox radio affiliates has been shuffled a bit this season, but the number remains unchanged.
Of the 14 Maine members of the Red Sox radio network, two are new affiliates this year. In: WDME (103.1 FM) of Dover-Foxcroft and WSKW (1160 AM) of Skowhegan, Out: Augusta’s WMME and Waterville’s WTVL.
WDME comes back into the network fold after a one-year fling as a carrier of Portland Sea Dogs games. WDME officials decided to go with the Sea Dogs given the uncertain status of the Red Sox’ 1995 season in regard to the major league baseball strike.
Station manager Denny Morin simply wanted to add Sox games to WSKW’s all-sports format.
Sox flagship station WEEI (850 AM) in Boston will deliver its game signals to 56 stations in New England, New York and Canada. That total is down eight from last year.
The rest of the network includes stations in Massachusetts (15), New Hampshire and Vermont (eight each), Connecticut (five), Rhode Island (three), New York (two), and New Brunswick (one).
They have their Sox on: Maine Red Sox Radio Network affiliates
WZON Bangor (620 AM)
WJTO Bath (730 AM)
WIDE Biddeford (1400 AM)
WQDY Calais (1230 AM, 92.7 FM)
WQSS Camden (102.5 FM)
WDME Dover-Foxcroft (103.1 FM)
WDEA Ellsworth (1370 AM)
WKTJ Farmington (99.3 FM)
WTBM Mexico (100.7 FM)
WSYY Millinocket (94.9 FM)
WOXO Norway (92.7 and 100.7 FM)
WLPZ Portland (1440 AM)
WOZI Presque Isle (101.7 FM)
WSKW Skowhegan (1160 AM)
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