List of historical Major League Baseball television broadcasters
Local
American League
National League
| Team | Stations | Years | Pay TV | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona Diamondbacks | KTVK 3 (Ind) KDRX 48 (later KDPH-LP) KASW 61 (WB) KPHE-LD 44 |
1998-2007 1998 (Spanish) 2003 (East Coast road games) 2007 (Spanish) |
Fox Sports Arizona |
|
| Atlanta Braves | WSB 2 (NBC) WTCG 17 (Ind; later WTBS, now WPCH)5 |
1966-1971 1972-2011 |
SportsSouth |
1991-2006 |
| Chicago Cubs | WGN 9 (CBS/DuMont/Ind/WB/CW) WCIU 26 (Ind) WLS 7 (ABC)1 WPWR 50 (MNTV) |
1948–2019 2000–2014 2015–2019 2015-2016 |
Chicagoland Television |
|
| Cincinnati Reds | WLWT 5 (NBC) WSTR 64 (UPN/WB) WKRC 12 (CBS) |
1948-1995 1996-1998 1999; 2010–present |
Sports Time |
|
| Colorado Rockies | KWGN 2 (Ind/WB)5 KTVD 20 (UPN/MNTV) |
1993-2002 2003-2008 |
Fox Sports Rocky Mountain |
|
| Los Angeles Dodgers | KTTV 11 (Ind/Fox)3 KTLA 5 (Ind/WB/CW)5 KCOP 13 (UPN) KCAL 9 (Ind) KDOC 56 (Ind) |
1958-1992 1993-2001; 2017–present (selected games) 2002-2005 2006-2013 2014-2016 |
ON TV |
1977-1984 |
| Miami Marlins | WBFS 33 (Ind/UPN) WAMI 69 (Ind) WPXM 35 (Pax/I) |
1993-1998 1999-2001 2002-2005 |
Sunshine Network |
|
| Milwaukee Brewers | WTMJ 4 (NBC) WVTV 18 (Ind)5 WCGV 24 (Fox/UPN/MNTV; later WVTV-DT2) WISN 12 (ABC) WMLW-CA 41 (Ind; later WBME-CD) WYTU-LD 63 (TMD; Spanish) |
1970-1980 1981-1988; 1993-1997 1989-1992; 1998-2003; 2014–present 2003 (selected Sundays) 2007-2011 2003–present (Sunday home games) |
Sportsvue |
|
| New York Mets | WOR 9 (Ind/UPN; later WWOR)5 WPIX 11 (WB/CW)5 |
1962–1998 1999–present |
SportsChannel New York |
|
| Philadelphia Phillies | WFIL 6 (ABC; later WPVI)1 WPHL 17 (Ind/WB/MNTV) WTXF 29 (Ind/Fox)3 WPSG 57 (UPN/CW) WPIX 11 (Ind; New York) WCAU 10 (NBC)4 |
1959-1970 1971-1982; 1993-1998; 2009-2013 1983-1992 1999-2008 1958-1961 (affiliate) 2014–present |
PRISM |
|
| Pittsburgh Pirates | KDKA 2 (CBS)2 WPXI 11 (NBC) WPGH 53 (Fox)/WCWB 22 (UPN/WB; later WPNT) |
1958-1994 1995-1996 1997-2001 |
Home Sports Entertainment |
1983-1984 |
| San Diego Padres | KOGO 10 (NBC; later KGTV) KCST 39 (Ind/NBC; later KNSD)4 XETV 6 (Ind) KFMB 8 (CBS) KUSI 51 (Ind/UPN) KTTY 69 (WB; later KSWB) XHBJ 45 KSEX 42 (Spanish) |
1969-1970 1971-1972; 1984-1986 1977-1979 1980-1983; 1995-1996 1987-1994; 1997-2004 (Opening Day, Home Opener, and Sundays) 1995 1991-1993 unknown |
San Diego Cable Sports Network |
1984-1993 |
| San Francisco Giants | KTVU 2 (Ind/Fox)35 KICU 36 (Ind) KNTV 11 (NBC)4 |
1958–2007 1993 (co-coverage with KTVU 2) 2008–present |
GiantsVision |
1986-1989 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | KSDK 5 (NBC; formerly KSD) KPLR 11 (Ind/WB) |
1948-1958; 1963-1987; 2007-2010 1959-1962; 1988-2006 |
Sports Time |
|
| Washington Nationals | WDCA 20 (UPN/MNTV) WDCW 50 (CW) WUSA 9 (CBS) |
2005-2008 2009-2011 2012–present |
Mid-Atlantic Sports Network | 2005–present |
Former teams
See also
- List of current Major League Baseball broadcasters
- Owned-and-operated television stations in the United States
1ABC owned television station.
2CBS owned television station.
3Fox owned television station.
4NBC owned television station.
5Superstation (bold indicates former superstation).
National
| Network | Years | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|
| DuMont | 1947–1949 | World Series only from 1947 to 1949 |
| NBC | 1947–1989 1994–2000 2022–2023 |
World Series and All-Star Game (beginning in 1950) only from 1947 to 1956 and 1965 Saturday afternoon Game of the Week from 1957 to 1964 and exclusively from 1966 to 1989 Monday Night Baseball games from 1967 to 1969 and 1972–1975 Part of a revenue sharing joint venture with Major League Baseball and ABC called "The Baseball Network" from 1994 to 1995 All-Star Game (in even numbered years) and postseason games only from 1996 to 2000 Weekly Sunday morning games from 2022 on (select games simulcast on NBC) |
| ABC | 1948–1950 1953–1954 1960 1965 1976–1989 1994–1995 2020–present |
World Series only from 1948 to 1950 Saturday afternoon Game of the Week from 1953 to 1954 and in 1960 and 1965 (exclusive coverage) Monday Night Baseball games from 1976 to 1988 Thursday Night Baseball in 1989 Part of a revenue sharing joint venture with Major League Baseball and NBC called "The Baseball Network" from 1994 to 1995 Select regular season and Wild Card Series games from 2020 on (produced by ESPN). |
| CBS | 1947–1950 1955–1965 1990–1993 |
World Series only from 1947 to 1950 Saturday afternoon Game of the Week from 1955 to 1964 New York Yankees games only in 1965 Sporadic, 16 game coverage of Saturday afternoon Game of the Week plus, exclusive network television broadcaster from 1990 to 1993 |
| Fox | 1996–present | Saturday afternoon Game of the Week beginning on Memorial Day weekend from 1996 to 2006 Saturday afternoon Game of the Week for the full season since 2007 Exclusive network television broadcaster since 2001 |
Superstations
Postseason coverage
When the League Championship Series was first instituted in 1969, the Major League Baseball television contract at the time allowed a local TV station in the market of each competing team to also carry the LCS games. So, for example, Mets fans in New York could choose to watch either the NBC telecast or Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner on WOR-TV.
1983 marked the last time that local telecasts of League Championship Series games were allowed. In 1982, Major League Baseball recognized a problem with this due to the emergence of cable superstations such as WTBS in Atlanta and WGN-TV in Chicago. When TBS tried to petition for the right to do a "local" Braves broadcast of the 1982 NLCS, Major League Baseball got a Philadelphia federal court to ban them on the grounds that as a cable superstation, TBS could not have a nationwide telecast competing with ABC's.
Since 2007, MLB playoff games on TBS are not made available[1] to local over-the-air broadcasters in the participating teams' markets.[2] Under the previous contract, ESPN was required to make those games available on the air in local markets. As of 2023, Major League Baseball is currently the only "Big Four" league with regional broadcast rights whose entire postseason is exclusive to national television; the National Basketball Association playoffs and National Hockey League playoffs continue to air their first round games on both national and local television.
See also
- Historical NBA over-the-air television broadcasters
- Historical NHL over-the-air television broadcasters
References
- ^ Hiestand, Michael (2007-10-09). "Fox's Buck makes pitch for late show". USA Today.
- ^ Postseason exclusivity boosted the price for TBS. If MLB continued to allow local outlets to air their team's games, the rights would have been "significantly diluted", according to Neal Pilson, the former president of CBS Sports who now runs a broadcast consulting company. "The TBS sales people now can assure advertisers that this is the only place where people can see the games," Pilson said. "It's a judgment baseball had to make. It had to balance the revenue stream, which is formidable, against the loss of a certain number of homes."