The following refers to the history ofMajor League Baseball coverage on localFox affiliated stations as opposed to thenational broadcasts on theFox Broadcasting Company beginning in1996.
KTTV 11, which has been Fox'sowned-and-operated station inLos Angeles, California since the network's launch in1986, carriedLos Angeles Dodgers baseball games since the team'smove fromBrooklyn, New York in1958 (with exception of a brief pause from1993 to1995). The station aired road games beginning in the late 1970s with the home games on the subscription/pay-per-view serviceDodgervision; these road games aired on the station until1992, whenKTLA began airing the road games beginning with the 1993 season.
Fox's owned-and-operatedChicago affiliate,WFLD 32 acquired the rights to broadcast Major League Baseball games from theChicago White Sox in1968, assuming the contract fromWGN-TV. Under the initial deal, WFLD carried White Sox games until1972, when the team returned to WGN through a joint arrangement with WSNS-TV that lasted through the1980 season and exclusively during the1981 season; WFLD reassumed Sox game rights in1982, carrying most of the team's non-cable games. In October 1988, the station filed a lawsuit against the White Sox club to terminate its television contract with the team, which was set to last through1991, accusing team ownersJerry Reinsdorf andEddie Einhorn of "gutting and stripmining the[...] team of salary investment, player quality and fan goodwill", which resulted in a decline in viewership for the games and profit losses for the station on the contract (WFLD's profits from the telecasts slid from $1.5 million profit in1985 to a loss of $1.4 million in1988, resulting in the rights fees costing four times more than the accrued revenue; ratings during that three-year period also dropped from a 5.1 share in 1985 to a 1.7 in August 1988) as well asbreached advertising agreements with the ChicagolandDodge Dealers consortium.[1][2] Following an out-of-court settlement between WFLD station management and the Sox, on September 14, 1989, the White Sox announced that it would move its local television broadcasts back to WGN-TV beginning with the1990 season.[3][4]
Another original charter Fox affiliate,KMSP 9 out ofMinneapolis, Minnesota carried theMinnesota Twins from1979-1988 and again from1998-2002, when it was thenaffiliated withUPN.WTXF 29 out ofPhiladelphia, which became an owned-and-operated Fox station in 1995, airedPhiladelphia Phillies games from1983-1992.
KTVU 2 obtained the rights to televiseSan Francisco Giants Major League Baseball games in1961,[5] three years after the team relocated to theBay Area fromNew York City. After the move, the Giants initially opted against televising their games to encourage game attendance by Bay Area residents and tourists. When channel 2 became the Giants' television partner, it was only permitted to televise the team's road games against theLos Angeles Dodgers until1965,[6] when the station began airing additional regular season and exhibition games (KTVU's relationship with the Giants extended to the franchise's ownership, asCox Enterprises owned a 10% stake in the Giants during the latter years of the broadcast contract). KTVU eventually began sharing the local television rights to the Giants with SportsChannel Bay Area (nowNBC Sports Bay Area, in which the Giants had purchased a 30% minority interest in December 2007[7]) when theregional sports network launched inJuly 1991. Channel 2 lost the local over-the-air telecast rights to the Giants following the2007 season when the broadcast television contract was taken over by San Jose-based NBC owned-and-operated stationKNTV (channel 11).[8] KTVU wouldn't become an owned-and-operated Fox station until 2014.
| Team | Station | Years of broadcast rights |
|---|---|---|
| Boston Red Sox | WFXT 25 | 2000–2002 |
| Chicago White Sox | WFLD 32 | 1968–1972;1982–1989 |
| Detroit Tigers | WJBK 2 | 1953–1977;2007 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | KTTV 11 | 1958–1992 |
| New York Yankees | WNYW 5 | 1999–2001 |
The Giants also will break their self-imposed TV barrier with 11 telecasts – all away games with the Los Angeles Dodgers – on KTVU (TV) San Francisco-Oakland.
The staple of the package is again the nine games played with the Dodgers in Los Angeles. One Sunday pickup from every other league city and two exhibition games complete the TV lineup.