Braves TBS Baseball

Infobox Television | show_name=Braves Baseball on TBS


format = Major League Baseball
runtime = 3 hours
starring = Skip Caray
Pete Van Wieren
Joe Simpson
Don Sutton
Ernie Johnson
Chip Caray
The Atlanta Braves
(for more, see below)
country = USA
network = TBS (1975-2007)
first_aired = April 15, 1975
last_aired = September 30, 2007

"Braves TBS Baseball" or "Braves Baseball on TBS" was a Major League Baseball broadcast on the TBS (Turner Broadcasting System) cable network by Turner Sports, featuring Atlanta Braves regular season games. The program, which made its debut in 1972, ended national broadcasts in 2007.

TBS phased out its national coverage of Braves baseball after striking a contract to broadcast other regular season and playoff Major League Baseball games. Many Braves games will now only be broadcast regionally on SportSouth, FSN South, and Peachtree TV.

History

1970s

Coverage of the formerly-Ted Turner-owned Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball team is perhaps TBS' signature program. Prior to the landmark event of getting WTCG/WTBS' signal on a satellite for distribution to cable systems throughout the U.S., Turner syndicated live games throughout the 1970s to stations (mostly network affiliates, as the region had few independent stations) throughout Georgia and adjoining states, extending as far north as Turner's WRET (now WCNC-TV) in Charlotte, N.C. Usually, the Sunday afternoon game and one game during evening prime time were provided to local stations, with mid-week games airing mainly during the summer rerun season on the networks.

Most, if not all, other MLB teams used a regional syndication approach like this in their respective parts of the country. When WTCG reached a significant penetration of Southern homes, however, circa 1978-1979, Turner discontinued syndicating, making the Braves the first team to provide no live coverage of its games to traditional terrestrial TV stations other than that in its home market.

Turner once famously tried to get Andy Messersmith to use his jersey, which was numbered 17, to promote TBS in its early years. The back of the jersey read, "CHANNEL 17." Major League Baseball immediately stopped this plan because, according to MLB rules, team jerseys are not supposed to have advertising other than that of the jersey manufacturer.

1980s and early 1990s

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Braves games on TBS got very high ratings, usually around a 2.0 and sometimes even higher. This was the time when the station termed them, in a promotional campaign, "America's team." Probably a majority of those viewers were fans of the team in the Southeastern United States, namely the states of Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Viewers in those states were among the first to receive WTCG/WTBS on their cable systems, as Turner Broadcasting steadily built a network of cable and satellite providers throughout the U.S. The team also attracted fans living in rural areas without local baseball teams available.

2000s

2003

In 2003, Braves games on TBS began to undergo significant change for the first time in many years. They let Don Sutton and Joe Simpson be the lead commentators while longtime play-by-play men Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren had their roles cut back. The slogan "Braves Baseball on TBS" was replaced by "Major League Baseball on TBS". After the All-Star Break, TBS brought back Skip and Pete to work with the two analysts while in the following year, the title reverted back to "Braves Baseball on TBS".

These changes reflected increased rights fee payments to Major League Baseball. In turn, national sponsors could fulfill their advertising commitments by purchasing ads on TBS, in addition to ESPN or FOX.

"Braves TBS Xtra"

Starting in 2004, some TBS telecasts (mostly Fridays or Saturdays) became more enhanced. The network decided to call it "Braves TBS Xtra".

Enhancements included catcher cam, "Xtra Motion" showing the type of pitch and movement, and also "leadOff Line". Often, there would be a guest analyst in the booth and features with inside access to players were also shown.

2006

While just carrying 70 Braves games on TBS, TBS sold Turner South to Fox Sports, and let them keep the games (Turner South had been carrying games in order to ensure wide distribution in the Southeast). After that, the FSN South broadcasters did all Turner South Telecasts, which was renamed SportSouth later in the year to distinguish it from FSN South. FSN South's 25 game package (usually on Wednesdays) is a vestige of its days as the "former" SportSouth (launched by Turner), as well as a means to ensure that ESPN's game would generally be the only one seen nationwide on Wednesdays without subscribing to "MLB Extra Innings." With the decision to allow FSN to broadcast over 85 games, TBS was no longer the Braves' primary broadcaster. Coupled with the impending sale of the team, Pete Van Wieren said, "It's like an end of an era." At the end of the 2006 season, Turner Sports decided not to renew analyst Don Sutton's contract with the network, while Ron Gant joined FSN South/SportSouth on a full-time basis, meaning that Joe Simpson would be the main analyst for all Braves telecasts.

2007 and beyond

2007 marked the last year of Braves baseball on TBS in a fully national feed [ [http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gPMbTHFubWRqJVUihvUh0-sWAopg TBS truly goes national with national pastime, leaving Braves behind] ] , covering 70 Braves games as in recent years. From 2008 until 2013, the Atlanta market will get 45 Braves games per season on Peachtree TV. Those games are available to be aired in the Braves regional territory and on Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast. The remaining games will air on FSN South or SportSouth, meaning the Braves will now revert to primarily regional coverage, as most other teams have done ever since recent expansions gave MLB a virtually nationwide footprint. However, due to licensing requirements preventing the national cable version of TBS to be shown in Canada, WPCH is still carried on Canadian cable and satellite systems as a superstation, still allowing Braves games aired by WPCH to be seen outside of the Atlanta area.

Previously, TBS had announced a deal to air those same 45 games nationally, before signing their new contract for national Sunday afternoon and playoff games, "Major League Baseball on TBS". Some of the national games could end up including the Braves (and as of CURRENTMONTHNAME CURRENTDAY, CURRENTYEAR, 2 games have involved the Braves).

The final game of "Braves TBS Baseball" after 32 years [ [http://www.ajc.com/braves/content/sports/braves/stories/2007/09/29/bravestbs_0930.html?cxntlid=inform End of an era for TBS, Braves, fans] ] was aired on September 30, when the Braves played at the Houston Astros. The Braves lost 3-0.

On the final broadcast Skip Caray thanked fans saying, "To all you people who have watched the Braves for these 30 years ... thank you. We appreciate you more than you will ever know. ... Thank you folks and God bless you. And we're going to miss you every bit as much as you miss us."

Announcers

*Chip Caray (2005-2007), Play-by-play
*Skip Caray (1975-2007), Play-by-Play
*Marc Fein (2004-2007), Host
*Joe Simpson (1992-2007), Analyst
*Hank Aaron (1980), Analyst
*Erin Andrews (2001-2003), Host
*Darrell Chaney (1982), Analyst
*Ron Gant (2004-2006), Analyst
*Ernie Johnson Sr. (1977-1999), Play-by-play/Analyst
*Ernie Johnson Jr. (1993-1996), Host
*Dave O'Brien (1990-1991), Play-by-play
*Billy Sample (1988-1989), Analyst
*John Sterling (1982-1987), Play-by-play
*Don Sutton (1989-2006), Analyst
*Pete Van Wieren (1975-2006), Play-by-play

Producers

*Glenn Diamond (1982-2007) Coordinating Producer
*Gary Lehman Director
*Lonnie Dale Director
*Renardo Lowe Director
*Hal Gaalema Stat Man
*Hal Kickliter Camera Man

High definition

During the 2006 season, all Braves home games on TBS were broadcast in high definition to viewers on WTBS-DT in Atlanta and throughout the Southeast on cable packages (e.g. Comcast and Charter). It appears that the cable deals were not renewed as no TBS home games have been broadcast in HD in 2007 (all home games on FSN South/SportSouth are in HD on both cable and satellite). However, TBS' new national package resulted in the creation of a dedicated HD feed.

Blackouts

Due to Major League Baseball's restriction, most Braves games were blacked out on TBS within about 35-50 air miles of the opposing team's stadium, meaning games available on local television (except for the Atlanta area, where WTBS was the exclusive channel for Atlanta Braves games when not airing on FSN South or SportSouth) was not seen on TBS. This blackout rule was somewhat less restrictive than that for ESPN, which covers all of a team's designated market.

References

External links

* [http://www.atlantabraves.com AtlantaBraves.com]
* [http://www.braves-report.com Braves-Report.com]