Courtesy St. Louis Post-Dispatch

(October 2, 2009) It's no big news that sports continue to migrate from over-the-air television to cable/satellite outlets. But it's worth noting that a major milestone looms as two of the three major local pro teams are about to leave the free airwaves, something that hasn't happened before.

None of the Cardinals' playoff games against National League foes will be on a "free-TV"' station. They wouldn't appear over-the-air until the World Series.

This comes at the same time the Blues are becoming the first major pro team in the market to eliminate free-TV from its local television package. And the Blues will not have all their games televised, as had been touted as a major factor in the decision to abandon over-the-air television.

The Blues have control over their TV package but the Cardinals have no say as to where their postseason games are televised. Major League Baseball makes those calls. And this year Turner Broadcasting has the first-round games in both leagues plus the National League Championship Series, all on TBS.

The last time the Cards were in the playoffs, 2006, a local over-the-air station was allowed to simulcast the cablecasts in the markets of the competing teams. But Turner gained exclusive rights in 2007 and over-the-air coverage now is limited to one league championship series — this season the American League — and the World Series. Both will be on Fox (KTVI, Channel 2 locally).

THE BOTTOM LINE

The exclusive arrangement is believed to be worth about $45 million annually to MLB and when it was announced Commissioner Bud Selig said, "This made a great deal of sense.''

And it still does to Turner.

"It's very important from a sales standpoint, from a marketing standpoint, to be the only broadcaster doing the game,'' Turner Sports executive producer Jeff Behnke said Thursday. "Turner certainly would be sensitive to all local markets — but from our standpoint, it is huge for us. Ratings-wise it helps us to go out and say, 'We're the only broadcaster. You have to come to us to find it.' That is very important to us.''

According to Nielsen Media Research, about 87 percent of homes in the St. Louis market have cable or satellite, up from 79 percent the last time the Cards were in the playoffs. But over-the-air telecasts do much better in the ratings than that 13 percent discrepancy. Redbirds contests on KSDK (Channel 5) are outpacing those on Fox Sports Midwest by 34 percent. And Blues contests last season on KPLR (Channel 11) beat FSM by 35 percent.

Spencer Koch runs KPLR and KTVI, which have simulcast Cards postseason games in the past and have carried the Blues, and laments the trend that not only shuts out some viewers but increases costs for cable/satellite subscribers whose bills keep rising to pay for sports.

"It's a shame that there's going to be (13 percent) of viewers who aren't going to be able to see it unless they're at bars or a friend's home,'' he said. "It's all about how that cable revenue is dispersed. It's what happens when you charge a dollar or so (per subscriber). We can't charge a dollar to our households.''

NOT SO FAST

Free TV is out of the equation for the Blues this season, but things aren't quite as advertised. When talking in the past about the pending removal of games from KPLR in favor of sending everything to FSM, Blues CEO Peter McLoughlin said a key element of the deal was that all the club's games would be televised — either by FSM or one of the national networks that carry the NHL.

"The ability to get all our games televised is critical,'' he said.

But in reality, that won't be the case. Three games won't be televised because Versus, the league's national cable carrier, has exclusive rights on those weeknights. No local TV is permitted then. So the net result of moving all games to cable is a gain of two telecasts. There were only five games not shown last year. And as it stands now, DirecTV customers will miss five more Blues telecasts — including today's opener. That satellite system isn't carrying Versus because of a contract dispute.

"It appears every program will be pay-per-view or pay-something,'' Koch said. "Don't get me started, it's frustrating.''

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