Source
Baseball is returning to WWOR-TV.
The station, owned by Fox, will become the new "free" TV home of the Yankees beginning this season, according to a Yankee source.
Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network officials and Ch. 9 brass have signed a three-year deal allowing the Secaucus-based station to air between 20 and 25 games per season.
Channel 9 once was synonymous with baseball in the metropolitan area, having aired Mets games for 36 seasons. The station got out of the baseball business in 1999 when Madison Square Garden Network, which held Mets TV rights, sold the Mets "free" TV package to Ch. 11.
For the past three seasons, the Yankees' "free" TV schedule aired on WCBS-TV. A source at that station, who also confirmed the Yankees' move, said Ch. 2 suits got out of the Yankee business because it conflicted with the station's prime-time entertainment schedule.
The Yankees' move to Ch. 9 gives Fox two stations with marquee baseball programming.
The other Fox outlet, Ch. 5, is the home of MLB's national baseball package, which includes the Saturday "Game of the Week," playoffs and World Series. Before Yankees telecasts moved to Ch. 2 in 2002, the team's "free" TV home was Ch. 5 (1999-01).
As was the case with Ch. 2's Yankee telecasts, YES will produce the Ch. 9 games.
Analyst Jim Kaat and play-by-play man Michael Kay likely will work the telecasts.
Baseball is returning to WWOR-TV.
The station, owned by Fox, will become the new "free" TV home of the Yankees beginning this season, according to a Yankee source.
Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network officials and Ch. 9 brass have signed a three-year deal allowing the Secaucus-based station to air between 20 and 25 games per season.
Channel 9 once was synonymous with baseball in the metropolitan area, having aired Mets games for 36 seasons. The station got out of the baseball business in 1999 when Madison Square Garden Network, which held Mets TV rights, sold the Mets "free" TV package to Ch. 11.
For the past three seasons, the Yankees' "free" TV schedule aired on WCBS-TV. A source at that station, who also confirmed the Yankees' move, said Ch. 2 suits got out of the Yankee business because it conflicted with the station's prime-time entertainment schedule.
The Yankees' move to Ch. 9 gives Fox two stations with marquee baseball programming.
The other Fox outlet, Ch. 5, is the home of MLB's national baseball package, which includes the Saturday "Game of the Week," playoffs and World Series. Before Yankees telecasts moved to Ch. 2 in 2002, the team's "free" TV home was Ch. 5 (1999-01).
As was the case with Ch. 2's Yankee telecasts, YES will produce the Ch. 9 games.
Analyst Jim Kaat and play-by-play man Michael Kay likely will work the telecasts.
