Fox Plans To Make Most Of Its Break In Series

The World Series will be on television tonight and Sunday night, making it the only weekend of the year baseball will dominate football going head to head. And with Fox carrying all the games, it will provide the first opportunity for that network to draw a larger prime-time audience than NBC, ABC and CBS on at least four and maybe seven nights.

Fox is catching a break with the presence of the New York Yankees, the most famous team in baseball, or perhaps in any sport. Some viewers will cheer them, more will root against them; few will be indifferent.

Fox could claim it bought this break, paying $115 million to cover baseball this season, starting last June with a weekly Saturday telecast, then sharing the Division and League Championship Series with NBC, and climaxing with exclusive World Series coverage.

Fox came to baseball’s rescue after ABC passed and CBS, with a $55 million bid, did, too, in effect. After the Fox deal was struck, NBC decided it was getting the game on the cheap for $75 million.

The Series is the most prominent event on TV, in or out of sports, because it guarantees so many dominant prime-time nights. For all the hoopla, the Super Bowl delivers a single night of spectacular TV.

Even the lowly rated Division and National League Championship Series audiences on Fox signified progress. “We averaged about a 6 rating, so a 9 for baseball games was an increase for us,” said Fox Sports vice president Vince Wladika.

The audience may double for the Series opener tonight - if predicted rains don’t force a postponement - and almost certainly will do so Sunday, when more folks will be at home. If the Series stretches to a sixth or seventh game next weekend, Fox will have pulled off a minor ratings miracle. It may lose money on baseball in 1996 but will get a huge dividend later.

Last year’s Atlanta Braves-Cleveland Indians Series averaged half the audience of the Dallas Cowboys-Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl. But there were six baseball telecasts and only one for football.

If there is one thing that sets Fox’s baseball productions apart from top-flight ESPN and NBC coverage, it is energy, an enhancement if not overdone when covering a comparatively passive TV sport.

“We believe in sound,” said senior coordinating producer John Filippelli, who brought 11 years of TV baseball experience to Fox. Tiny microphones attached to the three bases produce a sharp, exaggerated sound when a spike touches. On exciting baserunning replays, the roar of the crowd, and then some, is heard. “Sometimes we turn it up a bit,” Filippelli acknowledged.

It was uncertain Thursday whether the managers would be miked. “They would be taped; there would be no embarrassments,” Filippelli promised.

Fourteen manned cameras, two stand-alones and 12 replay machines will capture the scene at Yankee Stadium tonight. Filippelli will select the first two replays to be aired on a play with others a group decision.

Some cameramen will begin working during batting practice, on the lookout for little things that could become relevant during the game. A camera showed Terry Pendleton hitting off a tee as a warmup for pinch hitting during the Cardinals-Braves series. At least it was different.

Filippelli will tip the broadcasters, notably analyst Tim McCarver, on what has been taped. McCarver will describe the action while viewing it for the first time himself. Bob Brenly will be co-analyst with Joe Buck on play-by-play, creating the perennial three-in-a-booth danger of too much chatter.

“There will be times calling for silence, letting the game play,” said Filippelli.

The ample access to flashback video and film and statistical graphs (historical as well as current) also carries the risk of delivering too much to the audience. Filippelli insisted he was conscious of that threat, too.

Baseball may be more dependent than any other sport on tight games, which help create great facial closeups. Great replays produce more appreciation of the athletes’ skills, and controversial events also are expanded by replays. Skilled production must have material to show off.

Fox may get lucky, or try to force it.