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FSN BAY AREA & COMCAST ANNOUNCE AGREEMENT TO TELEVISE ATHLETICS & GIANTS IN HD
37 Athletics & Giants HD Games Highlight FSN Bay Area's Schedule, Inaugural HD Telecast on July 30 with Giants/Cardinals on Comcast Channel 196
FSN Becomes First Bay Area Network to Broadcast Athletics & Giants Games in HDTV
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - FSN Bay Area will present the ultimate sports television experience for Bay Area sports fans, the revolutionary technology of high-definition television (HDTV) for their hometown teams.
FSN Bay Area, the cable television home of the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants, has announced its inaugural HD telecast schedule. FSN Bay Area will broadcast 37 HD games for the remainder of the 2004 Major League Baseball season, becoming the first Northern California network to launch Athletics and Giants HDTV programming. The announcement was made today by Jeff Krolik, Senior Vice President and General Manager, FSN Bay Area, and Rick Germano, Senior Vice President, Comcast.
FSN Bay Area will broadcast its first-ever HD telecast on Friday, July 30th at 7:00 PM PDT as the Giants host the St. Louis Cardinals. The Athletics make their HD debut on FSN Bay Area Saturday, July 31st at 5:00 PM PDT as they play on the road against the Texas Rangers. FSN Bay Area will offer viewers 14 Athletics games and 23 Giants contests in HD.
FSN Bay Area's HDTV broadcasts will be offered on Comcast Bay Area channel 196. Comcast Cable offers the HD package for an additional $5.00. Viewers are encouraged to call Comcast Cable customer service at 1-800-COMCAST for more information. Viewers can still watch Athletics and Giants baseball in standard-definition on Comcast cable channel 40.
"We're excited to deliver the high-definition television experience to our viewers," said Krolik. "Watching A's and Giants baseball in high-definition is the closest thing to being at the ballpark. We're very pleased to join our partners at Comcast in making HD programming available and to be among the first regional sports networks in the country to present home team action in HD."
Added Krolik, "We look forward to adding the high-definition experience to our exclusive coverage of the Golden State Warriors and San Jose Sharks this fall."
"Comcast's HDTV service takes customers' viewing experience to a new level. The combination of FSN Bay Area HD, most major broadcast networks and select national sports networks makes Comcast by far the best source of high-definition content for sports programming. Our robust line-up of HDTV programming simply cannot be matched," said Rick Germano of Comcast.
FSN Bay Area reaches more than 3.6 million households in Northern California and Northern Nevada. FSN Bay Area's programming includes Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants baseball, Golden State Warriors basketball, San Jose Sharks hockey, San Jose Earthquakes soccer, Best Damn Sports Show Period, I, Max, FSN Across America, Beyond the Glory, and NASCAR related shows. FSN Bay Area is managed by Rainbow Sports Networks.
Rainbow Sports Networks is a division of Rainbow Media Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC). FSN reaches more than 81 million households nationwide and is a service of National Sports Partners, equally owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, LLC, and Fox Entertainment Group. Rainbow Sports Networks incorporates Rainbow's 50% ownership in FSN and Fox Sports National Advertising and the ownership and management of FSN regional networks in five of the nation's largest markets: Chicago, San Francisco, New England, Ohio and Florida.
About Comcast Headquartered in Philadelphia, Comcast Cable is a division of Comcast Corporation, a developer, manager and operator of broadband cable networks and provider of programming content. With a presence in 22 of the top 25 United States markets, Comcast is one of the leading communications, media and entertainment companies in the world. Providing basic cable, Digital Cable, high-speed Internet and telephone services, Comcast is the company to look to first for the communications products and services that connect people to what's important in their lives. The company's 59,000 employees serve more than 21 million customers.
CONTACT:
Jay dela Cruz (Local Media)
FSN Bay Area
415/296-8900
jjdelacruz@rainbow-media.com
Mike Rosen (Trade Media)
for Rainbow Sports Networks
212/679-2233
mrosen@bratskeir.com
Andrew Johnson
Comcast Cable
925/973-7016
andrew_c_johnson@cable.comcast.com | 
