Major League Baseball playoff games are heading to ABC. Plus: the college football TV schedules are out, NFL Network is now on YouTube TV and more.
ABC scheduled to air MLB Wild Card games
ABC is scheduled to televise up to four Major League Baseball Wild Card games September 29-October 2, per an advance ESPN schedule — marking the first time since 1995 that it has carried any MLB game, and the first time since NBC’s final game in 2000 that MLB has aired on any broadcast network other than FOX. The windows are set to air at 2 PM ET each day, with the September 30 and October 2 telecasts on the same days that ABC is scheduled to air Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals.
The games would be the first MLB Postseason windows on broadcast television prior to the League Championship Series since 2006.
The ABC Family cable channel (now “Freeform”) previously aired the MLB Division Series in 2002.
ABC is also scheduled to carry an unprecedented WNBA Finals/NBA Finals doubleheader on October 4, with the WNBA at 3 PM ET and Game 3 of the NBA Finals at 7:30. Both Sunday NBA Finals games this year (October 4 and 11) are scheduled to begin at 7:30, marking the first NBA Finals games prior to 8 PM since 1998. [Related: 2020 NBA Playoffs schedule.] [ESPN PR]
CFB TV schedules released, with Notre Dame game on USA
The major college football broadcasters released their schedules for the 2020 season this week, with the most notable item being a Notre Dame football game on USA Network. USA is scheduled to carry South Florida-Notre Dame on September 19, a day that NBC has US Open golf commitments, marking just the third Notre Dame home game on cable since NBC acquired rights.
All other Notre Dame home games would air on the NBC broadcast network, including primetime matchups against Florida State (October 10) and Clemson (November 7).
As for the other networks, ABC is scheduled to make its season debut with a September 12 doubleheader of Georgia Tech-Florida State and Clemson-Wake Forest. FOX is also scheduled to get underway September 12 with Louisiana Tech-Baylor. The SEC on CBS is set to debut September 26 with Mississippi State-LSU, though CBS plans to open its season a week earlier with BYU-Army. [NBC Sports PR, CBS Sports PR, Fox Sports PR, ESPN PR 9.1]
YouTube TV adds NFL Network
YouTube TV added NFL Network to its base package and NFL RedZone to a new premium tier on Thursday, marking the first time the outlets have been available on the streaming provider. The Google-owned service, which this summer raised its base price from $50 to $65 per month, joins Sling and Fubo TV as streaming providers with NFL Network.
In other related news, YouTube itself is scheduled to carry four MLB telecasts during the remainder of the regular season, including two exclusive windows. [NFL PR 9.3, MLB PR 9.2]
Plus: NFL rights, NFL crowd noise, midweek NASCAR
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said on CNBC this week that the league’s media rights negotiations could be completed “in the next few months or the next two years.” … Per NBC, the NFL is supplying its rights partners with four years’ worth of crowd noise from NFL Films to use on game broadcasts this year. … NASCAR president Steve Phelps said this week that midweek races are “on the lower end of probability” in next year’s schedule. This season’s midweek races, late additions to the schedule due to the series’ four-month hiatus, have generated lower-than-average ratings. [SBJ 9.2, NBC PR, Autoweek 9.2]
