Ten Cincinnati Reds games — and maybe more — will be broadcast on WXIX-TV and other over-the-air stations throughout "Reds Country" this year, something the team hasn’t done for more than 25 years.
WXIX-TV, which became the Cincinnati Bengals TV flagship station last year, will simulcast the FanDuel Sports Network (formerly Bally Sports) Opening Day game at 4 p.m. Thursday, March 27, and at least nine Tuesday night games, says Jennifer Rieffer, WXIX-TV general manager.
Those Reds games also will be broadcast by stations owned by Gray Media — Fox 19’s owners — in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee. And those games will be syndicated to third-party stations in cities in those four states where Gray Media does not own television stations — likely Dayton, Columbus, and Indianapolis.
The Fox 19-FanDuel partnership also includes the Cleveland-based Rock Entertainment Sports Network, which programs WXIX-TV’s Channel 19.3.
Broadcasting Reds games throughout the region is nothing new. Before the popularity of cable TV, WLWT-TV held the Reds’ broadcasting rights for about 45 years and fed the games through 1995 to sister stations in Dayton, Columbus, and Indianapolis, and distributed them to other stations throughout Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, West Virginia, and North Carolina.
Except for Opening Day, the Reds have not broadcast multiple regular season games since 1998.
“Fox 19 and Rock Entertainment Sports Network are proud to serve our viewers in Cincinnati and across the region by bringing iconic Reds baseball back to free, over-the-air broadcasts. There’s nothing quite like Reds baseball on broadcast television," Rieffer says.
The 10 games to be broadcast on Fox 19 and other over-the-air stations are:
- Thursday, March 27: Reds Opening Day vs San Francisco Giants at 4 p.m.
- Tuesday, April 29: Reds vs St. Louis Cardinals at 6:30 p.m.
- Tuesday, May 6: Reds vs Atlanta Braves at 7 p.m.
- Tuesday, June 3: Reds vs Milwaukee Brewers at 7 p.m.
- Tuesday, June 17: Reds vs Minnesota Twins at 7 p.m.
- Tuesday, June 24: Reds vs New York Yankees at 7 p.m.
- Tuesday, July 8: Reds vs Miami Marlins at 7 p.m.
- Tuesday, July 29: Reds vs Los Angeles Dodgers at 7 p.m.
- Tuesday, August 12: Reds vs Philadelphia Phillies at 6:30 p.m.
- Tuesday, Sept. 23: Reds vs Pittsburgh Pirates at 6:30 p.m.
Reds games will air on Gray stations in Lexington, Louisville, Charleston-Huntington, and Nashville. Additional markets will be added soon, she says.
The move to WXIX-TV means that Opening Day will air on a third Cincinnati station in three years. Last year, WKRC-TV dropped the Reds Opening Day game simulcast after airing it for more than a decade, so it moved to WLWT-TV. WKRC-TV also dropped the Bengals preseason games for financial reasons a year ago.
WXIX-TV has been aggressive in acquiring sports rights. Fox 19 bought the Bengals TV package a year ago, which included airing preseason games, specials and weekly Bengals programs. Fox 19 also doubled the size of its on-air sports staff last year, adding Gabi Sorrentino and Regan Holgate to work with Joe Danneman and Jeremy Rauch.
The 1994 Reds media guide says the Reds Television Network was comprised of stations in Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, Lima, and Zanesville, Ohio; Lexington, Louisville, Bowling Green, and Hopkinsville, Ky.; Indianapolis, Evansville, and Jasper, Ind.; Charleston/Huntington, W. Va.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Cookeville and Tri-Cities, Tenn. Games also were carried on SportsChannel Cincinnati on cable TV systems throughout Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, West Virginia, and North Carolina.
WLWT-TV gave up the rights after the 1995 season under pressure from NBC, which was unhappy that Channel 5 pre-empted network primetime programming for Reds games.
The old Bally Sports Ohio channel changed its name to FanDuel Sports Network Ohio in October. The parent company changed its name from Diamond Sports Group to Main Street Sports Group in November when it emerged from bankruptcy.
