Tim Cronin: Cable-only Cubs a stinkin' shame

Fewer Chicagoans will be able to watch this week's playoff series involving the Cubs than watched their last venture into the postseason four years ago.

<p class="MsoNormal">Thank Major League Baseball and the Turner Sports division of Time Warner for that.

<p class="MsoNormal">The National League Division Series between the Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks will be televised on TBS, the cable network long known for televising Atlanta Braves games. If the Cubs win the best-of-5 set, they'll be the property of TBS for the NL Championship Series as well.

<p class="MsoNormal">And only TBS. Unlike past years, when the ESPN networks had playoff games, there will be no local telecast of the TBS games in a team's city. In 2003, when a Cubs playoff game was on ESPN, it was also carried by WGN-TV.

<p class="MsoNormal">Likewise two years ago, when what Jack Brickhouse invariably called "good ol' Channel 9" carried the ESPN feed of a White Sox-Red Sox playoff game from Fenway Park.

<p class="MsoNormal">That's over. There will be no simulcast of the game on Channel 9 for viewers without cable or satellite access to TBS.

<p class="MsoNormal">If you are among the tens of thousands who don't have TBS, you're out of luck. There will be radio broadcasts, on WGN-AM (720) with Pat Hughes and Ron Santo, and the ESPN Radio Network feed on WMVP-AM (1000). And if you use an antenna to watch TV, that's it.

<p class="MsoNormal">That's about as shortsighted a decision as the MLB brass has made in a while. While expanding fan access to everything via the Internet, as well as the Extra Innings package, where a fan with cable or dish access could watch every regular-season game played on a given day, the Lords of Baseball now slap those who still watch their television via rabbit ears in the face.

<p class="MsoNormal">TBS wanted exclusivity for its millions over seven years -- never mind that a local simulcast would increase the audience for TBS' commercials and thus allow the outlet to charge advertisers more, plus expose non-TBS viewers to TBS promos -- and, for $3 billion from Fox and TBS over seven years, MLB went along.

<p class="MsoNormal">MLB is saying, "Sorry, folks, if you want to see the games, pony up. Too poor to afford cable? We don't care. On a fixed income? Tough. This is a premium product. You have to pay."

<p class="MsoNormal">That is a stinking shame. There is no other way to look at it.

<p class="MsoNormal">The new postseason deals have the entire first round on TBS, which also gets the NLCS in odd-numbered years through 2013 and the American League Championship Series in even-numbered years through 2012. Fox gets the LCS that TBS doesn't (the ALCS this year), plus the World Series every year through 2012.

<p class="MsoNormal">The only way the Cubs will be on free over-the-air television in the postseason is if they make it to the World Series. Then WFLD, the Fox outlet on Channel 32, will have the pleasure of televising a local team in the World Series for the second time in three years.

<p class="MsoNormal">This gives the underrated Hughes and the frequently hilarious Santo an unforeseen spotlight. Tens of thousands of fans who might listen to them occasionally now will be glued to their radios for the call of the games.

<p class="MsoNormal">On TBS, Dick Stockton and Ron Darling will handle the call. Network brass nixed using the team of Stockton and Bob Brenly because of Brenly's ties to both the Cubs and Diamondbacks. So much for using an expert commentator who actually is an expert on the teams. Ernie Johnson Jr. will host the studio segments, aided by former White Sox slugger Frank Thomas and Cal Ripken Jr.

<p class="MsoNormal">Meanwhile, Comcast SportsNet, which promises live postgame coverage, airs "Play Like There's No Tomorrow," a series preview, at 7 p.m. today.

<p class="MsoNormal">Scanning The Big Ten Network's signings with RCN and WOW leave Comcast Cable as the lone major outlet in the Chicago area not carrying the month-old network.

<p class="MsoNormal">The argument is still over placement: Comcast wants BTN on a sports tier in the NFL Network neighborhood; BTN wants expanded basic placement with the likes of ESPN.

<p class="MsoNormal">Those who believe the death of Bill Wirtz means instant access to Blackhawks home games on TV are wrong. Aside from Comcast SportsNet needing to clear time for any games, there's also the matter of Wirtz's successor, probably son Peter, assenting to the idea, and then the negotiation of a contract. The expectation here is that at least some home games will be televised within a couple of seasons, and that all of them will be televised within five years.

<p class="MsoNormal">Then again, Bill Wirtz once said that once cable TV arrived in Chicago, Hawks home games would be on them.

<p class="MsoNormal">Daily Southtown writer Tim Cronin can be reached at tcronin@dailysouthtown.com