The Baseball Show to be Simulcast in Partnership with WEEI

COMCAST SPORTSNET DEEPENS LINEUP OF ORIGINAL SPORTS COVERAGE; ALL SPORTS NETWORK DEBUTS TWO NEW WEEKLY SPORTS SERIES

“The Baseball Show” to be Simulcast in Partnership with WEEI

 “Sports Sunday” Surpasses Traditional Broadcast Coverage with Comprehensive Focus

BURLINGTON, MA – Reflecting Comcast SportsNet’s mission of providing the most authentic, insightful and entertaining local sports coverage, the network is launching two new weekend sports shows that cover New England sports with a thoroughness and passion that is unavailable anywhere else in the region.  Comcast SportsNet’s two new initiatives – The Baseball Show and Sports Sunday - debut the weekend of May 2. 

“Weekends are prime time for sports fans and The Baseball Show and Sports Sunday will take an inside look at the teams, players and rivalries that make rabid New England sports fans tick,” said Bill Bridgen, Comcast SportsNet executive vice president and general manager. “The Baseball Show goes beyond anything on local TV today with its honest and authentic Red Sox coverage, and Sports Sunday promises to start each week with an edgy, opinionated debate of everything relevant to local sports fans.”

The Baseball Show will run each Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon and feature host Michael Felger, CSN exclusive baseball analyst Lou Merloni, and veteran Boston Herald baseball scribes Steve Buckley and Sean McAdam.  The Baseball Show will take on the issues other networks only gloss over, feature live calls to let Red Sox fans sound off and include player interviews as Felger, Merloni, McAdam and Buckley examine the highs and the lows of each week of the baseball season.

The Baseball Show will be the very first TV/radio simulcast in the Boston area. Originating from Comcast SportsNet’s studios in Burlington, MA, The Baseball Show will reach 4.4 million homes across New England and millions of WEEI radio listeners in Boston and other major New England markets, including Cape Cod, Worcester, Providence, Hartford, and Portland.  Fans can also listen to the shows online at CSNNE.com and WEEI.com.

“We’ve had great success with our Sunday morning baseball programming with Sean McAdam and Steve Buckley. It is one of the most popular shows we air all year long. Adding Michael Felger and Lou Merloni to the mix will create an outstanding quartet of knowledge and credibility that will surely be a must listen for WEEI’s listeners and a must watch for Comcast SportsNet’s viewers,” said Jason Wolfe, Entercom Boston vice president of programming and operations.

The one-hour Sports Sunday will air Sunday nights at 10 p.m., an hour and a half or more ahead of the traditional weekend broadcast sports wrap-up shows. Sports Sunday will feature the ever-vocal Felger who is never afraid to break from the pack with his opinions. Sports Sunday will preview the week’s top news and feature interviews with the region’s top athletes, writers and personalities.

”There’s no need to wait until 11:30 or later on Sunday night,” Felger said.  “Sports Sunday will go beyond the sound bites and photo ops to see what’s pushing the buttons of New England sports fans.  We intend to push a few of our own particularly on the issues that few others will address.” 

The Baseball Show will replay from 12 to 3 p.m. on Saturdays. Sports Sunday will replay at 11 p.m. on Sundays and Monday mornings at 7 and 8 a.m.

Comcast SportsNet reaches more than 4 million households in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Comcast SportsNet’s programming includes the Boston Celtics, Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight, Celtics Now, Sports Sunday, The Baseball Show,  New England Tailgate, and Net Impact. Comcast SportsNet’s partnership with the 17-time NBA Champion Boston Celtics is the longest team-regional sports network relationship in New England and the fourth longest in professional sports. Comcast SportsNet New England is owned and managed by Comcast Sports Group. Visit www.comcastsportsnet.com for more information.

Comcast Sports Group operates 10 sports networks that cover more than 2,400 live sporting events annually and deliver comprehensive sports news and analysis to 40 million cable and satellite homes.  Comcast Sports Group’s networks are: Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, Comcast SportsNet California, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, Comcast SportsNet New England, Comcast SportsNet Northwest, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, SNY, The Mtn. – Mountain West Sports Network, and CSS.  These networks provide live game coverage 18 professional teams, as well as college, minor league and other sports.  For more information, see ComcastSportsNet.com.

WEEI is the nation’s leading sports talk radio station. Entercom, parent company of WEEI, has successfully extended the WEEI brand to three markets on its wholly owned stations: WEEI-FM in Providence, WVEI-FM in Springfield, and WVEI-AM in Worcester. It has also recently expanded its footprint across New England, adding new syndicated stations in Maine, New Hampshire and on Cape Cod. The WEEI Sports Radio Network, which regularly dominates the ratings in its markets, is also the radio home of the Boston Celtics, Boston Red Sox Wednesday Night Baseball, Patriots Monday, Patriots Friday and Patriots Saturday Rewind. Entercom is one of the nation’s largest radio broadcasters with operations in San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Denver, Sacramento, Cincinnati, Portland, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Austin, Norfolk, Buffalo, New Orleans, Providence, Memphis, Greensboro, Rochester, Greenville/Spartanburg, Madison, Wichita, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Springfield and Gainesville/Ocala.