hen things are going well, sometimes success builds on itself. Just look at Fox 25.
Starting its second season in a three-year deal with the Red Sox, Channel 25 finds itself in the win-win situation of having Red Sox games as lead-ins to NASCAR races on nine occasions this year.
That comes on top of a 2000 season that saw Sox ratings increase by more than 20 percent.
''We fully expect Red Sox ratings to increase again this season,'' said Gregg Kelley, Channel 25 vice president and general manager. ''And we think a lot of the Sox audience will stay around and hopefully get hooked on NASCAR.''
NASCAR has been drawing solid 5 ratings on Sundays, about half the size of an average Sox audience.
One reason for Kelley's optimism is that Channel 25 has an amazing April schedule that includes Monday's opening game in Baltimore, Friday's home opener against Tampa Bay, and six Sox-Yankee matchups.
Sean McDonough and Jerry Remy call the 75 regular-season games on Fox 25.
Fox Sports is starting its new six-year contract that includes the Saturday Game of the Week, the All-Star Game, and postseason playoffs and World Series.
Eight Red Sox games are scheduled to be part of the Saturday Game of the Week telecasts, starting with the Phillies June 9.
Fox Family network also will have a 26-week Thursday night schedule, but at least eight are scheduled to involve the Red Sox and thus will be blacked out here as conflicts with NESN or Channel 25.
Basic plan for NESN
New England Sports Network will show an 86-game slate (ESPN has a May 6 Sunday night game at Oakland) with Don Orsillo doing play-by-play alongside Remy. The ongoing news at NESN is its gradual move onto the basic tier of cable TV.
Officials of NESN and AT&T Broadband, the state's largest cable provider, confirm negotiations are ongoing. It's possible a settlement could be reached in time for the switch to happen this season, as already has happened with Charter Cable in the Worcester area and Cox Communications in Rhode Island.
The Celtics (FSNE) already have their games on basic tier. This switch would do the same for the Red Sox and Bruins.
''We're trying to work out the economics,'' said Rick Jenkinson, head of communications for AT&T Broadband. ''It would give them [NESN] more eyeballs. We've just got to work out the cost to the consumer.''
Full slate in Spanish
All 162 Red Sox regular-season games will be broadcast in Spanish for the first time. The Spanish Beisbol Network Inc., has put together four stations with Boston's Caliente 1330 as a flagship. Other outlets are WPRX in Hartford, WRIB in Providence, and WHAV in the Lawrence/Lowell area.
''We're negotiating with several more stations,'' said Bill Kulik, who is assembling the network. ''The possibility also exists of having a station in both Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.''
Kulik cited the rapid rise in the area's Hispanic population (now roughly a half million) and the unwavering support of the Vasallo family (owners of Caliente 1330) and Red Sox as the reasons the effort came together. Since the 1989-90 season, 50 Sox games per year have been broadcast in Spanish.
Using a slogan, ''This is Our Game,'' Kulik has lined up Heineken, Dunkin' Donuts, and Western Union as major sponsors.
The announcing team will be J.P. Villaman, Adrian Garcia Marquez , and Bobby Serrano.
''J.P. is Dominican, Adrian is Mexican, and Bobby is Puerto Rican,'' said Kulik, adding that the trio represents the major segments of the local Latino community, which he breaks down as ''Puerto Ricans [41 percent], Dominicans [16 percent], Central Americans [19 percent].''
SBN hired Garcia away from Oakland, where he broadcast the A's games in Spanish. He also does Wednesday night baseball for ESPN.
Diamond network
ESPN, as always, will go gangbusters with baseball.
''Sunday Night Baseball'' will continue to feature telecasts of one game.
Multiple games will be shown on both ESPN and ESPN2 on Wednesdays, and, in September, both channels will add Friday night games.
ESPN coverage starts with Sunday's 4 p.m. season-opener between Texas and Toronto from Puerto Rico. Jon Miller and Joe Morgan return as the No. 1 announcing team and Charley Steiner is back as the friendly and informative voice of ESPN radio. Monday, ESPN comes in with the traditional opener at Cincinnati, with the Braves as opposition, followed by Cardinals at Colorado at 4 p.m.
Joining ESPN's broadcast team is former Cy Young Award winner Orel Hershiser. On a recent conference call, Hershiser was both knowledgeable and witty. He said the biggest difference in his ''walk over the bridge to the other side'' will be in no longer having to put spin on events and to ''tell the God's honest truth while being fair and not protecting teammates and the organization'' - qualities that used to make him a Dodger in more than one sense of the word.
Hershiser addressed two changes for 2001 that will affect pitchers.
One is the unbalanced schedule. With 19 games against division rivals, a pitcher could face an opponent as many as six times a season. ''The veteran pitchers will know to save something for the next meeting,'' he said. ''If a guy's got a lead and knows he's going to face the same team in five or six days, he'll just stay with his strength and save something for the next outing.''
The other is the new strike zone. ''When I broke in, there were high-ball hitters and low-ball hitters,'' he said. ''Last year, one swing could cover the zone. That made it easier to hit the ball. The high strike - if the umpires call it - will create holes in batters' swings for pitchers to exploit. However, if the umpires don't go up the ladder and take away the far outside strike, you'll see pitching problems.''
Hershiser said the lack of controversy over the strike zone in spring training is misleading. ''Wait till guys go back to their hotel rooms and see highlights of them being rung up on `Sunday Night Baseball.'''
Let the arguments begin.
