Your 2007 sports TV guide

Jim Williams, The Examiner
Jan 2, 2007 3:00 AM (11 hrs ago)
Current rank: # 3 of 12,940 articles

BALTIMORE - With big changes coming to TV in 2007, here’s a handy guide to keep track of where to watch your favorite sports.

We begin with the PGA Tour. All early rounds and some big early tournaments are now on The Golf Channel. TGC is now the cable home to almost every PGA/LPGA/Nationwide and European tournament. The only two early PGA Tour events that TGC won’t air are the British and U.S. opens, which both have a couple of years left on their ESPN/ABC contracts.

The PGA network partners will be NBC and CBS, which will split up the season. ESPN/ABC will have only The Open, along with a few LPGA events in 2007.

Local Major League Baseball will now be seen on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, which will air Nationals and Orioles games. National MLB telecasts will be well-covered, too, with ESPN covering 26 weeks of Sunday games. TBS will join in on Sundays starting in 2008 with a national afternoon game of the week. The Monday and Wednesday night games of the week also return to ESPN. The folks at FOX have expanded their roll to have a complete season of Saturday game of the week telecasts.

The MLB postseason will be shown on TBS and FOX. TBS will have the early-round games and the NLCS, while FOX will have the ALCS and the World Series.

In NASCAR, the Craftsman Truck Series will air on Speed, the Busch Series now belongs to ESPN and the NEXTEL big boys will air on FOX for the first part of the year. TNT takes over with a summer package, and ESPN/ABC will bring The Chase for the Cup home in the late summer and fall.

Tennis remains on ESPN2 for most of the year, with NBC keeping the French Open and Wimbledon, while CBS will air the U.S. Open.

The NBA will stay put on ESPN/ABC, TNT and NBA-TV, while the NHL will continue on VERSUS and NBC. Locally, the Caps and the Wiz are on Comcast SportsNet.

Major League Soccer is now on ESPN2/ABC and FOX Soccer Channel exclusively. D.C. United will be on Comcast.

Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. E-mail him at jwilliamsexaminer@gmail.com.

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