GiantsVision was a
pay-per-view
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...
television service for
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
games featuring the
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...
. GiantsVision was in operation for four seasons (
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal ente ...
–
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
). Prior to this, the team's only local television outlet was
KTVU
KTVU (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Oakland, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's Fox network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside San Jose†...
, which had been broadcasting Giants games since
1961
Events January
* January 3
** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015).
** Aero Flight 311 ...
.
Background
GiantsVision was managed by
San Jose-based Bay Area Interconnect. It was headed by Robert Hartzell and Mike Shapiro. Subscription costs began at $5.95 per game, with a full 45-game package available for $154. GiantsVision garnered an average viewership of 22,000 per game through the first two months of the
1988 season.
GiantsVision was shut down at the conclusion of the 1989 season when it was purchased by
SportsChannel
SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC.
Operating from March 1, 1 ...
and floated as
SportsChannel Bay Area after the merger. By
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
, at least 105 San Francisco Giants games had been televised, far more than the approximately 55 games that GiantsVision offered.
Commentators
Joe Morgan
Joe Leonard Morgan (September 19, 1943 – October 11, 2020) was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Colt .45s / Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, ...
,
Duane Kuiper
Duane Eugene Kuiper (born June 19, 1950), nicknamed "Kuip", is an American sportscaster and former professional baseball player. As a player, he was a second baseman for the Cleveland Indians and San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball ( ...
, and Phil Stone were principal announcers for GiantsVision. Kuiper's brother, Jeff, was the producer of the broadcasts. David Koppett
produced features for GiantsVision and later SportsChannel telecasts of Giants games. He also served as associate producer and graphics operator on Giants telecasts.
References
American subscription television services
Major League Baseball on television
Television channels and stations established in 1986
Television channels and stations disestablished in 1989
Defunct television networks in the United States
Defunct local cable stations in the United States
1986 establishments in California
1989 disestablishments in California
Television stations in the San Francisco Bay Area
Sports in San Francisco
SportsChannel
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