[CHRON]Dierker back on Astros' TV crew BILL W. OUT...

HELL, I dont even know where to put this, it could go in the Hangout, GARM, but I would think it would go here with it being about the 'stros...



Feb. 24, 2005, 10:49PM
Dierker back on Astros' TV crew
Ex-manager replaces Worrell as home analyst; FSNSW, Ch. 51 to air 150 games
By DAVID BARRON
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Larry Dierker will return as a full-time analyst for 2005 Astros home games, replacing Bill Worrell, as part of a beefed-up Astros television schedule that will include 130 games on FSN Southwest and just 20 on KNWS (Ch. 51).

Dierker, who returned to the booth on a limited basis last year for the first time since his five-year stint as the team's manager, will work with Bill Brown and field reporter Greg Lucas on home games. Brown and Jim Deshaies will return as the broadcast team for Astros road games.

"I'm excited to have a chance to get back and do more games and get into the flow of the team a little better," Dierker said Thursday. "I think this will be a good move for the broadcast and for the people who watch it."

Jon Heidtke, FSN Southwest general manager, said network and team officials conferred on the decision to replace Worrell with Dierker.

"Nobody would argue with the fact that Larry is one of the best analysts in baseball, if not the best," Heidtke said. "Bill has a long association with the network, and we told him that if he wanted to continue we would find a way to work him in."

Worrell, who jumped directly from the Rockets' playoff broadcasts last spring to Astros games, then left five days after his final 2004 Astros broadcast for the Rockets' preseason trip to China, said he will benefit from a lighter workload.

"This is a perfect match to have Larry back doing Astros baseball," said Worrell, who will still contribute to special projects, including the Legends of the Southwest biography series. "I've had a 20-year run on baseball, and I've enjoyed it. It's time now for me to get a couple of months off during the summer."

Away from the booth, the biggest change in the first year of the Astros' new contract with FSN Southwest will be more televised games — 150, up from 133 a year ago — and more games on cable and fewer on Channel 51. Last year's schedule included 80 games on FSNSW and 53 on Channel 51.

That spells more revenue for FSN Southwest, which will pay the Astros and Rockets an estimated $600 million over the next 10 to 12 years under a new contract signed last November, and improved Nielsen ratings throughout its broadcast day.

Including games on ESPN and Fox Sports' Saturday game of the week package, "You'll probably be able to count on one hand the number of Astros games this year that won't be televised," Heidtke said.

However, the greater emphasis on cable will displease many fans in Houston, where only 53.4 percent of television households have cable and 73.4 percent have cable or satellite service.

"The Astros have always been sensitive about having a lower cable penetration in Houston and having a robust broadcast package," Heidtke said. "But with their regional following in Beaumont, Lake Charles, San Antonio, Austin and Bryan-College Station, more people are going to be exposed to Astros baseball. We bring more eyeballs when you factor in the whole territory."

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3056580
david.barron@chron.com