"Fox Sports en Español's coverage of Game One was the No. 1 Spanish-language cable television program on Wednesday night," says Maney. "We even beat beat Azteca Amėrica's top-rated program."

According to Maney, FSE's telecast of Game One earned a 2.9 household coverage area rating and a 1.5 coverage area rating in the key Hispanics 18-49 demographic, attracting 149,000 viewers.

What exactly does that mean? The 2009 World Series is shaping up to be a ratings and revenue bonanza for Maney's team at Fox.

"Those ratings are more than double of what Game One of the World Series did for us last year," says Maney.

Among Hispanic males 18-34, Wednesday's series opener earned a 2.6 coverage area rating. "That's really strong delivery in a sport that doesn't skew very young," Maney notes.

What makes the strong ratings even more impressive is the very fact that viewers across the U.S. have a choice when it comes to tuning in the Series. The game was available throughout the nation on their local Fox broadcast affiliate, with Joe Buck and Tim MacCarver calling the action.

Yet significant numbers of Hispanics with "paquete Latino" cable television subscriptions or access to FSE via DirecTV or Dish Network elected to watch coverage en español.

"This is a statement," notes Maney. "People are making a conscious choice to watch these games in Spanish."

For advertisers, the strong ratings - also seen during the 2009 American League Championship Series (ALCS) - are a huge bonus. According to Maney, Game One of the World Series delivered an audience that was 15 percent higher than its advertiser guarantee.

For the ALCS, FSE enjoyed an average audience that was 22 percent higher than its three-year average, which takes into account the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Major League Baseball championships.

Clients who have snapped up sponsorships and purchased air time on Fox Sports en Español's coverage of the World Series include Toyota and General Motors. Both have been on board for at least seven years. In a tough climate for automotive brands, Toyota and GM came in to the 2009 series at the same levels as the 2008 championship.

"Having automotive brands return at the same level as last year was really important," Maney notes.

Other strong categories for the 2009 World Series include insurance and telecom. Drug company Pfizer is also particularly active, while Dr Pepper Snapple Group Clamato continued its season-long support of Major League Baseball on FSE with a post-season buy.

Competing with Fox's English-language telecast for ad dollars was hardly an issue, Maney insists. For one, his team at FSE is in discussions with the multicultural divisions of total-market agencies and with Hispanic market media buyers.

"Advertisers are buying the World Series [on FSE] for what it is, and buying us on the unique value of what we deliver - people that the general-market media is not efficiently reaching," Maney notes. "Advertisers working with us have a completely complementary and distinctively different strategy than what they are doing on the English-language broadcast side."

Sponsors are also benefiting from a strong post-season featuring the New York Yankees. The 2009 ALCS, which saw the Yankees defeat the Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim, attracted ratings that were up a whopping 151 percent among adults 18-49 from last year.

In 2008, FSE aired the National League Championship Series that saw the Phillies defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers; the network rotates between the AL and NL each year.

"Even though the Dodgers are great in Los Angeles, the Dodgers-Phillies matchup wasn't attractive nationally," Maney notes. "The Yankees-Angels matchup was huge. Also, it was a close series and very exciting."

Maney hopes the 2009 World Series will be action-packed, goes seven games and includes a lot of in-inning pitching changes, since that means incremental revenue for FSE, he says with a laugh.

"Last year we felt we didn't have a very good World Series," he says. "This year we have all the makings for a great six or seven game series."

• Fox Sports en Español's ratings increases seen in the 2009 Major League Baseball post-season can also be attributed to the presence of 26 regular-season games on the network, Maney says. FSE added the in-season games to post-season coverage during the 2007 season.
• In a first, viewers of the 2009 World Series will enjoy commentary from the same person on both Fox and Fox Sports en Español.

Ozzie Guillén, manager of the Chicago White Sox, will serve as a guest analyst for both the English- and Spanish-language telecasts of this year's Major League Baseball championship.

On FSE, Chevrolet is sponsoring Guillén's segment, says Fox Sports en Español vice president of advertising sales Tom Maney.

The main host for FSE's Serie Mundial coverage is José Tolentino, coach for the Mexican national baseball team in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Accompanying Tolentino as an analyst is Manny Acta, the former Washington Nationals manager who last week took a similar role with the Cleveland Indians.

Much of the play-by-play is handled by FSE Major League Baseball Game of the Week announcer Adrian García Marquez. Also on board as an in-inning analyst is former big leager Carlos Hernández and, as a field reporter, sports broadcasting vet Francisco Rivera.

FSE World Series Programming Schedule

• 10/31     New York Yankees @ Philadelphia Phillies  Gm 3    7:30pm ET
• 11/1       New York Yankees @ Philadelphia Phillies  Gm 4    8:00pm ET
• 11/2       New York Yankees @ Philadelphia Phillies  Gm 5*  7:30pm ET
• 11/4       Philadelphia Phillies @ New York Yankees  Gm 6*  7:30pm ET
• 11/5       Philadelphia Phillies @ New York Yankees  Gm 7*  7:30pm ET