BLOOMINGTON - Some baseball fans will miss the televised series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers this week. | La Russa's juggling act a success, so far | MLB page

In total, Comcast cable customers will not be able to watch 20 out of 130 Cardinals games that are available on Fox Sports Net Midwest this season, said FSN Midwest spokesman Geoff Goldman.

The first game Comcast will not air is tonight's match-up between the Cardinals and Brewers.

The additional charge for Comcast to air that group of games played a role in the company's decision, said John Niebur, Comcast director for the Peoria district, which includes Bloomington-Normal.

"We will not be carrying those games," Niebur said.

Cardinals fans across Central Illinois likely are letting out a collective groan: Not this again.

The same situation happened to baseball fans last year when FSN Midwest added 20 televised games to its lineup and offered those to cable and satellite providers for an additional charge. Both Insight Communications and Mediacom originally did not air the extra games, though Mediacom later reached an agreement with FSN Midwest.

Satellite customers also lost access to Cardinals baseball games while the station and companies were in a feud over distribution costs at the start of the 2007 season.

Now this year, Comcast - which took control of Insight's Illinois market at the start of the year - did not choose to carry the extra ball games. About 90 percent of FSN Midwest's cable subscribers in the Cardinals territory agreed to offer all 130 games, including DirecTV, Dish Network and Mediacom, Goldman said.

"Comcast is the biggest of the few that will not," Goldman said. "We respect their decision and apologize to the fans that may be inconvenienced."

Comcast serves Bloomington-Normal cable customers while Mediacom serves parts of the surrounding towns. But many Central Illinois Mediacom subscribers would not be affected either way as not all of the company's viewers receive FSN Midwest in the first place.

Television customers also may choose to subscribe to satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network in lieu of traditional cable.

FSN Midwest charges an extra fee to cable and satellite companies for the 20 games to cover its additional charges for television rights and production costs. Goldman declined to release the cost for the companies to include the extra games in their lineups.