Love the Rangers? Like KTXA? Hate KDFI? Then I have some good news for you!

ARLINGTON -- The Rangers announced Friday they have entered into a five-year agreement with KTXA-TV (TXA 21) to broadcast 25 regular-season games starting next season. The station will broadcast "Texas Rangers Game of the Week" on Friday nights, as well as select Spring Training games in 2010.

"The Rangers are very happy to enter into this agreement with TXA 21," Rangers president Nolan Ryan said in a press release.

TXA 21 and its sister station KTVT-TV (CBS 11) are owned by CBS Television Networks.

Fox Sports Southwest will carry a minimum of 130 Rangers games per season under its contract that extends through 2014.

Can't help but think that the Rangers' drastically improved television ratings thus far in 2009 provided the team with some much-needed leverage in negotiating this TV deal ... now, to what extent this agreement will impact outlying markets which do or don't receive KDFI games (i.e. Suddenlink Cable in Tyler receives these games, while neither Time Warner Cable or AT&T U-verse in Round Rock do -- or at least not as far as I know) is the more interesting aspect of this agreement to me, and as baseball continues to (stealing a line from "The Thin Blue Line's" Inspector Grim here) "fanny about" with the territorial rights/blackout issues that continue to beset numerous baseball fans across the country, it's probably fair for non-DFW Rangers fans to keep an eye on this development, given that the few outlying carriers which broadcast KDFI Rangers games might take a different approach with the switch in network affiliations.