The announcement earlier this week that NBC Sports is partnering with AEG to create "NBC Sports Pub Pass" is an alarming one for sports fans for a number of reasons.
Although this platform will start out with 140 Premier League soccer matches, additional cycling race coverage (such as Tour de France), and at least 185 Rugby World Cup and Premiership Rugby matches, this could lead to still more sports telecasts becoming a part of this.
Pub Pass is designed to only be shown in what it terms "retail pub and restaurant establishments providing live international sports for their patrons".
Here is NBC Sports telling fans that they will have to go to a restaurant or pub to watch certain events. Events we won't get at home? The same fans who pay rising cable, satellite, or streaming fees to see the live events they have the rights to. From one of the many sports networks which fill up hours every day of meaningless programing which is not always sports related.
Don't think for one minute that we have nothing to worry about since this is "only" for international sporting events. If this concept shows any degree of success, we all know this could expand to the major U.S. sports. It's not like NBC Sports (or any of the other networks that start doing this) will lower residential subscription bills to help with our restaurant costs.
This may seem unrelated, but it falls under the same heading of sports fans (and millions of consumers who are not) being gouged to be able to watch their favorite sports events at home. The L.A. Dodgers still lack TV coverage in 70% of their local market. They have added five late season telecasts to be simulcast on KTLA Channel 5. The Dodgers have no control over the YouTube live streams which include the Dodgers, which include the Sept. 17th home game vs. Tampa Bay. The Dodgers vs. the Yankees upcoming on Aug. 23rd will be available via Facebook.
There has been little mention of how the Dodgers' TV Network does not even offer streaming of its telecasts to the few subscribers they have. Around the country, most of the Fox regional and NBC Sports regional networks offer free streaming to authorized subscribers. This includes the L.A. Angels, whose games can easily be streamed (locally) via the Fox Sports app.
As of now, Dish Network no longer carries any of the 21 Fox Sports regional networks. Dish chairman Charlie Ergen was quoted in Ad Age as saying that it "does not look good that the regional sports will ever be on Dish again". Although that is nothing but a bargaining plea, there is a point to be made.
While this takes place, the Chicago Cubs prepare to launch their own regional network, Marquee Sports, in February. A Comcast official was recently quoted as saying that the Chicago dominant cable provider "had nothing to report" regarding the possibility of carrying the new network.
Although Fox Sports does not get to begin its Thursday Night NFL package at the start of the season, part of its MLB deal includes airing baseball in prime time in September instead. Fox will air Atlanta vs. Philadelphia on Sept. 12 and St. Louis vs. Chicago Cubs on Sept. 19th. To get the jump on the night's NFL game, these games will begin at 7:15 ET.
NEW YORK: Two baseball play-by-play voices in the news. Congrats to Howie Rose on his upcoming induction into the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame on Nov. 3rd. Howie now serves as the Mets radio voice in the first of the team's seven year contract with WCBS 880. His time with the Mets goes back to 1987 to 1995 when he hosted pre and post-game coverage on WFAN before taking over on TV from 1996 to 2003. In addition, Rose called Islanders hockey for Fox Sports New York from 1995 to 2016.
The N Y Post reports that Michael Kay is about to return to the Yankees TV booth upon his recovery from vocal chord surgery. Ryan Rucco will continue to fill in for Kay until his return.
CHICAGO: Talk about technical difficulties! During its August 14th telecast of the Cubs vs. Phillies game, NBC Sports Chicago was losing its feed, going to a black screen except for the NBC Sports Chicago Logo. After a couple of minutes of the game feed dropping in an out, a scroll came across the screen. It said "We apologize for the technical difficulties. Stand by for Blackhawks hockey". While their first Blackhawks telecast remains more than a month away, the baseball feed did return seconds after that.
VSiN, the sports betting network with Brent Musberger, will have its "Sunday Preview" show in Chicago on WLS 890 on Saturdays from 6:30 to 8:30 PM along with airing weeknight updates at 6:58 PM. This will be unless pre-empted for University of Illinois football and basketball broadcasts. The VSiN programming expands and moves over from WSCR 670.
Bears fans will have NFL Network's Kyle Brandt on the play-by-play call for the Aug. 29th preseason local telecast. Adam Amin, who calls the other local pre-season games, will be calling the UCLA vs. Cincinnati game on ESPN that night.
DALLAS: KRLD-FM 105.3 The Fan has scrambled its midday and afternoon lineup, which begins on Monday (8/19). Ben & Skin (Ben Rogers and Jeff 'Skin' Wade) shift to 10 AM to 2 PM. GBag Nation with Gavin Dawson, Jeff Cavanaugh, and Lucious Alexander will continue to air for five hours, now from 2 to 7 PM.
PHOENIX: After years of being shuffled to other frequencies due to play-by-play conflicts, the AZ Coyotes finally have a flagship station which makes them the priority. Bob Heethuis and Paul Bissonnette will be calling the games on KGME Sports 910.
CHARLOTTE: Just in time for the exhibition games, the Panthers radio network announced its new analysts, replacing Eugene Robinson. Former QB Jake Delhomme did not wish to do the entire season, but has been hired to do all home games and only the road games from Houston and New Orleans for this season. Former tackle Jordan Gross will serve as analyst for the remaining road games. Mick Mixon is beginning his 15th season on play-by-play. WBT 1110 continues as the flagship station.
SALT LAKE: Spence Checketts returns to the local airwaves after a year and one-half absence. Starting on Monday (8/19), he will be hosting 2 to 6 PM on ESPN 700. Checketts is the son of former Utah Jazz and N Y Knicks President Dave Checketts.
NASHVILLE: WSM 650 returned to full-time country music this week, dropping George Plaster's afternoon drive sports talk show experiment after only one month.
COLUMBIA SC: Chris Miller has been named new host for University of South Carolina football pre and post-game coverage. The pre-game show runs for three hours prior to kickoff. He replaces Jay Philips, who held the role for 17 years, but continues his weekday how on 107.5 The Game.
OMAHA: 1620 The Zone has brought back Mike Severe after a five year absence. He will co-host mornings with Damon Benning, the former University of Nebraska football standout. Gary Sharp moves out of mornings and into the midday spot. Also, University of Nebraska at Omaha basketball and hockey games will continue on 1180 The Zone 2 under a just extended agreement.
BANGOR: 92.9 The Ticket debuts a new early morning show with Wayne Harvey on Monday (8/19). Harvey will host "The Morning Line" from 6 to 8 AM, drawing from his 26 years of local radio and TV experience.
Thursday, August 15, 2019
Thursday, August 8, 2019
RAMS & RAIDERS? REALLY?
The start of the full NFL pre-season is upon us. While local ratings for exhibition game telecasts don't mean much (beyond the local markets), one of the Saturday (8/10) games will be an interesting one for viewership. It seems that the L.A. Rams play in Oakland. This bring us one team which recently relocated back to L.A. to a so-so fan base playing in the final pre-season opener for the Raiders while they are still an Oakland team.
With both teams originating their respective telecasts, this game can be seen in almost every northern and southern California market, and beyond. The "beyond" includes Honolulu HI, Reno NV, ,Anchorage AK, and, of course, Las Vegas.
The Raiders pre-season games are carried in Los Angeles (where the team resided for years), obviously in Las Vegas (where they move after this season), and also in Honolulu, which is considered within the California region for local telecasts. The Rams are also carried in Las Vegas and Honolulu.
As a result, this exhibition game will appear with both telecasts airing simultaneously in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Honolulu. The Raiders telecast will be called by Beth Mowins with Rich Gannon, while the Rams telecast will have Andrew Siciliano and Nate Burleson on the call.
Ironically, this first week of exhibition games includes the New York battle with the Jets playing the Giants. The Jets are the road team. Yet, for these two established franchises, the Jets are not offering a telecast, forcing their fans to watch the Giants telecast as called by Bob Papa and Carl Banks. Go figure.
On the radio side, we will undoubtedly see the impact of the return of the NFL in key markets over the following couple of months on the ratings of the sports and flagship stations. Interesting research by industry trade publication Talkers Magazine showed that 57% of sports talk stations in metered markets saw declines from May to June this year. This is during the "height" of the NFL off season.
Four of the NBC Sports regional channels, including Washington and Chicago, are or will be airing "The Daily Line" on weekday afternoons. This is actually a simulcast of the NBC Sports Radio show which began earlier this year, but lacks a presence in the big markets. Michael Jenkins and Tim Murray are the hosts. The regional channels will, of course, preempt when local play-by-play and adjacent programming dictates. The focus of this show is on sports gambling. Although four hours a day on this topic may be a stretch, replacing infomercials, previous day game replays, and other programming which doesn't matter is a step in the right direction.
NEW YORK: The strong presence of WFAN 660 and 101.9 will pay dividends starting this week when play-by-play conflicts occur over the next couple of months. WFAN is the flagship for both the Yankees and Giants. When the teams conflict (which is three times in August and four times in September), the Giants broadcasts will air on 660, while Yankees broadcasts will air on 101.9.
BALTIMORE / D.C.: Bobby Trosset has joined WBAL 1090 and 101.5 as morning sports anchor along with being the station's Ravens reporter.
DC's WSBN ESPN 630, which earlier this year broke away from the news/talk simulcast of WMAL-FM, may need to re-think that decision. The just released ratings book showed the station with the lowest possible overall rating of .1.
MINNEAPOLIS: Mark Rosen, the former WCCO-TV sportscaster, and Kirk Cousins will co-host "Under Center with Kirk Cousins" on KFAN 100.3 each Tuesday at 6 PM starting Sept. 3rd. The weekly episodes will also be made available via Vikings.com. The pair plan to have interviews with other Vikings players on this show.
SAN DIEGO: KLSD 1360 has shuffled its weekday schedule. The Darren Smith Show, with co-host and producer Marty Caswell, moves to Noon to 3 PM. Jon Schaffer moves from the midday show to the Loose Cannons from 3 to 6 PM with Steve Hartman and Rich Ohrnberger. Nick Hardwick goes from midday co-host to the role as the NFL "Insider", including an hour on the Monday and Friday morning Costa & Richards show.
RALEIGH/DURHAM: "SportsChannel8: The Radio Show" started this week on WCMC 99.9 The Fan from 10 AM to Noon. Hayes Permar, Josh Goodson, and Brian Geisinger continue as co-hosts. This addition brings listeners nine hours of local sports programming on weekdays. As a result, the Dan LeBatard Show moves to Buzz Sports Radio, which now airs all three hours instead of only two hours.
MOBILE: WNSP 105.5 begins a new afternoon local sports show from 3 to 6 PM on Monday (8/12), co-hosted by David Schultz and Jordan Glass. Schultz joins WNSP from 103.7 The Game in Lafayette LA, where he had served as Program Director for six years.
With both teams originating their respective telecasts, this game can be seen in almost every northern and southern California market, and beyond. The "beyond" includes Honolulu HI, Reno NV, ,Anchorage AK, and, of course, Las Vegas.
The Raiders pre-season games are carried in Los Angeles (where the team resided for years), obviously in Las Vegas (where they move after this season), and also in Honolulu, which is considered within the California region for local telecasts. The Rams are also carried in Las Vegas and Honolulu.
As a result, this exhibition game will appear with both telecasts airing simultaneously in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Honolulu. The Raiders telecast will be called by Beth Mowins with Rich Gannon, while the Rams telecast will have Andrew Siciliano and Nate Burleson on the call.
Ironically, this first week of exhibition games includes the New York battle with the Jets playing the Giants. The Jets are the road team. Yet, for these two established franchises, the Jets are not offering a telecast, forcing their fans to watch the Giants telecast as called by Bob Papa and Carl Banks. Go figure.
On the radio side, we will undoubtedly see the impact of the return of the NFL in key markets over the following couple of months on the ratings of the sports and flagship stations. Interesting research by industry trade publication Talkers Magazine showed that 57% of sports talk stations in metered markets saw declines from May to June this year. This is during the "height" of the NFL off season.
Four of the NBC Sports regional channels, including Washington and Chicago, are or will be airing "The Daily Line" on weekday afternoons. This is actually a simulcast of the NBC Sports Radio show which began earlier this year, but lacks a presence in the big markets. Michael Jenkins and Tim Murray are the hosts. The regional channels will, of course, preempt when local play-by-play and adjacent programming dictates. The focus of this show is on sports gambling. Although four hours a day on this topic may be a stretch, replacing infomercials, previous day game replays, and other programming which doesn't matter is a step in the right direction.
NEW YORK: The strong presence of WFAN 660 and 101.9 will pay dividends starting this week when play-by-play conflicts occur over the next couple of months. WFAN is the flagship for both the Yankees and Giants. When the teams conflict (which is three times in August and four times in September), the Giants broadcasts will air on 660, while Yankees broadcasts will air on 101.9.
BALTIMORE / D.C.: Bobby Trosset has joined WBAL 1090 and 101.5 as morning sports anchor along with being the station's Ravens reporter.
DC's WSBN ESPN 630, which earlier this year broke away from the news/talk simulcast of WMAL-FM, may need to re-think that decision. The just released ratings book showed the station with the lowest possible overall rating of .1.
MINNEAPOLIS: Mark Rosen, the former WCCO-TV sportscaster, and Kirk Cousins will co-host "Under Center with Kirk Cousins" on KFAN 100.3 each Tuesday at 6 PM starting Sept. 3rd. The weekly episodes will also be made available via Vikings.com. The pair plan to have interviews with other Vikings players on this show.
SAN DIEGO: KLSD 1360 has shuffled its weekday schedule. The Darren Smith Show, with co-host and producer Marty Caswell, moves to Noon to 3 PM. Jon Schaffer moves from the midday show to the Loose Cannons from 3 to 6 PM with Steve Hartman and Rich Ohrnberger. Nick Hardwick goes from midday co-host to the role as the NFL "Insider", including an hour on the Monday and Friday morning Costa & Richards show.
RALEIGH/DURHAM: "SportsChannel8: The Radio Show" started this week on WCMC 99.9 The Fan from 10 AM to Noon. Hayes Permar, Josh Goodson, and Brian Geisinger continue as co-hosts. This addition brings listeners nine hours of local sports programming on weekdays. As a result, the Dan LeBatard Show moves to Buzz Sports Radio, which now airs all three hours instead of only two hours.
MOBILE: WNSP 105.5 begins a new afternoon local sports show from 3 to 6 PM on Monday (8/12), co-hosted by David Schultz and Jordan Glass. Schultz joins WNSP from 103.7 The Game in Lafayette LA, where he had served as Program Director for six years.
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