Baseball Blackout
The Texas Rangers finally won a playoff game at home. The aged Yankees sent out their 24-year old pitcher Phil Hughes, making only his second post-season start. The Rangers struck first, and often, and won Game 2 of the American League Championship Series yesterday, 7-2.
Apparently.
I wouldn’t know. I didn’t see it.
The game was not aired in the New York area because of a stalemate in a corporate dispute between News Corp, which owns FOX 5, the local FOX affiliate on which the playoffs and World Series are aired, and Cablevision, the Long Island-based media company that serves a large portion of the Tri-State area (NY, NJ, CT).
News Corp is of course owned by Ricochet contributor Rupert Murdoch. Cablevision is owned by Charles and James Dolan, a father/son team. Cablevision also owns several New York sports teams, including the Knicks, Rangers, Liberty (WNBA), and the Hartford Wolfpack (the Rangers’ AHL affiliate). The Dolans are not beloved in New York. The Knicks and Rangers have been overpriced embarrassments for several seasons now. The Knicks organization, in particular, has been spectacularly (some would say criminally) mismanaged from the top down.
The dispute between the two sides is arcane. It has to do with how much Cablevision pays News Corp for the right to offer channels such as FOX 5 and MY 9 to cable subscribers. I don’t understand the particulars, but in any dispute between the Dolans and X, I’d be inclined to support X just on general principle.
I don’t know Rupert Murdoch personally, but I do know enough about the media to assume that the reporting on this dispute will not go out of its way to paint him in a favorable light. I hesitate to read the NY Times account of the dispute, for obvious reasons. However, to be fair, I’m also not sure if I can completely trust the WSJ or my beloved NY Post to play it completely straight either, since News Corp owns both.
When it comes right down to it, though, I don’t really care who is right. I just want to watch the game. No Yankees last night. No Giants football today (barring a miraculous agreement). And perhaps no Yankees tomorrow.
Keep me updated, guys, okay?
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Baseball Blackout
Ursula, bring the family over tomorrow night. We'll watch it on DirecTV. It's a business dispute. Cablevision does not want to pay the price Newscorp wishes to receive for its product. They'll work it out or they won't. Remember when George Steinbrenner created the YES Network?
May '10
Re: Baseball Blackout
It could be worse. In Cleveland it's a relief when our teams are blacked out.
Aug '10
Re: Baseball Blackout
made me laugh.
Jul '10
Re: Baseball Blackout
Ursula Hennessey:
The dispute between the two sides is arcane. It has to do with how much Cablevision pays News Corp for the right to offer channels such as FOX 5 and MY 9 to cable subscribers. I don’t understand the particulars, but in any dispute between the Dolans and X, I’d be inclined to support X just on general principle.
Ursula,
How are you coming to such ridiculous conclusions as this being about who pays whom?
What this is all about is right in front of your very eyes.
In your first sentence you tell us everything we need to know.
One of the teams involved is the Texas Rangers is it not?
.
Clearly, this is all George W. Bush's Fault!
Re: Baseball Blackout
Get ready. This is going to be happening a lot, all over the country. Cable companies are testing their leverage, and content providers are testing their pricing power. My guess is, the content providers will eventually win. And I'd be surprised, Ursula, if you didn't start seeing a lot of DirectTV vans in your neighborhood, and a lot of flyers in your mailbox urging you to switch to satellite.
May '10
Re: Baseball Blackout
The game was on TBS, at least here in DC. Was TBS blacked out or showing different programming in the NY area?
Re: Baseball Blackout
Hi PJ, Game 1 was on TBS, but not Game 2, at least here in NY area.
May '10
Re: Baseball Blackout
TBS must make the game available in the home markets to an over-th-air broadcaster. Then TBS gets blacked out. If you live within the reach of the digital signals buy rabbit ears. Digital TV is FREE!
Oct '10
Re: Baseball Blackout
Rob is spot on with this and I would be doing the same thing if I were Murdoch. Content is king is today's media business model. The days of cable providers being able to count on steady profits because they have a monopoly of the physical wire to your house is almost over. That's why you have companies like Comcast trying to buy a content provider like NBC.
If you can get a wireless connection to your house that equals or surpasses a physical connection and you marry that ability with options like Apple TV, you don't necessarily need a company like Cablevision.
The rub is that the Apple TV type options aren't yet where you can completely replace the cable companies, but that day is coming. I can't to get rid of my Cablevision (no Giants game for me today...) and just deal directly with content providers like Fox or the NFL through some sort of Apple\Google TV application. For example, I give the NFL X amount of dollars for a season and in return my NFL Apple TV application allows me to watch any and all of the games.
Bliss.
Edited on Oct 17, 2010 at 3:35pmJul '10
Re: Baseball Blackout
My big problem goes back to the days of C band Sattelite.
In C band you could buy exactly what you wanted and didn't have to buy a package with dozens of channels you didn't want in order to get the specific channels you did want.
The way the systems work today ala-carte is quite simple and people could taylor thier cable bills only to the channels that they want with the content they want. Then issues like this would not arise as the customer will be albe to determine the value of the content.
May '10
Re: Baseball Blackout
Nielsen says that the average American household gets 150 channels and watches 10% of them on a regular basis. Ala Carte pricing would force dozens of channels off the air within a year. The cable systems don't want it and the content providers don't want it.
May '10
Re: Baseball Blackout
My arteries and tear ducts could have used a blacked out Nebraska game yesterday :'(
Jaydee_007:
In C band you could buy exactly what you wanted and didn't have to buy a package with dozens of channels you didn't want in order to get the specific channels you did want.
I never knew this was done. I've wondered if the online model will become king like that: subscriptions to specific channels or shows. Though there's something about channel surfing that holds a sort of value, like flipping through a magazine or newspaper, that on demand can't account for. Maybe people don't know what they like, or more is better?
Jul '10
Re: Baseball Blackout
EJHill
Nielsen says that the average American household gets 150 channels and watches 10% of them on a regular basis. Ala Carte pricing would force dozens of channels off the air within a year. The cable systems don't want it and the content providers don't want it. · Oct 17 at 2:46pm
Especially content providers such as CNN and MSNBC
Jul '10
Re: Baseball Blackout
I'll keep Ya up to date. I'll keep Ya ahead of everybody. The yanks will lose this series, so don't waste Yer time.
May '10
Re: Baseball Blackout
Not so much. But did you know that there are two full-time cable networks devoted to gays? One might not survive, let alone two. Dozens of limited appeal niche networks would quickly disappear.
May '10
Re: Baseball Blackout
EJHill
Nielsen says that the average American household gets 150 channels and watches 10% of them on a regular basis. Ala Carte pricing would force dozens of channels off the air within a year. The cable systems don't want it and the content providers don't want it. · Oct 17 at 2:46pm
I'm not so sure about a-la-carte pricing .. consumers tend not to react well to having too many choices.
Aug '10
Re: Baseball Blackout
Folks, here is the radical solution: Cancel your cable/satellite/whatever and write the CEO and tell him (or her) why you are doing so. Tell the CEO you may consider coming back when and if the company offers a la carte pricing. Radio networks still carry the games.
I'm being a little hypocritical about this since I just subscribed to Mediacom a few days before college football season started. I've learned my lesson though considering how the Georgia Bulldogs have been playing.