News about VERSUS for Charter Cable Subscribers

[rekrul]

NHL needs to get involved with TNT, they do a great job with basketball and this year will carry some MLB playoff games.

actually their TBS station might be a better option, its giving up Braves only broadcasts to televise MLB next year, they are a basic cable option and are looking to expand. a TBS/TNT should really be looked at by the league, forget ESPN.


With all of the kvetching about Vs and the NHL's lesser value consider that Charter cable and Vs settled this with the playoffs right around the corner. Think CHarter Cable would be hearing a pressure if the AFL playoffs were about to be taking off the air. The NHL still has a footing here, small niche but there.

 

[Bruce Ciskie]

TNT IS ESPN iceman64, same scenario will happen there as ESPN treated the NHL

Not only that, but you'll get the same problems Versus has with the NHL, in that they'll have all these fancy hockey promos running during programs that don't attract hockey fans*.

(* - Well, at least most hockey fans I know don't regularly watch Law and Order: SVU. )

 

[Red Ice]

I would love it if the NHL deal is the straw that somehow broke ESPN's back and they spiraled into public access nothingness. They are ruining sports with their zero-relevance micro-coverage (going into detail about the NFL pre-season 6 months out??? if only there was another sport, played in winter, whose playoffs begin in the spring so we don't have a dead spot in coverage for 3 months outof the year) and egos on that channel are running amok.

VS has excellent coverage, but only two nights a week. Why not make it four nights a week? Do more people watch bull riding than hockey? Maybe if the NHL made Pabst Blue Ribbon a sponsor we'd have more games to watch.

 

[Bruce Ciskie]

I would love it if the NHL deal is the straw that somehow broke ESPN's back and they spiraled into public access nothingness. They are ruining sports with their zero-relevance micro-coverage (going into detail about the NFL pre-season 6 months out??? if only there was another sport, played in winter, whose playoffs begin in the spring so we don't have a dead spot in coverage for 3 months outof the year) and egos on that channel are running amok.

Oh, trust me. I don't like the early NFL coverage much. But keep in mind that we're inside a month before the NFL Draft. Not only has this always been a spring ratings bonanza for ESPN, but now they have to deal with the NFL Network offering up their own live coverage.

What I found funny was that during last year's Finals, they were airing live press conferences after the Finals games, and they actually treated it like it was as big a deal as the NBA Playoffs. Of course, the problem with all of this is that it was on ESPNEWS, which no one watches. But the coverage was actually pretty good at times...better than the non-existent postgame coverage we'd often get from NBC.

One more point kind of away from the topic of the post I am answering here...I am curious about something, have been for a while.

How many people watch the NHL on NBC that don't get Versus in any form (in other words, the number of people who don't have cable + the number of people who have cable but don't have Versus)? I don't know that there are any numbers available for something like this, but I'm curious how you folks think this would break down.