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Re: NBATV Conspiracy
What Stern forgets is the reason viewship was down is the games weren't as
exciting as they used to be. The networks were willing to pay through the
nose for a Celtics/Lakers matchup with Bird and Magic going at it. But New
Jersey? They couldn't sell out their own building for the playoffs. San
Antonio? Most non-NBA regulars probably didn't even know San Antonio HAD
an NBA team.
NBAtv is also a means to control what revenue is there--they can set their
own prices and take a bigger share without having to split it with all the
teams. They also get to avoid the national television problems faced by
teams like Atlanta, which probably has to pay double just for a local
broadcast. :>) All the teams, great and small, NBAtv will show them all.
The problem is, Stern played hardball after trying to sneak one past
everyone. Granted, I yell about Cox Cable a lot, but the facts as I
understand them are that the NBA tried to finesse a deal by signing up the
satellite people without mentioning anything to the cable people. But he
did this midseason, which meant the value of the League Pass was cut by
nearly a third. The cable companies asked for some compensation, knowing
their customers would be doing likewise, only to be told to eat cake.
Now the heat is on. There's unconfirmed word that at least one of the
cable companies will draw a line in the sand--either cut a better deal for
NBAtv, or they'll drop the League Pass. Apparently, with the greater
number of games on other networks AND NBAtv, the Pass is not worth what
they've been charging in past seasons.
I don't like what Stern is doing, but I'm stuck. If I want to see the
Celtics, I HAVE to have the League Pass. If I want to see games like the
Celtics/Lakers, I ALSO have to get NBAtv. If my cable company doesn't get
it's stuff together soon, I'll have to decide if I can afford to switch to
satellite. It's not like I don't see the long-term financial gain--even if
I order everything, it's cheaper than the cable I have now. The problem
is, paying for the installation and probably, new receivers, as the old
ones are about 4-5 years old, among other things. If things were not quite
so tight, I'd change in a moment.
This also, I think, is part of a deliberate strategy from Stern to punish
the cable companies by emphasizing the satellite stuff. However, I
mentioned in a previous post, that the C's offical press release of tv
coverage doesn't mention the existence of NBAtv. There may, hopefully, be
some dissension in the ranks as various teams see their private broadcast
revenue go up in smoke.
I may not remember correctly, but wasn't there some talk, years ago, about
the C's setting up their own broadcast network, maybe the old WLVI studios,
or some such?
The only logistical problem with putting ALL NBA games on NBAtv, is they'd
need a batch of channels from--you guessed it--the cable companies (as well
as the satellite companies). I would imagine the arguments have only just
begun.
At 12:47 PM 7/30/03 -0400, Rich wrote:
>If this long-time list lurker can chime in, I think this is exactly where
>the league office wants to go. The poor offers that the league received when
>the TV contract was last up for bid (a year or two ago), really annoyed Mr.
>Stern, IMO, and resulted in the salary cap going down, which, I'm sure,
>resulted in many complaints to the league office by the teams.
>
>It seems to me that they've created NBATV as a response to this 'slight' by
>the various networks. They're going to take 2 or 3 years to slowly get it
>off the ground (by getting fans to request the channel from their
>cable/satellite providers) and by the time the current TV contract is up,
>they'll be ready to do exactly as you've described below: a few 'highlight'
>games on national TV with rest available only on NBATV--excluding even local
>carriers. Goodbye, FSNE.
>
>This has already happened with the summer league games, which were available
>on FSNE last summer, but weren't this summer.
>
>By going this route, TV-related income will be known and partially
>controllable, which should help keep the caps and thresholds and salaries
>nicely on the rise--regardless of the quality of the product.
>
>I won't go so far as to say that the LeBron hype is part of the plan, but 2
>or 3 years from would probably be about the time, barring injury or
>implosion, that he begins to dominate Jordan-style--which would be quite
>convenient, don't you think?
>
>Rich
>(the other Rich D.)
>
> > From: Kestutis.Kveraga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Kestutis Kveraga)
> > Reply-To: Kestutis.Kveraga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (kestas)
> > Date: 30 Jul 2003 12:03:20 EDT
> > To: celtics@xxxxxxxx
> > Subject: Re: The Boston Celtics Mailing List Digest V10 #284
> >
> > --- You wrote:
> > However, I don't recall any of the following day replays being blacked out.
> > Maybe that's Stern's next step in controlling all our TV's and squeezing
> > every penny he can from NBA fans.
> > --- end of quote ---
> >
> > Yeah, how soon before NBATV is a stand-alone premium subscription
> channel and
> > ALL games, except a few Lebron & Laker specials to attract the casual
> fan, are
> > on NBATV, available only via a proprietary satellite system called
> SternTV?
> > Kestas
Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
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