Re: NBATV Conspiracy

["Dan Forant" <dforant1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

All sports except the NFL have lost viewers. They can name their price.
Other than the Celtic games I pay extra for on cable season pass I don't
watch other games. Basketball is boring. Not an art anymore and the Celtics
have been mere finger painters for years now. Maybe now we may see some
strokes.

DanF


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Snoopy the Celtics Beagle" <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Rich" <rich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Celtics IGTC POST" <celtics@xxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 1:38 PM
Subject: 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
> Please visit the <http://www.celticsbeagle.net/>Celtics Beagle Website