MLB forms economic group as regional TV in peril

[Derwin0]

As WTBS used to be a "Superstation", it is important to distinguish between "WTBS" and "Superstation WTBS"

Programming was identical except for commercials.

 

[Bruce]

Not really..there were no cable channels to provide sports programming..they filled a niche

I do not know about other areas, but PASS Sports started up in 1984( Tigers only, Red Wings started in 1985), they were the first RSN in Detroit.

Before that, some games were on the uhf station WKBD 50 and on Channel 4 (NBC affiliate).

 

[Derwin0]

Did TBS lose the Braves before or after Ted sold the team.

The Braves were under the Turner Broadcasting umbrella. Braves games started to diminish after he sold out to Time Warner, and then accelerated after the disasterous buyout by AOL.

 

[Juan]

I do not know about other areas, but PASS Sports started up in 1984( Tigers only, Red Wings started in 1985), they were the first RSN in Detroit.

Before that, some games were on the uhf station WKBD 50 and on Channel 4 (NBC affiliate).

Yankees and mets switched roughly 1990..but hockey and basketball switched way before that

 

[SamCdbs]

Not really..there were no cable channels to provide sports programming..they filled a niche

What they did was prove that there was a market for baseball, every day. Baseball's mistake was letting a handful of teams keep all the money, and form all those geographically illogical fandoms, for themselves. It should have closed broadcasts of the Braves, et al, in the early 70s.

 

[Juan]

What they did was prove that there was a market for baseball, every day. Baseball's mistake was letting a handful of teams keep all the money, and form all those geographically illogical fandoms, for themselves. It should have closed broadcasts of the Braves, et al, in the early 70s.

Independent tv stations needed programming..it was a natural fit..My guess you don't remember tv before cable..it was a different world...you seem to go back no later than 1990...in the 70s..there really wasn't any cable programming other than HBO..most cable systems brought in independent channels from bigger cities that carried sports.. it was all distributed by microwave towers...WTBS used satellite delivery but that was new and expensive..MLB built up cable..but they got greedy and went the RSN pay tv route( like hbo)..that failed so the RSNs became basic cable channels..now that is failing..so they want to stream

 

[Bruce]

..in the 70s..there really wasn't any cable programming other than HBO..

Showtime started in 1976, but the first really big cable channels did not start until 1979, Nickelodeon and ESPN, CNN in 1980, then off to the races, companies were starting up cable channels like mad, much like today with streaming services.

 

[Juan]

Showtime started in 1976, but the first really big cable channels did not start until 1979, Nickelodeon and ESPN, CNN in 1980, then off to the races, companies were starting up cable channels like mad, much like today with streaming services.

There weren't any real cable systems until the 80s...HBO started in the 60s..most big cities didn't get cable until after the smaller rural areas..its just the way it was

 

[Mr Tony]

There weren't any real cable systems until the 80s...HBO started in the 60s..most big cities didn't get cable until after the smaller rural areas..its just the way it was

HBO didn’t start until 1972

 

[Bruce]

There weren't any real cable systems until the 80s...

First you said cable channels because of the RSNs, now you bring up systems?

HBO started in the 60s..

nope-
HBO is the oldest and longest continuously operating subscription television service in the United States. HBO pioneered modern pay television upon its launch on November 8, 1972

It is like you do not even try to use Google?

most big cities didn't get cable until after the smaller rural areas..its just the way it was

Cable television executive Charles Dolan—through his company, Sterling Information Services—founded Manhattan Cable TV Services (renamed Sterling Manhattan Cable Television in January 1971), a cable system franchise serving an Upper Manhattan section of New York City (covering an area extending southward from 79th Street on the Upper East Side to 86th Street on the Upper West Side), which began limited service in September 1966. Manhattan Cable was notable for being the first urban underground cable television system to operate in the United States.

New York City was as rural as you can get.

https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/66-OCR/1966-09-12-BC-OCR-Page-0047.pdf

https://archive.ph/20130412001540/http://m.history.timewarnercable.com/the-twc-story/era-1970s/Story.aspx?story=44

 

[harshness]

It is like you do not even try to use Google?

Why go looking for evidence that proves oneself wrong?

 

[Juan]

HBO didn’t start until 1972

It was a closed circuit channel that became MSG in the 60s..my bad..

 

[SamCdbs]

Cable began as CATV, allowing rural people to get the TV city people got for free. It is as old as TV itself. Because its origins are in, well, cheating people, providing the least service possible, its outlook, to this day, is that.

The expansion of cable into suburban and urban areas began when cable had something extra to offer. Why would an urban person pay for TV he could just get for free with an antenna? Yes, there were a few furtive ventures prior to that, but really cable boomed when it has material to sell.

Which brings us back to baseball. In many areas, major league cities has 4 5 or even 6 commercial channels. And thus one that would carry most of the local baseball team. However regulatory capture and crooked politics meant that many other places had only 3, sometimes less than that. As for baseball, this was compounded by a dumb rule that would not let a local station carry the nearby MLB team's games if the local minor league team was at home. Cable companies would microwave in "superstations" from larger cities. These stations were like the netlets and FAST channels of today. Reruns. And sports.

Then came Turner. Who lived under the legal fiction that it was just a local station in Atlanta, GA. Showing the Braves nationwide. It took baseball over 20 years to shut this down. How can it possibly be logical that some guy in suburban Kansas City is a Braves fan, because they were on when he got home from school and mommy let him watch and gave him a juice box and a Rice Krispie treat? It harmed baseball, especially the regional teams (small markets).

And here we are back. Easier to watch some random team, than your own. Letting people get away without paying their fair share for local baseball.

Hopefully it won't take 20 years for MLB to act, this time.

 

[Juan]

HBO didn’t start until 1972

Do you know what programming they showed?

 

[Mr Tony]

Do you know what programming they showed?

I'm going off wiki but the 1st thing they showed was a hockey game (Canucks vs Rangers)
But mostly it was just movies with some sports that they had contracts too (mainly through MSG)

History of HBO - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Juan]

I'm going off wiki but the 1st thing they showed was a hockey game (Canucks vs Rangers)
But mostly it was just movies with some sports that they had contracts too (mainly through MSG)

History of HBO - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Do you know where it launched?

It wasnt even NYC

 

[Mr Tony]

Do you know where it launched?

It wasnt even NYC

the article has the information you are requesting

 

[Juan]

the article has the information you are requesting

Not really...you seem to think HBO launched..it was only a special events channel in one city..just like MSG in NYC but just keep on posting links without reading them

 

[Mochuf]

I do not know about other areas, but PASS Sports started up in 1984( Tigers only, Red Wings started in 1985), they were the first RSN in Detroit.

Before that, some games were on the uhf station WKBD 50 and on Channel 4 (NBC affiliate).

Some Tiger, Red Wing and Pistons games were being broadcast on channel 50 until the early 2000's. I was surprised that my 30 year old son, who hates sports, even remembered my wife and I watching them.

Even if the RSNs disappear, there will be local channels as well as the leagues own streaming services available for local teams. Now that gambling is plastered all over those channels (Bally Sports, really?), I hope they do fail. All I can say after seeing ads for online gaming sites on MLB telecasts, that Pete Rose goes into the HOF.

 

[SamCdbs]

Some Tiger, Red Wing and Pistons games were being broadcast on channel 50 until the early 2000's. I was surprised that my 30 year old son, who hates sports, even remembered my wife and I watching them.

Even if the RSNs disappear, there will be local channels as well as the leagues own streaming services available for local teams.

The business model for OTA local sports and for streaming local sports are different from RSNs. With OTA TV, the station has to make all its money just from the commercials, more or less. Yes, there is retransmission consent extortion, but how much is a CW affiliate going to get? CW is pretty worthless. With streaming, which is an unprofitable industry generally, the price, to cover the costs, is unaffordable. Bally's wants $20/month for just the NBA and NHL (both of which are far less popular than MLB in the RSN context) and this is literally a fire sale price of a bankrupt company, and it is losing money on every sale. If you do the math, and every single person that watches the local sports teams bought in, to get the same money as they are getting in the linear bundle, its like $100/month.

Now that gambling is plastered all over those channels (Bally Sports, really?), I hope they do fail. All I can say after seeing ads for online gaming sites on MLB telecasts, that Pete Rose goes into the HOF.

No question. Baseball's persecution of Rose was always wrong, but since the Supreme Court's ruling, totally hypocritical as well. Bet MGM has a sports book INSIDE the Reds' ballpark.