You may see the announcement over the next few days that WFXS is providing Charter Cable with an HD feed to be placed on channel 785 on Charter's Digital Cable.. Now viewers with a HD set top box and HD TV set can watch WFXS's great shows and sports in HD. (Click Here For Press Release).
Since this makes HD available to roughly half of our viewing market, I know we will have some unhappy people who think we are somehow being unfair or discriminatory. This is a legal and technical issue that makes the feed to Charter possible while we work diligently through the FCC process to build out our broadcast HD operation. I have put together a lengthy Q & A to answer all the many questions and complaints. Click here to See Q & A..
For those of you who are Vikings fans (both in and out of the closet), the NFL in their wisdom has again snubbed us.. They have assigned us the Cowboys again, even though there is no drama or excitement left as to home field advantage.
Before you call or write to complain to me, "I Do Not Make These Decisions!".. The NFL likes Dallas more than any of our other regioanl teams. Plain & simple, the NFL wants to make them KINGS.
Also, did you see the latest on the NFL network?? The last game of thier schedule is now also being broadcast on both CBS & NBC.. Seems the two east-coast teams fans made enough noise about not seeing the game that the politicians threatened the NFL's wallet, so they caved.. Too bad we're not that strong here in Wisconsin.
I've heard a lot of griping about the NFL's battle with Charter over carriage of the NFL network, and I'm a bit suprised at how few people seem to really see the bigger picture in this debate.
Nobody seems to argue the fact that there is nothing on the NFL Network to care about except the one Packer game per year. Nobody would be willing to pay every month to see the old archived NFL films stock or the retreads of past coaches show.. And there lies the problem. The entire cost to Charter, and in reality to you and me, is the annual cost compared to one three hour game per year. Is that game worth $20 to you? $40? If so, then if they show 8 games next year, would you be willing to pay $160 to $320 more for your Cable TV. How does that compute you might ask?? Well simply put, to carry all the NFL games across the country on NFL owned networks, it would take atleast 8 networks, since that is how many games are played at noon each Sunday. If you answer yes, that you are willing to pay the NFL for all those channels so you never miss a packer game, then call the NFL and tell them to let Charter add it to a sports tier and you sign up at $320/year. BUT, the NFL knows that viewers are not willing to pay those types of prices for any sports channel, so instead they decided to force every TV viewer in the country to pay them rather than just those who would buy NFL network as a stand alone channel.
Apparently the NFL is not happy with the $2.4 Billion, yes Billion with a "B" that FOX, CBS, NBC and ESPN already pay them every year. The NFL greedily wants more, and the only way to accomplish that is to turn the NFL into a forced pay per view service where the NFL provides maybe different 8 channels of games each Sunday and those channels would be filled with NFL historical film garbage the rest of the time.. No more free TV sports.. The NFL owns the teams, the games and then eventually the networks you watch them on. You will someday pay them for 8 channels, 365 days a year, to watch your favorite team play 16 games per season.
As a broadcaster, I'm no fan of the cable industry, since the 4 major networks (FOX, NBC, ABC & CBS) together are 75% of a cable subscribers actual TV viewing yet we are the only channels on your cable lineup that Charter does not pay for. If you think your cable or sattelite bills are high now, just wait and see what happens if the NFL wins this fight. Think NASCAR, Baseball, Basketball, College sports, Golf.. No more Free Sports on TV.. Every league would have an annual fee paid to them but collected by Charter to make cable the bad guys.. Charter becomes the Tax-Collector for the bigwigs who own the teams.
I must admit I'm not a native of Wisconsin, so it did take me a while to understand the affliction of Packer Mania. I've been told that those like me who are new to the area must experience the Pack in a season of serious contention in order the appreciate the full effects, and this looks like it will be that year for me.
Since my blog is part confessional. I will state upfront that I was born and raised in the New York City area and I was a NY Jets fan in my formative years. Some local friends have told me that this makes me legally handicapped from a sports perspective. I tend to think of it as being in the recovery process.
What I'm hoping for from our viewers is a bit of help in my transformation. Send me your favorite Packer Moment or Story from years gone by. Give me a taste of how you became afflicted with the disease of Packer Mania. Were you born with it? Was there one game that sucked you in? Or did you have a close encounter with a legend from Lambeau? Most of my friends can remember a defining moment, although a few say the memory is a bit fuzzy do to a certain beverage or two.
I really appreciate any help you can give me.
