customer hostile programming
The kids are napping, the storm’s approaching, and all I want to do is watch some meaningful football. So I sit down on the sofa, catch the last 30 seconds of the Carolina / Atlanta game, and get ready for the second half of the Fox doubleheader, which is Washington / Philadelphia, a game with playoff implications. Woo hoo! Red blooded American male entertainment.
Which is then pre-empted by reruns of Taxi on our local affiliate, KTVU. Not that there’s anything wrong with Taxi, mind you. It’s just not Washington v. Philadelphia. Armed with my phone, I go searching online for KTVU’s number to give them some red blooded American male vitriol via voice. But instead of their number, I end up finding this story:
Fox Sports has a scheduled its usual football double header for the first day of the year, but because of NFL rules, KTVU Fox Channel 2 will be unable to broadcast the second game. Because the SanFrancisco 49ers are playing at home in a game that is being aired locally, competing stations are not allowed to show other NFL games in the same time slot.
This is obviously nuts. I figure the rule’s intended to protect the television revenue of the local franchise, but the Bay Area’s two losing teams this year pretty much guaranteed that the only non-PPV NFL programming was of Really Lousy Football. It’s doubly nuts today – it’s the last week of the season, and the 49ers aren’t even fighting for the honor of the first pick in the draft. Playoffs start next week; the NFL should be using this week to build an audience to sustain them through Super Bowl Sunday. Instead, we’re stuck watching a game that the local fans can’t even bother to show up for – as I watch the Niners are playing to a 1/2 empty stadium.
It’s an NFL world, and we’re living in it.