Re: NESN's future in doubt....

[Kevin Vahey <webway@channel1.com>]

On Thu, 2 Jul 1998, Garrett Wollman wrote:

> I believe this has its origins in the dispute between the Sox and
> their other NESN partners.  My understanding was that Fox wanted to
> buy out the other two so that it could shut down NESN and force all of
> NESN's coverage onto the basic-cable Fox Sports New England (formerly
> SportsChannel).
> 

  The Red Sox have resisted making NESN a basic only channel in areas like
Boston and Providence because they felt it was a cash cow for them. Though
NESN guards actual subscription data closely it has been assumed that at
anytime roughly 300,000 homes pay the $10 NESN fee. So after the cable
companies take the usual 50% cut, this leaves the partners to devide the
other $5 and for the SOX it means roughly $8 to $9 Million a year. 

When NESN first came on board in 1984, the partnership was designed with
the idea that WSBK would provide the production truck and crews at the
Garden and Fenway. This all changed when Viacom ended up with 38 ( the
bulk of the former Storer stations now belong to FOX) and the truck and
engineers were discarded. 

The Sox could fit into FOX NE but the WABU mess makes the Sox vulnerable.
Hearst, Media One certainly have the bucks and the Red Sox offer a very
valuable programming tool. In return the Sox could expect extra promotion
on WCVB (similar to the Patriots) and the Sox "could" remain independent
of the Murdoch empire. 

The whole FOX takeover of Sportschannel has had some strange twists
nationwide...for reasons known only to the beancounters, SPORTSCHANNEL
FLORIDA was not included in the takeover (they televise Marlins and devil
Rays) yet they took over Sports South which had been owned by Ted Turner. 
In Detroit, they simply started a new service FOX SPORTS DETROIT, and
forced PASS out. What the game plan is for New England is unknown. 

In any event the Red Sox have proven over the years not to be wise when
awarding media contracts. 

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