Re: WHDH drops playoffs

[Mark Shneyder <bostonradio@yahoo.com>]

> 
> Sptseditor@aol.com wrote:
> 
> > Makes sense seeing the debate's in Boston and the Sox are eliminated from the
> > playoffs. I would imagine NBC would probably put the game on Channel 68;
> > especially with its satellite stations, it would equal and/or surpass Channel
> > 7's signal.

Historically, politics always beats out sports on TV.
Back in Oct. '91, the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings on ABC, PBS
NBC absolutely clobbered NLCS and ALCS on CBS. ABC dwarfed NFL on NBC
and on CBS on Sunday afternoons. When the big 3 went with the usual
Sunday fare, PBS almost quadrupled its ratings as it was the only
non-cable broadcast outlet carrying the hearing live in prime time. 

CH.7 is in a win-win situation here. I am just somewhat surprised
that NBC would allow them to pre-empt baseball since debates are
made-for-TV productions/commercials anyway and not really a news story.
Ch.68 will now surely pick up the game. Without a Pax station (Ch.68)
or another outlet willing to pick up the AL divisional game on the 3rd,
I honestly doubt very much NBC/GE and MLB would let them get away
with pre-empting baseball without clearing the game in the #6 market, first.

-Mark

> >
> > A few years ago, Channel 5 had to pre-empt a regular-season Sox game for one
> > reason or another (when "The Baseball Network" was airing regional Saturday
> > night contests through ABC) and Channel 68 picked it up. If anyone remembers,
> > there was a controversy of sorts, since Channel 38 was squaking about how it
> > should have aired the game, since it was still holding Sox rights at the time.
> 


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