So I’m looking at the TV schedule to see what games are on, and once again I see that (at least one of) our local networks refuse to show double-headers of football games. Instead, what we get is some lame-ass Jim Carrey movie, or Star Trek, or infomercials, or whatever.
<rant>
A little background as well. I live in central CT, so most of my stations are either out of New Haven or Hartford. So what that means is a non-stop weekly diet of Patriots, Jets and Giants games. AAACCCCKKKK! Can you say BORING? God, these three teams are cures for insomnia. But that’s all we seem to get here. Way too often the “Big Game of the Week”, you know, the one on at 4, well…it’s not on here. Nope, it’s “The Breakfast Club”. Or “Ronco’s greatest hits”. None of the local stations here need sports directors, that’s for sure.
</rant>
Anyway - my question goes back to why, if the NFL is so popular, are the channels NOT showing two games each week?
I have a couple guesses:
[ul]
[li]There is a cost associated to showing an NFL game - i.e., the local stations have to pay for it, and don’t find it worth it.[/li][li]The time overruns usually associated with (esp.) the 4:00pm games are too much of a pain in the ass.[/li][/ul]
If you are in an NFL city and your team is home, you don’t get a doubleheader regardless of which network’s turn it is
If you are in an NFL city and your home team is on the road, you have to get that game televised to you, whether you want to watch it or not. (As Detroit Lions fans would say.)
Your local CBS or FOX affiliate doesn’t want a late game creeping into primetime programming. Perhaps your local CBS affiliate thinks it gets better ratings for “60 Minutes” than the NFL or the FOX affiliate has a real thing for “Futurama”. Or your affiliate could just be really independent-minded.
Since you live in CT, you are likely to be considered part of somebody’s market, either the NY market or the New England Patriots market.
As for those of us who live in L.A., we have no team and see lots of foobtall games.
Local stations do not get to pick what games they show. For a long time the Redskins had many fans here in NC. When the Panthers arrived all the stations had to show their games. Of course Redskins fans got mad. Some stations said they might have still shown the Redskins games because of all their fans but they do not have a choice. The NFL defines the TV markets and that’s what you are stuck with.
And to amplify kpm even in L.A., we have to watch just about every Ram and Raider game because the networks still consider them L.A.'s “home” teams, although this season, FOX isn’t as zealous about showing the Rams. The Rams-Panthers game wasn’t shown in L.A.
I doubt there were many protests.
There’s always sports bar and the opportunity to get drunk with a lot of strangers with ample chances to make loud noises.
