I know I’m late to the party on this but I noticed that of all the 2010-2011 College Football Bowl games, only three were or will be broadcast on the over-the-air broadcast networks (the Sun Bowl was on CBS on December 31st, the Outback Bowl was on ABC today, and the Cotton will be Fox on January 7th). All the others, including the BCS National Championship Game, were or will be broadcast on ESPN or one of its sister networks. It wasn’t that long ago when New Year’s Day was wall-to-wall bowl games on ABC, CBS, NBC, and (later) Fox but now only the Outback Bowl–a second-tier bowl game-is the only one you don’t need to pay your cable or satellite provider to see. In their place, the free TV stations are mostly showing infomercials (at least they are where I am).
So why is this? Are the major bowl games (e.g., the Rose, the Orange, etc.) and the National Championship Game no longer big ratings draws? Has the popularity of televised college football declined so much that the free broadcast networks believe that airing regular (or even reruns) of their regular fare the first week in January will attract more viewers and earn them more money?
So do I. It’s just that cable networks like ESPN go after a more specialized audience. Often when a sport moves nearly all its major games from the broadcast networks to cable it’s a sign that the sport no longer attracts as wide a viewing audience as it used to. I don’t know it that’s what’s going on with college football and the near-monopoly ESPN now has on the bowl games (including the National Championship which you would think would be the one “bowl” game that the over-the-air networks would be interested in airing). Have the ratings for the major bowl games been going down in recent years?
It has nothing to do with a lack of popularity or a decline. Its more popular than ever. The fact is that ESPN is more successful and has more money to spend on TV contracts than the networks these days. The OTA networks have been run dismally for going on 15 years and its coming home to roost.
That may be true but ESPN is owned by Disney which also owns ABC. There’s a lot of cross-production between the two networks. In fact, during the regular season, college football games on ABC are promoted under the “ESPN on ABC” logo. I would’ve thought that at least the National Championship Game would’ve been broadcast under this arrangement. However, it’s only on ESPN and ABC is running its usual Monday night programming on January 10th. Does ABC think that it would do better in the ratings showing that rather than the game?
I think among sports fans a very large percent have cable or satellite.
Also it’s pretty well known that there are places on the web these games show up for free. From what I can tell the networks don’t make a big effort to shut that stuff down. Maybe they will for the BCS games.
I noticed this today too, when I was looking for the Rose Bowl. It wasn’t showing on ABC, I wondered if I missed it before realizing … couldn’t be … on ESPN? Yep. Just wait, ESPN will continue to try to present itself as a media and “news” reporting network, while trying to be friendly with athletes.
ESPN will continue to extend its reach and increase its power. This will result in higher subscriber fees, which will eventually be passed on to cable subscribers. It’s bad for all sports (not just college football), and the country.
As long as ESPN has a monopoly on sports things will get more expensive for advertisers and potentially for customers its not necesarily worse. Sports coverage by NBC and CBS has long been an embarassment to the industry. Pressure from ESPN has forced the networks and other cable networks to get better in their coverage and technology. Things are far better now in the hands of TNT and ESPN than it was before cable became dominant. So yeah, it might cost a little more in the short term unless a competitor comes around to keep prices down but its definitly providing better content. The networks rested on their laurels for decades. NBC is starting to catch up a little with Sunday Night Football but they still have a long way to go.
For years now New Years day was wall to wall, back to back college football bowl games on the major networks. That is until now. It was a shock for me to turn my TV and not be able to find a single college bowl game on regular television. It seems that ESPN now has the rights 32 of the 35 bowl games. In other words you have got to pay to watch a bowl game now. I have a sad feeling that the NFL Playoff games & Super Bowl will not be far behind this sickening trend. I would like to see a boycott against this trend. The Big Boys at the NCAA, NFL, and ESPN need to be reminded that their popularity and Income was based and helped along by the little people, meaning you and me. It was us watching these games on free TV that helped these institutions. Now they do not need us, that is unless we are willing pay them. It just amazes me that in a time when Americans are struggling to put food on the table & keep their homes that we continue to pay big corporations just to watch TV! 34 of the 35 bowl games are named after corporations. Turn off the TV. Tell Time/Warner and Direct TV to take a hike. We can live with out them. They can not live with out us!
Since my thread was brought back to life, I might as well ask have the ratings for the big bowl games declined over the last few years? If so, that could explain why you don’t see too many bowl games on free TV anymore.
It’s just that cable networks like ESPN go after a more specialized audience. Often when a sport moves nearly all its major games from the broadcast networks to cable it’s a sign that the sport no longer attracts as wide a viewing audience as it used to. I don’t know it that’s what’s going on with college football and the near-monopoly ESPN now has on the bowl games (including the National Championship which you would think would be the one “bowl” game that the over-the-air networks would be interested in airing). Have the ratings for the major bowl games been going down in recent years?