# What Can Be Done About an Irresponsible Local Network Affiliate? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 29, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568 "2004-01-29T13:26:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/1 "2004-01-29T13:26:21Z")
I’m putting this in the Pit because this is more of a rant. There is a General Question here so I won’t piss & moan if this thread is moved. [WCIA-TV](http://www.wcia.com) in Champaign, Illinois is the local CBS affiliate on Springfield cable. Every year during college basketball season they will pre-empt CBS programming at least two nights per week to show University of Illinois basketball. I am enraged over this. Ignoring the fact that I wouldn’t watch an Illini basketball game if it were in my back yard and the food was free, there’s the unbelievable chutzpah being displayed here. Here we have a local network affiliate saying, “Ya know what? We think the people of central Illinois would much rather see Illini basketball then whatever CBS is showing tonight.” So I sent an e-mail to WCIA. Their response, not unexpectedly, contained the words “responsibility to our viewers to broadcast local sports,” and “honor and tradition of Illini basketball” and “relationship with Illini basketball going back nearly forty years.” Strike one. An e-mail to CBS won’t make any difference, as I’m sure they’ll gladly tell me that local network affiliates are free to broadcast whatever they choose so long as they pay their bill to CBS every month. Strike two. An e-mail to the FCC won’t make any difference, as it will undoubtedly contain the words “bigger fish to fry.” Strike three. Threatening to boycott local sponsors of Illini basketball won’t help, as I don’t live in Champaign and am thus already participating in a _de facto_ boycott of Champaign businesses. Strike four. But it gets worse… The Springfield, Illinois NBC local affiliate, [WICS-TV](http://www.wics.com), for about two weeks every winter will pre-empt NBC programming for… wait for it… here it comes… high school basketball :eek: ! Yup, high school basketball. If any team from the WICS viewing area, no matter how small or obscure, is in the state tournament, they show every last one of their games. And if they lose in the early rounds, WICS shows other games with no local teams because hey, _everyone_ loves high school basketball! :rolleyes: Fortunately, these games are generally played during daylight hours so the worst they’re likely to do is pre-empt soaps. Since I don’t watch soaps, this doesn’t affect me, but the _principle_ is still there. So what can be done about this? Maybe if I barrage my local network affiliate with complaints day in and day out they’ll get the idea? Any other ideas? And since this is the Pit, I invite others to share stories of their local network affiliates pre-empting network programming for local programming. ---
**Author:** ![mske](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@mske](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mske)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/2 "2004-01-29T13:44:48Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Here we have a local network affiliate saying, “Ya know what? We think the people of central Illinois would much rather see Illini basketball then whatever CBS is showing tonight.” Well - yes. Or else they wouldn’t do it year after year. Deal. ---
**Author:** ![pipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c2a13f/32.png) [@pipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pipper)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/3 "2004-01-29T13:50:28Z")
**I - L - L** … Wha? No **I - N - I**? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/4 "2004-01-29T14:05:14Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > So what can be done about this? Absolutely nothing. Since the station obviously gets good ratings / advertising performance from showing these sporting events (they wouldn’t pre-empt if they didn’t), they won’t lift a skinny little finger to change it. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/5 "2004-01-29T14:07:06Z")
I know what you can do about it, and the good news is it takes minimal effort. Ready? Change the channel. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/6 "2004-01-29T14:09:29Z")
Get cable. Or a dish. Or read a book. And kwitcherbitchin. This thread is a waste of perfectly good electrons, and you are a pantywaste. :wally ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/7 "2004-01-29T14:24:18Z")
You may want to check to see if they’re running the CBS programs at a later time, say 1 or 2 AM. Affiliates have been known to do this for pre-emptions and sport events, even for things like breaking news. If they’re not, you could suggest it. Surely they’d get better ratings than infomercials. If you have satellite or digital cable, you may have non-local broadcast stations in addition to the local channels, so maybe you could grab the NYC or Atlanta CBS. If my roommate had to go a couple months without her CSIs, she’d resort to violence, so I feel your pain. I would never, EVER suggest that you download the episodes from Kazaa. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/8 "2004-01-29T15:55:03Z")
Does CBS have any shows worth watching anyway? ---
**Author:** ![5que](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/3bc359/32.png) [@5que](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5que)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/9 "2004-01-29T17:30:20Z")
WCIA hasn’t been the same since Mr. Roberts died.\* \*\*\* He was an ancient weatherman who I believe forecasted Noah’s flood, but nevertheless was a blast to watch.\*\* ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/10 "2004-01-29T17:35:57Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > Change the channel. Well, that doesn’t really help the situation now, does it? There are CBS shows the OP wants to watch and just “changing the channel” doesn’t quite cut it. That’s like when someone has a job-related rant, there’s always someone who comes in and says, “Just quit and find a new job!” :rolleyes: **HeyHomie** , I believe **Rysler** is right. They should be airing the shows later, at 1:00 or 2:00 am. If something is supposed to come on at, say 8:00 pm, then at that time, there should be one of those little crawls across the bottom of the screen telling you when it will be on. Try calling the station and asking. ---
**Author:** ![Flypsyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Flypsyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flypsyde)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/11 "2004-01-29T21:57:30Z")
You’re screwed. No way, no how is Channel 3 giving up U of I basketball. The skies will fall and the seas will boil before that happens. Now, being an Illini fan, I am understandably less irate about this than you are. There’s no way Channel 3 will let an Illini game, which is live and cannot be rerun with any chance of anyone watching it, be preempted by CSI or whatever, which will undoubtedly be rerun at some point during the season. Loss of Illini sports would be a HUGE financial blow to Channel 3, and what’s worse, both WAND and WICS are probably just chomping at the bit to grab it up, since they’re both well within the Champaign viewing area and believe it or not, there are people who want to see those games. Now, desires are relative, obviously, but I’d argue that WCIS would be irresponsible if they DIDN’T show the Illini games. I am a fan, and I want to see how the team’s doing while they’re doing it-not just on the ESPN crawl after the game. So if the University’s hometown TV station isn’t covering it, who should? Whose responsibility is it to show the games? Both U of I and WCIA are institutions in Central Illinois, and even moreso in Champaign. Channel 3 hosts the coaches’ weekly wrapups, and have forever; the bond has been around longer than any of the shows now on CBS, and the ratings from the Illini games have boosted WCIA’s ratings in years when the usual piles of shit CBS shovels at people were sinking the channel to the bottom of the local heap. But I have a solution that could please us both! Start rooting for the Illini to do well-the games are carried through ESPN+, which is ESPN’s “feet on the street” network when it comes to sports events that aren’t national tier-level events; that is, games that only local people probably care about. I think that if a program gets to a level of success where people other than locals want to see it, their games get moved up to ESPN or ESPN2, and are therefore broadcast nationally on those networks and those networks only. So, if the Orange and Blue start taking off in the conference standings, they’re likely to move over to having more games broadcast on the national ESPNs, instead of ESPN+. No ESPN+, no more preemptions. Ta-Da! ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/12 "2004-01-29T22:26:41Z")
I take it that the key idea in the concept of **local** network affiliate escapes you. Some of us have dumped a satellite service that brings us an east coast feed and a west coast feed as our network service for one that will give us a local net work affiliate that broad casts the university’s games and the high school tournaments. And what on earth could be broadcast on the network that is so vital that you think it appropriate to deprive every body else of the ball game so you can watch some network balderdash aimed at the lowest common denominator? ---
**Author:** ![DeaganTheWolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DeaganTheWolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeaganTheWolf)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/13 "2004-01-30T03:59:00Z")
> [@Spavined Gelding](#): > > And what on earth could be broadcast on the network that is so vital that you think it appropriate to deprive every body else of the ball game so you can watch some network balderdash aimed at the lowest common denominator? Riiiiiiiiiiight, and viewing a bunch of gangly morons chasing a ball around for a few hrs is the most cerebral entertainment available. :rolleyes: I feel your pain, they preempt my shows for football, tennis, the damn DOGSHOW for fuck’s sake. Bastards. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/14 "2004-01-30T04:53:55Z")
You think _you’ve_ got it bad? My CBS affiliate preempts regular programming if Billy Graham so much as belches in public, and don’t get me started about the time they spent an entire week of _first-run_ primetime showing Benny Hinn in all his smarmy glory. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/15 "2004-01-30T18:51:14Z")
They are not doing anything wrong. So you’re basically screwed. The UPN affiliate here in Orlando pre-empts _Enterprise_ to show Magic games. The fact is, if they weren’t making money off it, they wouldn’t do it. Just be grateful basketball is not a year-round sport, and catch your shows as they repeat. (ivylass, who works in broadcasting) ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-be-done-about-an-irresponsible-local-network-affiliate/226568/16 "2004-01-30T21:38:44Z")
Wimbleton (sp?), don’t get me started.