Looks like Cox is giving up on RI sports..?

rhodyruckus · Unread post by **rhodyruckus** » 7 years ago

All I know is Tom Werner has been an owner of NESN for well over a decade now, and despite this they appear to have ZERO interest in putting effort into programming other than Sox and Bruins related - with the possible exception of Friday night college hockey which I sometimes see is NESN-produced. On Saturdays they just pick up ACC and low/mid-major basketball produced by others.

If they haven't ventured outside of Boston for college basketball to this point (any Friars or UMass games are picked up from the conference networks), I don't see URI getting anywhere with them.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 7 years ago

The way McNamara words it, individual tickets will not be available for Dayton and VCU at all. He fails to mention that is temporary to attempt to increase season ticket and mini-plan sales. Those games will be available for purchase individually in a few weeks.

spookydog · Unread post by **spookydog** » 7 years ago

Rhody15 wrote:Possibly MYRITV as an option?

I think this is a Cox channel.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

spookydog wrote:
Rhody15 wrote:Possibly MYRITV as an option?
I think this is a Cox channel.

It is not. That is a digital sub channel of wpri and wnac.

rhodysurf · Unread post by **rhodysurf** » 7 years ago

Running Ram wrote: And how about this, we produce our own! URI used to be a broadcast hub in RI, news studios on campus and all, correct? Wouldn't it make sense to do this in cooperation with our School of Communications? We do have one of those, no? And I mean now, not next season, its 2016 here, with the right effort by the right people we could get a great product up in a week, the administration would have to let the 'Mike LaPrey' team use the special red tape scissors for a bit, assuming of course Mike LaPrey would be one of the point persons in such an endeavour. Obviously it would take some time to get such a thing coordinated with/within courses to be included as credited course work, but there is absolutely no reason that a small group of students and professionals couldn't make this happen given the right circumstances.

I like this idea a lot. Especially with how cheap and accessible hosting an online stream is now.

jmck · Unread post by **jmck** » 7 years ago

Do like Quinnipiac does. Buy the space from NESN or Comcast or MyRITV and sell your own ads and put in your own public service messages and have your media students produce a few spots.

Running Ram · Unread post by **Running Ram** » 7 years ago

I'm really just bent because we are ranked 23rd but don't have a local TV partner for our remaining untelevised games, so my displeasure, its coming out sideways. I don't care about any damn tip-off event, I care about my dad being able to watch the games.

STC · Unread post by **STC** » 7 years ago

I have been posting for years that URI needs to split from Cox and get on a regional sports network like NESN or CSNNE, so initially I was excited that Cox ditched URI.

Seeing now that the NESN plan is not going to come to fruition I am disappointed. This is a program on the cusp of national relevancy and URI can't scrape together enough cash to produce the 7 or 8 games not being televised. Just typical small time cash-strapped URI.

The online streaming is great for us die hards but how many are there outside of this board?

Think big, we do!

eli#10 · Unread post by **eli#10** » 7 years ago

Relax. I was assured last night that all games not on cable TV will be streamed. With a computer and the right cable cord you will be all set. An announcement will be made shortly.

Running Ram · Unread post by **Running Ram** » 7 years ago

this is the wrong thread for this, but what are you talking about, relax? We don't have a local TV partner, you think casual fans are going to stream with a cable to the television? I mean my dad is going to because I'll see to it. But I spent $90.00 today getting a new router so he can stream the games to his room and I assume the game streams won't be free of course, so it matters to some people, maybe not to you Eli the bad manning.

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Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

So when Cox decides to suddenly not produce games you feel the athletic dept should be able to just pay for an expense they never before had?

I would rather our relatively limited resources be spent on something else.

STC · Unread post by **STC** » 7 years ago

I don't blame the URI Athletic Department for this situation, I totally get that they have limited resources and work hard to maximize every dollar.

This problem goes above the athletic department.

It's the same problem that led to 84-7 bottoming out of the URI football program.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

Please explain. How many games are we even talking about here? Those who really want to watch will be able to.

Running Ram · Unread post by **Running Ram** » 7 years ago

ATPTourFan wrote:Please explain. How many games are we even talking about here? Those who really want to watch will be able to.

ATP are you on the pay roll? or just shmoozy with some folks who are? we only have 30 or so games, so 3 games is 10% of the season which isn't really the point, the point is we want the product to be nationally relevant so we need a high quality professional product. Also, we want those who are on the fence about watching to watch with ease, those who really want to watch are already hooked.

Running Ram · Unread post by **Running Ram** » 7 years ago

I'm with STC, I've been saying right along our guy's hands are probably tied. If I were betting I'd say if there is a lack of commitment its not from the Athletic Department.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

I would be more willing to agree had Cox not pulled out within a month or so if the season.

Pretty sure the Marist game being available by stream won't hurt our national profile.

And no I am not on the payroll and don't think the dept should pay to produce the games for a net loss.

Running Ram · Unread post by **Running Ram** » 7 years ago

So you don't think we should have had our ducks in order? no indication from cox that they were wavering on local sports eh? no kind of agreement, contract or otherwise to make sure such a thing didn't happen? It's a bad look and you can blame cox all day every day, but someone at URI has to take some responsibility for this.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 7 years ago

NESN does more than the Bruins in the winter. They do have college basketball and college hockey. You would think they would have interest in a top 25 team.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

Obviously nobody had interest in taking these few table scraps games and paying to produce them. Cox only did it because it gave them a differentiator against Verizon.

They certainly didn't recoup their production costs with ad sales. Dozens of fans watch the games. Maybe hundreds if it was a good game?

PeterRamTime · Unread post by **PeterRamTime** » 7 years ago

You'd hope the Belmont, Valpo, Old Dominion and William and Mary games could get picked up.
Maybe some of them will. By somebody.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 7 years ago

I get some people are just going to complain no matter what, but I don't see how this is on the athletic department or the school. Their local TV partner flaked on them late in the game, and I think they deserve credit for getting a streaming option in place on short notice so that the die hards that support the program can watch any games they can't attend. If this situation is the same next year with ample time to put a new system in place, fire away with the criticism if that's how you get your jollies.

An important point to keep in mind here, besides the fact that URI got screwed here and doesn't deserve blame from their fans, is that we will have 20+ games on national TV, and those are mostly the best games of the year. Twenty-some games on national TV is 1000000X better than 30 games on a local TV channel most Rhode Islanders didn't even know existed.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 7 years ago

How do you know when URI knew that Cox would not televise? When do you think they found out?

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 7 years ago

ramster wrote:How do you know when URI knew that Cox would not televise? When do you think they found out?

I truthfully don't have any idea, but unless it was before last season then it would very difficult to get a solution in place for this season. A TV partnership is a strategic partnership and typically they are longer term arrangements, so it takes some finesse and creativity to get into the right deal. I wouldn't endorse rushing into a deal just to get 8 or 10 generally uncompelling (to a casual audience) games on local TV when streaming is a viable short term alternative.

Running Ram · Unread post by **Running Ram** » 7 years ago

TruePoint wrote:I get some people are just going to complain no matter what, but I don't see how this is on the athletic department or the school. Their local TV partner flaked on them late in the game, and I think they deserve credit for getting a streaming option in place on short notice so that the die hards that support the program can watch any games they can't attend. If this situation is the same next year with ample time to put a new system in place, fire away with the criticism if that's how you get your jollies.

An important point to keep in mind here, besides the fact that URI got screwed here and doesn't deserve blame from their fans, is that we will have 20+ games on national TV, and those are mostly the best games of the year. Twenty-some games on national TV is 1000000X better than 30 games on a local TV channel most Rhode Islanders didn't even know existed.

Are you serious? I see the mods put their keaneyblue tinted glasses on early this year.

If it didn't matter, this thread wouldn't be. Call it complaining or call it discussion, whatever you like. We are talking about 9 games of 30 and it just so happens that we are slated to be one of the best teams in the north east this season. In case you're mathematically challenged and not good with ratios that's exactly 30% of the scheduled games, its not a couple of games against d2 teams, its 9 games against legit competition. Our first broadcast game is our FOURTH game of the season, again for the mathematically challenged that's 10% of the season before a game is televised. I don't care how you slice it, it is a bad look for the program.

Are we talking about a million fans that won't be able to view? nah, 10,000? nah, 1,000? maybe. 1,000,000, 10,000, or 1,000, it doesn't matter to me, what matters to me is my immobile, non-tech savvy father and the three friends that will text me to find out where the games are being broadcast. So maybe I'm the only guy in the world that this matters to, but if that's the case I've found the perfect thread on the perfect forum to give life to my COMPLAINTS. It doesn't give my jollity to criticize, what would give me jollity is if our games were on television. Check this thread, I haven't even speculated as to who at the university is responsible for the gap in coverage, I'm not here finger pointing, I just simply refuse to concede to the notion that it is the fault of cox communications that we don't have a television partner this season, because it's not cox's problem, it's ours. Someone, somewhere at the university had to have some inkling that cox wasn't the greatest of partners. You're a mod, if you don't like this discussion lock it up.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

Lots of passion, understandably coming from your concern that a loved one can't watch the game. Still doesn't change the facts.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 7 years ago

Running Ram wrote:
TruePoint wrote:I get some people are just going to complain no matter what, but I don't see how this is on the athletic department or the school. Their local TV partner flaked on them late in the game, and I think they deserve credit for getting a streaming option in place on short notice so that the die hards that support the program can watch any games they can't attend. If this situation is the same next year with ample time to put a new system in place, fire away with the criticism if that's how you get your jollies.

An important point to keep in mind here, besides the fact that URI got screwed here and doesn't deserve blame from their fans, is that we will have 20+ games on national TV, and those are mostly the best games of the year. Twenty-some games on national TV is 1000000X better than 30 games on a local TV channel most Rhode Islanders didn't even know existed.
Are you serious? I see the mods put their keaneyblue tinted glasses on early this year.

If it didn't matter, this thread wouldn't be. Call it complaining or call it discussion, whatever you like. We are talking about 9 games of 30 and it just so happens that we are slated to be one of the best teams in the north east this season. In case you're mathematically challenged and not good with ratios that's exactly 30% of the scheduled games, its not a couple of games against d2 teams, its 9 games against legit competition. Our first broadcast game is our FOURTH game of the season, again for the mathematically challenged that's 10% of the season before a game is televised. I don't care how you slice it, it is a bad look for the program.

Are we talking about a million fans that won't be able to view? nah, 10,000? nah, 1,000? maybe. 1,000,000, 10,000, or 1,000, it doesn't matter to me, what matters to me is my immobile, non-tech savvy father and the three friends that will text me to find out where the games are being broadcast. So maybe I'm the only guy in the world that this matters to, but if that's the case I've found the perfect thread on the perfect forum to give life to my COMPLAINTS. It doesn't give my jollity to criticize, what would give me jollity is if our games were on television. Check this thread, I haven't even speculated as to who at the university is responsible for the gap in coverage, I'm not here finger pointing, I just simply refuse to concede to the notion that it is the fault of cox communications that we don't have a television partner this season, because it's not cox's problem, it's ours. Someone, somewhere at the university had to have some inkling that cox wasn't the greatest of partners. You're a mod, if you don't like this discussion lock it up.

Of course it matters. If you read other posts I've made in this thread, you'd know that I think it matters. Not having many of the OOC games on TV is suboptimal. The folks at URI know it is suboptimal. But I view getting mad at and blaming the school and the athletic department for the problem as having a bit of a tantrum - it doesn't take into account any facts or information and it requires zero thoughtfulness. I'm not here defend anyone in every instance or criticize anyone in every instance, I'm just calling it like I see it. Earlier this week I was critical of the athletic department for uninviting some of their best fans from the tip-off event. In this case, I don't think criticism of the athletic department is warranted, and I don't believe you need to be critical of the athletic department to realize that it would be better if the games were on TV.

Rhody15 · Unread post by **Rhody15** » 7 years ago

A lot of the old time fans I'm sure want nothing more than to sit down in their chair, grab the remote and turn to the channel we are playing on. I highly doubt any of them watch to take the time to get up the stream on the computer, have it lag, wifi go out, and watch on a small screen, or even connect the laptop to their TV.

Having games on regular cable is so much more convenient for the casual fan.

RIFan · Unread post by **RIFan** » 7 years ago

My parents like to watch the games on TV, but I can only imagine trying to explain to them how to stream it and then watch it on their much smaller computer screen...and then sit at the computer desk for 2 hours, and not on the couch. Not going to happen.

BUT, it is better than nothing. unfortunately that is the best you can probably say about it.

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 7 years ago

There's nothing I want more then for 2000 Britney Spears to hop in a DeLorean, come to 2016 RI and fall in love with an overweight guy with little money who spends too much time on the internet going by the name Rhowdyram02. Sometimes real life and outside forces get in the way of what we want.

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 7 years ago

Also, every game will be broadcast live on B101

rhodysurf · Unread post by **rhodysurf** » 7 years ago

This is ridiculous, its 2016 and everyone has internet. Cable is dying, streaming a few OOC games internet only is such a bizarre thing to complain about.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 7 years ago

rhodysurf wrote:This is ridiculous, its 2016 and everyone has internet. Cable is dying, streaming a few OOC games internet only is such a bizarre thing to complain about.

I know plenty of people who don't use the internet. Chances are if you didn't use it for the first 40 or 50 years of your life, you don't use it now. I know people who still don't use microwaves.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 7 years ago

Given when this happened (recently), the fact that it had nothing to do with URI but was part of a larger corporate brand restructure by Cox, and the fact that all we have to offer are the rights to a handful of games against some of our most low profile opponents it really is asking a lot and fairly naive to think the administration could have done much to pivot here to another noteworthy carrier. Deals with the likes of a NESN aren't crafted in a few weeks. I think the administration did the best thing possible given the circumstances - take matters into their own hands to offer streaming access for their core fan base, and now begin negotiating with a partner for next season while your product (the team) is having their most success and increasing their brand value through the course of this season. If we still don't have a local partner next season then it is cause for complaint.

I taught my 70 year old father how to stream games, its not that hard. And for those new to streaming feel lucky you missed the "Elephant animation years." The product is much improved.

Running Ram · Unread post by **Running Ram** » 7 years ago

We're going to have to agree to disagree here, go ahead and blame cox, that's fine, I mean it was a pretty shitty thing of them, but ultimately it's our brand and our fan base that it will effect, not cox, so I don't follow your logic on this one, because you're not making sense. Logical analysis is real and in this scenario the university's athletic department is the fabric that makes the chain, it (the A.D.) is the common thread, it is involved with all aspects of the product. This is where I agree with STC, we should have been working harder for a better product all along, it's called thinking big.

As far as streaming goes it's fine, I get it, it's better than nothing and I'm thankful for it, but that's not the point, you guys want to give the A.D. a pass on this gaff and that really doesn't make sense. I'm not here calling for heads to roll, pointing fingers or any of that, I'm simply stating that it is ultimately the university's responsibility to insure a good product is offered in this regard.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 7 years ago

I think they are offering the best product (streaming) they can given the circumstances. That was the only point I was making.
If there is proof they knew this would happen 6 months ago and did nothing then you have a point.
But if this was indeed a surprise to them, as of 3 weeks ago, there is no way you can cobble together a broadcast deal in short order. On top of timing constraints also dealing with a small market with limited broadcast options.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 7 years ago

bigappleram wrote:And for those new to streaming feel lucky you missed the "Elephant animation years."

This image will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

GET LOUD!!

rjsuperfly66 · Unread post by **rjsuperfly66** » 7 years ago

I believe NESN has partial contracts to air misc ACC and CAA games, as well as Hockey East. And my guess is with the ACC and CAA games, they probably just air, I doubt they produce it and with Hockey East, they can easily schedule it around existing content. They only produce 16 regular season games, 4 of which are Frozen Fenway games and 3 of which are Beanpot. That means they only really travel for 9 other games, 3 of which are flex games, 2 of which are at BU, and 1 at BC & Lowell, and lets be honest, these games are simply filler with nothing else on and the Bruins on an off-night.

For NESN to even consider airing URI games, I'm guessing there would have to be some sort of conference approval (or conference deal), and URI (or the A10) might still have to produce the games and use NESN as distribution, and at that point, why not just put the games on ESPN3 to allow for national viewing? Plus, isn't the A10 going to be using Facebook Live this year to air games? That could also be a route.

rhodysurf · Unread post by **rhodysurf** » 7 years ago

I guess its cuz I'm young but I would 1000000% percent prefer a streaming option to having games on TV. And I would imagine out of market fans feel the same, as well as anyone with Verizon who could only watch online anyway.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 7 years ago

Hit the nail on the head, and guess what...the broadcast need is mostly for out of market fans. If you are in RI and a fan of URI hoops then get off your ass and go to the game (assuming you are healthy and able of course). Our profile is not being enhanced much by being on some random Cox channel, with an average pre/post-game show, and equally average production value. Yes it sucks for that small pocket of fans that cannot attend games and would like to watch from their couch, but all in all its a very workable solution given the situation.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

Right. You can easily argue that the loss of the Cox broadcast STREAM was more of an issue than the TV distribution to RI based Cox subscribers.

That's why the athletic department made sure to get a web stream set up. It benefits ANY local or remote fan and doesn't require them to be a COX subscriber living in RI.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 7 years ago

The A10 site shows 7 of our OOC games being streamed there. Is that a free stream?

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

GoRhody app shows this as well.

Here is the link for the Dartmouth game next Friday. No sign of premium tags or other non-free indications. There are some events on the Atlantic 10 site that are pay per view. Who knows what ours will be?

http://uri.prestosports.com/links/1w8npw

Puck Frovidence · Unread post by **Puck Frovidence** » 7 years ago

It's great to have streaming for the die-hards and out-of-staters, but for local exposure, bars, restaurants and casual home viewers you need TV coverage to build greater following for the team.

I believe the problem is currently two-fold:

1. We need someone to produce the games (at a level acceptable for broadcast).

2. We need someone to broadcast the games.

Cox did both, which is why it was kind of a cushy deal, even though it excluded a big group of non-Cox subscribers. NESN will never produce a URI basketball game. They have not produced college ball games since the Coaches Vs Cancer event ended. They are shedding other in-house production of college sports as well (ended 30+ years of regular season Hockey East coverage and switched to just carrying ASN's Hockey East Coverage). As far as I know, they do the Hockey East Finals,the Beanpot and the Amherst/Williams football game, all based in Mass and all traditional rivalry type events.

1. As far as production goes, we could definitely do it in-house, although its unlikely it would be linked up with the Harrington School unfortunately. The most likely coverage would be from a company like Learfield which would provide the technical resources and know-how. This is how several hockey schools like UNH, Maine, Merrimack and UMass-Lowell produce high-quality games for broadcast on local stations.

This is Learfield coverage from UNH. It's nothing fancy but looks like a high quality local broadcast. They have interviews and university produced content in the intermissions.

2. For a broadcast partner, there are at least half a dozen local networks who the school could work with, although MyRITV seems a likely candidate since they have no national schedule to carry. They also used to broadcast Brown basketball in the recent past. WJAR's MeTV subchannel is already home to some URI Football games, so they might be a good candidate as well. In any event, a network partner is the best outcome because then the games will be available: over-the-air, on satellite and on all cable systems in the area. NESN (or NESN+) is also a likely contender on the cable side for these games, as could be Comcast Sports New England if they have no Celtics/Revolution conflicts. Finally Fox College Sports is a series of three channels carried in Rhody on Fios, satellite and IPTV (like Sling and PS Vue). If we were working with Learfield they'd be a likely candidate to at least carry replays if not also live games; they pick up the aforementioned New England college hockey broadcasts and carry them on FCS Atlantic.

Not so long ago...

TLDR: We really should have local TV coverage, and there are definitely accepted methods for getting that done in time for this year.

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 7 years ago

Wow, it must have killed PMMM to see Chris doing URI games.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 7 years ago

Yes, Cox's previous agreement was very cushy and almost unheard of. Cox was doing a full, HD, legit TV production with professional crews, equipment, trucks, announcers. This level of production was easily costing Cox $20-30k per game.

NESN, Comcast Sports Net, MyRITV, etc would charge URI $20k+ to produce what Cox was delivering to URI and their subscribers for free.

Even bare bones level of production would be $5k/gm which becomes a significant sum of $ over the games that aren't produced by anyone else.

I would expect the Dartmouth game (And perhaps a few more after that) to be offered through the A10 network for free as URI Athletics becomes confident in their technical ability to deliver the stream. Also, because there's no full broadcast to just simulcast to the online stream, the production level will be lower than what we had from Cox last year, meaning we'll get in house video and probably Steve/Don's radio broadcast -- or maybe no play-by-play at all and just on-floor sound.

Do not expect this year's streaming to match what we had last season with Cox. If a means to get these types of games produced on TV with little/no cost to URI, you can bet the Athletic Dept would jump at that.

NESN/CSN/MyRITV/WPRI/WJAR aren't walking through that door, folks. We enjoyed over a decade of freebie TV coverage from Cox which just isn't how things normally work. We were very lucky for that arrangement and Cox changed their business model.

Puck Frovidence · Unread post by **Puck Frovidence** » 7 years ago

ATPTourFan wrote:NESN/CSN/MyRITV/WPRI/WJAR aren't walking through that door, folks.

Agreed, in terms of production. I doubt the RI networks up there even have the production capacity for live sports at this point, and NESN and CSN aren't going to come shoot games. All of these, however, are very viable potential carriers for games especially considering that WJAR and WPRI each have two subchannel networks.

rjsuperfly66 · Unread post by **rjsuperfly66** » 7 years ago

Isn't it easier than ever though to be able to stream and view games from television and smart device?
It may be a slight inconvenience to find an alternative means to watch the game than a random television station, but isn't it the greater good to maximize potential national exposure than make it slightly easier for Joe the casual fan to watch the game?
Let's be honest, if the team is good, isn't the average fan going to try to watch it anyway?
How many smart devices and locations have access to ESPN3?
Anything on ESPN3 is virtually watchable anywhere anyway, which is a huge benefit ESPN has over say CBS Sports Net or NBC Sports Net.
And if the team isn't any good, isn't it mostly going to be the hardcores who'd watch any way possible?

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 7 years ago

Puck Frovidence wrote:It's great to have streaming for the die-hards and out-of-staters, but for local exposure, bars, restaurants and casual home viewers you need TV coverage to build greater following for the team.

Right and 20 of our games will be on national TV, so bars and grandpas shouldn't have a hard time picking that up. It wasn't that long ago that almost no games were available on TV or the Internet.

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 7 years ago

ATPTourFan wrote: NESN, Comcast Sports Net, MyRITV, etc would charge URI $20k+ to produce what Cox was delivering to URI and their subscribers for free.

Umm, I think networks pay for content. Not the other way around.

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