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

Puck Frovidence · Unread post by **Puck Frovidence** » 8 years ago

We're in full swing of RI high school and college athletics, but URI's regional broadcast partner appears to have thrown in the towel...

The CoxHub website, which last year had a flurry of activity at this time, has not been updated since August. For URI and PC content it's been significantly longer. There's no info for live subscriptions for either PC hockey or Rhody basketball... and URI Athletics hasn't issued anything indicating the non-national games will be carried on OSN again. PC's hockey season has already started, and they've gone from every single home game being broadcast on OSN last year to none this year (production has also switched over from high quality Cox team to shoddier in-house coverage).

Cox was never the best, and if they are jumping ship it leaves URI with the opportunity to get those games on a more widely available TV channel, but losing a major media partner like that still feels like a setback. Especially with the occasional other Rhody sports they'd pick up like soccer, football and baseball, and the high school stuff. Thoughts?

Rhody15 · Unread post by **Rhody15** » 8 years ago

Wow, if Cox has given up that's pretty surprising.

With PC making the tournament three straight years and Rhody being picked preseason Top 25, you would think Cox coverage would be higher than ever.

Also, losing OSN broadcasting games would be a major blow.

Puck Frovidence · Unread post by **Puck Frovidence** » 8 years ago

Agreed. My only hope is that maybe the athletics department can work on a deal now to get carriage through one of the local networks (or even their subchannels like MeTV). That would actually increase exposure for basketball, since those channels are carried on all cable providers, as well as over the air for "cord cutters" and on satellite. We have a record number of games on national TV this year and it would suck if that coincided with such a sharp drop in total televised games.

Also, losing all that ancillary coverage really stings, since CoxHub has had a reasonably solid slate of blogs and podcasts about Rhody hoops...

ramfan85 · Unread post by **ramfan85** » 8 years ago

The oh reason I have Cox is for local sports. I'm not alone, either. I hate Cox and would change immediately if coverage of games stops.

jmck · Unread post by **jmck** » 8 years ago

I am with ramfan85.

eli#10 · Unread post by **eli#10** » 8 years ago

I also would switch from Cox in a heart beat if our games were not televised on Cox. This could be a matter of URI wanting more $ to do our games since the state wide interest should be very high resulting in greater viewers and therefore (theoretically) companies will be paying more to run their commercials.
Of course I will not be happy if I have to pay Cox in order to break my 2 year deal with them.

hrstrat57 · Unread post by **hrstrat57** » 8 years ago

ramfan85 wrote:The oh reason I have Cox is for local sports. I'm not alone, either. I hate Cox and would change immediately if coverage of games stops.

Also agree and watching this closely......

Puck Frovidence · Unread post by **Puck Frovidence** » 8 years ago

eli#10 wrote: This could be a matter of URI wanting more $ to do our games since the state wide interest should be very high resulting in greater viewers and therefore (theoretically) companies will be paying more to run their commercials.

That makes sense, but the fact the PC hockey and Friday night high school football are gone from the schedule this fall makes me think this is a Cox issue more than a Rhody one. It is weird because they really seemed to have doubled down on the Rhody/PC coverage in the past few years with daily updates/videos/podcasts etc. But I just took a look at the OSN TV listings for the next week and with the exception of a 2 hour block on Saturday and Sunday with some (non-team sports) local prerecorded shows, there is literally nothing on the network but WJAR news repeats. Pretty sad for the "Ocean State Network".

Rhodysk · Unread post by **Rhodysk** » 8 years ago

Any word on the non TV games being picked up???

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 8 years ago

Trying to find out stuff...

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 8 years ago

If Cox is done I sure do hope they have a streaming service lined up somehow or I'll be missing a ton of games.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 8 years ago

So there's no official info, but as has been mentioned, the CoxHub site is dormant since around May. With each passing day the likelihood of any Cox-produced games in Kingston fades.

To Cox' credit, they had been heavily investing in the local community to differentiate against their competition *ahem, Verizon FiOS* who don't have the local presence. CoxHub and their decade plus of producing Rhody hoops and picking up away games to locally televise gave URI TV coverage when there was very little from other sources.

In the past year or so, CoxHub had been featuring Chris DiSano's excellent analysis which we all appreciated. The Friars also enjoyed plenty of coverage on the digital platform.

It's very possible that Cox's management is questioning the return on investment of local basketball (URI and PC) and CoxHub.

It seems Cox is still a sponsor/partner of URI Basketball, but they may not be making the big investment in television and digital content going forward. We'll just have to wait to hear some official news.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 8 years ago

I'm going to lose my mind if I have to follow the first game of the season like this http://www.espn.com/ncb/conversation/_/gameId/400918430

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 8 years ago

Bottom line regardless of what happens is that this has been poor communication on the part of Cox
Incredible that they have increased coverage od URI basketball in recent years and then when we are hitting our peak they disappear....weird.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 8 years ago

I think, and hope, this is part of a larger Cox brand re-structuring and organizing, and has little to do with results of Rhode Island specific audiences.
If not Cox, I have to believe the school will figure out a local TV partner, and with their expected success they are operating from a good position. After that we have to hope that partner has high quality streaming capabilities already in place.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 8 years ago

Seriously, if this ends up being the season where they all of a sudden don't have a streaming option I might lose it. I will remain confident that my man Mike Laprey will not allow that to happen.

RIFan · Unread post by **RIFan** » 8 years ago

I got a nice new monitor just for this purpose. I had been waiting for them to offer the season pass and I have been getting concerned that we will be left stream-less. This is 2016, most every game should be able to be streamed.

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 8 years ago

We've been streaming our football games, I'm sure they'll have something set up for basketball

hrstrat57 · Unread post by **hrstrat57** » 8 years ago

Top 20 team and no TV? Beat Cincy and Duke in week 1 and we'll be top 10 week 2!

Greatest is possible!

Could we possibly allow such a disaster as no TV to happen?

ramfan85 · Unread post by **ramfan85** » 8 years ago

Looks like a great opportunity for another cable co. like Verizon to make a bid and scoop up local sports.
I've been very disappointed with Cox, anyway, even before this came up.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 8 years ago

Pretty late to have nothing announced
Certainly will increase attendance at home games if Cox does not materialize
Seems like you can watch on the A10 network, no?
Maybe URI is playing hardball with Cox and looking for more revenues
In any case all will work out, we have much too good a team for things to not work out

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 8 years ago

RhowdyRam02 wrote:We've been streaming our football games, I'm sure they'll have something set up for basketball

This is where I'm at. Without having any insider knowledge and just based on the information presented here and reading between the lines a bit, I don't think this has anything to do with URI or even Cox's local decision-making people. This feels like a strategy decision for Cox as a national cable provider to abandon their investments in local market sports, presumably because they weren't seeing returns on those investments in terms of subscriptions and ad revenue. Nothing URI can do about that, and I'm almost certain that URI did not suddenly start driving such a hard bargain that they pushed their local TV partner to walk away altogether (the fact that other local sports coverage has come down off of Cox platforms seems like further evidence of this).

All that being said, URI should be able to get their games out via a web stream, and as someone that is out of the market and couldn't watch the Cox games via broadcast television anyways it doesn't make all that much difference to me. It would be helpful if someone from URI would address it and give us an indication of what the plan is, or at least some reassurance that there is one.

ramster · Unread post by **ramster** » 8 years ago

I think that is exactly the point.

Without any official word from URI or from Cox then speculation is all you have.

And it is very late in the game to be speculating - which is not good for URI or for Cox. Nobody wins.

Doesn't the A10 network broadcast the games anyway? You just buy the A10 package?

Doesn't matter to me since I will be at the games anyway, but for out of state fans it matters a lot

eli#10 · Unread post by **eli#10** » 8 years ago

I am hearing that Cox is definitely out and that we do have a replacement. I am not sure why an announcement has not been made.

It would be nice to hear from Mike Laprey for an update.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 8 years ago

Yeah, good to hear about a replacement in the works. There won't be any Cox games this year. Cox served our program very well and I agree that it's probably not even Cox New England division that is making this call to give up on local sports.

BleedBlue87 · Unread post by **BleedBlue87** » 8 years ago

My only concern about dropping Cox for Playstation Vue was the URI coverage. I dropped Cox anyways but nice to know I won't be missing out regardless.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 8 years ago

I'm hearing there's a plan to provide some video streaming for our out-of-market fans. Once that's all finalized, I would expect we'll see some official communication.

RIFan · Unread post by **RIFan** » 8 years ago

That's good news. fingers crossed.

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 8 years ago

It is not good news that Cox will not televise games. Their coverage brought URI hoops to the casual fan in RI and gave the program some exposure it otherwise would not have had. I have always felt their televising of games had little affect on attendance. Most nearly everyone watching at home was not going to the Ryan Center for the games.

Rhody74 · Unread post by **Rhody74** » 8 years ago

This is interesting. ....

http://www.atlantic10.com/ViewArticle.d ... =211259193

CT Rhody · Unread post by **CT Rhody** » 8 years ago

Two weeks out and no news on an opening game stream? Come on man!

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 8 years ago

Working on it.

CT Rhody · Unread post by **CT Rhody** » 8 years ago

ATPTourFan wrote:Working on it.

Awesome! I don't wanna have to watch a box score being updated for game one!

SmartyBarrett · Unread post by **SmartyBarrett** » 8 years ago

Mongo · Unread post by **Mongo** » 8 years ago

That's great news!! I was hoping for that.

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 8 years ago

Streaming is a good option for diehard fans. It however will not make up for lost games on Cox which would have had a much higher viewership and brought Rhody hoops to casual fans. The decision by Cox to drop URi games makes it harder to grow the URI fanbase and attract attention outside the core supporters.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 8 years ago

RF1 wrote:Streaming is a good option for diehard fans. It however will not make up for lost games on Cox which would have had a much higher viewership and brought Rhody hoops to casual fans. The decision by Cox to drop URi games makes it harder to grow the URI fanbase and attract attention outside the core supporters.

One could argue that the high number of national tv games against quality opponents might offset any gain in casual fans that would happen to catch a game against Dartmouth or Marist.

Don't get me wrong, having games on Cox would be better than not having them on Cox, I'm just not sure it'll make all that much of a difference.

eli#10 · Unread post by **eli#10** » 8 years ago

I am looking for a TV announcement to be made at tomorrow night's Tip Off Event.

CT Rhody · Unread post by **CT Rhody** » 8 years ago

What is the tip off event? Us out of staters don't always know about these events.

Rhody15 · Unread post by **Rhody15** » 8 years ago

eli#10 wrote:I am looking for a TV announcement to be made at tomorrow night's Tip Off Event.

There was an email sent saying that the tip off event was canceled.

eli#10 · Unread post by **eli#10** » 8 years ago

Event in the Ryan Center from 5:30-7:30 with free beer and wine and hor d'oeurves. Actually is called Tip Off Party.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 8 years ago

RF1 wrote:Streaming is a good option for diehard fans. It however will not make up for lost games on Cox which would have had a much higher viewership and brought Rhody hoops to casual fans. The decision by Cox to drop URi games makes it harder to grow the URI fanbase and attract attention outside the core supporters.

It's true that Cox getting out of the local sports game isn't a great development for URI, but what are you going to do? When things happen outside of your control you do the best you can to adapt. Streaming is a good stopgap until they figure out a long term replacement.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 8 years ago

eli#10 wrote:Event in the Ryan Center from 5:30-7:30 with free beer and wine and hor d'oeurves. Actually is called Tip Off Party.

Wasn't this cancelled?!

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 8 years ago

Back to the topic...

There's a good chance we will at least have the kind of high quality digital media and reporting we enjoyed last year on CoxHub. No TV games, but the other good stuff with insights from guys like Chris DiSano.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 8 years ago

It's official about no Cox TV games

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 8 years ago

SmartyBarrett · Unread post by **SmartyBarrett** » 8 years ago

Not a ton of info in that article. Most had already inferred what's written.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 8 years ago

I disagree with Bill a little bit about NESN. They probably won't invest a ton of money in URI basketball, but they have zero programming in the baseball offseason other than the Bruins. I don't even know what else they do...infomercials? I don't know if it is NESN or who it is, but there is a deal out there to be made with someone to get non-national games on local TV. If they want help finding it, they know how to reach me.

Running Ram · Unread post by **Running Ram** » 8 years ago

TruePoint wrote:I disagree with Bill a little bit about NESN. They probably won't invest a ton of money in URI basketball, but they have zero programming in the baseball offseason other than the Bruins. I don't even know what else they do...infomercials? I don't know if it is NESN or who it is, but there is a deal out there to be made with someone to get non-national games on local TV. If they want help finding it, they know how to reach me.

I love when I agree with you! It makes me remember that there is always common ground among people, its just a matter of it coming out. And I'm glad you got the message across before I chimed in, because my first statement in regards to BK's sentiments on the possibility of NESN carrying the local games, is "that's a load of Bull!" NESN lacks programing, I haven't watched anything besides an occasional Red Sox tilt on NESN in a decade!

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.

Rhody15 · Unread post by **Rhody15** » 8 years ago

Possibly MYRITV as an option?