Why isnt there more Sabre shows on the tele?

[Chief Enabler]

You'd figure over the last couple years someone hasnt jumped on this one. NESN has the Buzz for the Bruins here in New England, giving behind the scenes crap, vintage games, weekly stuff around the league, segments for kids & highlights, etc. I am sure other teams have their own programs.

 

I know MSG is involved but I am sure it could be expanded. We all remember back in the day when everyone and there uncle had their own show on the Bills, what's up with that?

[LabattBlue]

Those type of shows cost money to produce and all of the video budget is tied up in scouting. :lol:

[Chief Enabler]

Those type of shows cost money to produce and all of the video budget is tied up in scouting. :lol:

you tube?

[inkman]

you tube?

That is also where you will find Sabre"Shows". They look a lot like games but you can notice the slightly worse picture than the MSG feed.

[frisky]

The Sabres are like the adopted orphan child of MSG at the bottom behind the Devils. Too bad about Empire *sigh*.

[SabresFanInRochester]

I would love a video feed, similar to what Empire used to have. But before that rolls around, how about better radio reception. I cannot get 550 in Rochester because of interference from another channel, and 950 only covers the game, with no pre- or post- coverage.

[SDS]

I guess the question is - was Empire profitable and it just got pulled under with the rest of Adelphia or was it a losing business?

[Taro T]

I guess the question is - was Empire profitable and it just got pulled under with the rest of Adelphia or was it a losing business?

Assuming it was most likely profitable.

 

An offer for it was definitely made. Adelphia turned it down, IIRC the reason being that they believed in the LT they'd pay out more in fees for airing the channel than they'd make ST selling it. The fact they were in bankruptcy and needed cash THEN and the fact that killing Empire and NSA (oh, that's right, they didn't kill that one, they sold it to the owners of GR who did) would leave an awful lot of disgruntled customers didn't seem to factor into the decision.

[evil_otto]

I would love a video feed, similar to what Empire used to have. But before that rolls around, how about better radio reception. I cannot get 550 in Rochester because of interference from another channel, and 950 only covers the game, with no pre- or post- coverage.

Is the WGR stream not an option for you? I think you can even download the post games from the WGR site.

[SDS]

Assuming it was most likely profitable.

 

An offer for it was definitely made. Adelphia turned it down, IIRC the reason being that they believed in the LT they'd pay out more in fees for airing the channel than they'd make ST selling it. The fact they were in bankruptcy and needed cash THEN and the fact that killing Empire and NSA (oh, that's right, they didn't kill that one, they sold it to the owners of GR who did) would leave an awful lot of disgruntled customers didn't seem to factor into the decision.

 

if it was profitable, why hasn't something moved in to fill the void? Or was it only profitable because of the dual-ownership with the Sabres? Seemd to me if there is money to be made, someone would have jumped on it.

[The_Swannie_House]

It was not profitable

 

Sincerely,

 

Jim Brinson

[Eleven]

if it was profitable, why hasn't something moved in to fill the void? Or was it only profitable because of the dual-ownership with the Sabres? Seemd to me if there is money to be made, someone would have jumped on it.

 

SDS, that "avatar"--new? Hilarious. Bet they make Roenick captain for the Vancouver games.

[Taro T]

if it was profitable, why hasn't something moved in to fill the void? Or was it only profitable because of the dual-ownership with the Sabres? Seemd to me if there is money to be made, someone would have jumped on it.

Good question. There have been a lot of changes in the marketplace since Empire started and died. A lot of regional sportschannels have become Fox Sports Wherevers or bought out by Comcast. It may be cost prohibitive to start up a new network between providing for the sunk costs necessary to broadcast their own programming and buying canned stuff (BDSSP, etc) may be too expensive not being part of a network.

 

There were a lot of sunk costs (cameras, studios, etc.) and organizational effort that didn't have to be recreated by keeping the channel running. All that is gone and needs to be rebuilt from scratch. Empire also had 2-3 years remaining on its existing contract w/ the Sabres and had a contract w/ DirecTV to be on their Sports Package.

 

A local channel can't broadcast the Bills games, and IIRC the MSG Sabres contract is very long (~6 more years, again IIRC (don't have time to look it up)) so you can't broadcast Sabres games either. What would the network be built on? Bandits, Bisons, HS sports and Sabres / Bills support shows probably wouldn't be profitable enough to justify starting a new entity.

 

I'd guess that the issue is: the old Empire was profitable but with the way things have changed in the interim a "new" Empire wouldn't be profitable until at a minimum it had an opportunity to broadcast Sabres' games. Then I'd expect we'd see Fox Sports WNY and all the cheesy programming that entails.

 

One last aside. The whole reason Rigas started taking an ownership stake in the Sabres was to make sure that Empire did remain profitable when the Knoxes started having money issues. If the Sabres left town, he'd have been left with Blizzard games and the Marv Thermal Polian Tasker show. Probably not enough to keep that one rolling either.

[tom webster]

Good question. There have been a lot of changes in the marketplace since Empire started and died. A lot of regional sportschannels have become Fox Sports Wherevers or bought out by Comcast. It may be cost prohibitive to start up a new network between providing for the sunk costs necessary to broadcast their own programming and buying canned stuff (BDSSP, etc) may be too expensive not being part of a network.

 

There were a lot of sunk costs (cameras, studios, etc.) and organizational effort that didn't have to be recreated by keeping the channel running. All that is gone and needs to be rebuilt from scratch. Empire also had 2-3 years remaining on its existing contract w/ the Sabres and had a contract w/ DirecTV to be on their Sports Package.

 

A local channel can't broadcast the Bills games, and IIRC the MSG Sabres contract is very long (~6 more years, again IIRC (don't have time to look it up)) so you can't broadcast Sabres games either. What would the network be built on? Bandits, Bisons, HS sports and Sabres / Bills support shows probably wouldn't be profitable enough to justify starting a new entity.

 

I'd guess that the issue is: the old Empire was profitable but with the way things have changed in the interim a "new" Empire wouldn't be profitable until at a minimum it had an opportunity to broadcast Sabres' games. Then I'd expect we'd see Fox Sports WNY and all the cheesy programming that entails.

 

One last aside. The whole reason Rigas started taking an ownership stake in the Sabres was to make sure that Empire did remain profitable when the Knoxes started having money issues. If the Sabres left town, he'd have been left with Blizzard games and the Marv Thermal Polian Tasker show. Probably not enough to keep that one rolling either.

 

There were also a lot of questions whether they were profitable or not because of the convoluted ways Adelphia did business. They artificially paid large tv rights fees to inflate Sabres profitability when that made sense, then changed it when it didn't. They played games with tier pricing and advertising doing things like requiring the history channel to buy a suite but then rolling it into rights fees and the such. In the end, the network only made sense if TG bought it and for some reason he wasn't even interested in discussing it. I would bet that with the integration of the internet, computers and television that there will be some sort of local programming in the future.

[Taro T]

There were also a lot of questions whether they were profitable or not because of the convoluted ways Adelphia did business. They artificially paid large tv rights fees to inflate Sabres profitability when that made sense, then changed it when it didn't. They played games with tier pricing and advertising doing things like requiring the history channel to buy a suite but then rolling it into rights fees and the such. In the end, the network only made sense if TG bought it and for some reason he wasn't even interested in discussing it. I would bet that with the integration of the internet, computers and television that there will be some sort of local programming in the future.

I don't discount anything else you said in this post, thus my earlier post that it was "most likely profitable" as it was claimed to be profitable but that is very difficult to say for certain without looking at the books of several entities.

 

There was a legitimate offer to buy Empire when Adelphia filed for bankruptcy so there was at least one businessman that disagreed with you on the bolded point.

[Chief Enabler]

A local channel can't broadcast the Bills games, and IIRC the MSG Sabres contract is very long (~6 more years, again IIRC (don't have time to look it up)) so you can't broadcast Sabres games either. What would the network be built on? Bandits, Bisons, HS sports and Sabres / Bills support shows probably wouldn't be profitable enough to justify starting a new entity.

 

I'd guess that the issue is: the old Empire was profitable but with the way things have changed in the interim a "new" Empire wouldn't be profitable until at a minimum it had an opportunity to broadcast Sabres' games. Then I'd expect we'd see Fox Sports WNY and all the cheesy programming that entails.

I'll admit that I am not a big fan of all the FSN east,west,blah, midwest, blah, etc. But most likely a local sports channel would turn into just that. To fill the voids airing all high school coverage year round would be good. Also whatever else is going on (speedways, fishing on the lakes, hunting in the southern tier). True, you not going to make millions, but it would be part of the community, local advertisers sign on , perhaps tourism plugs/shows.

 

It was a just a thought to promote the area and what WNY'ers are into. If it was to be so low budget, the Sabres should start it themselves! Who wouldnt watch classic Sabres games year round?

[tom webster]

I don't discount anything else you said in this post, thus my earlier post that it was "most likely profitable" as it was claimed to be profitable but that is very difficult to say for certain without looking at the books of several entities.

 

There was a legitimate offer to buy Empire when Adelphia filed for bankruptcy so there was at least one businessman that disagreed with you on the bolded point.

 

I wasn't really disagreeing with you, just pointing out some additional facts. As far as the "legitimate offer" I remember there being an offer, but wasn't there something about it being contingent on the continuation of Sabres contract? There was something not right about the offer, otherwise wouldn't the bankruptcy trustee forced the sale to secure as much rturn fo creditors as possible.

[inkman]

Who wouldnt watch classic Sabres games year round?

Me. The only games I want to watch again involving my sports teams are chamionship victories. I don't need to be reminded of all the failure involved with the teams I root for. Every time a Bills Superbowl is being replayed on TV, I run as far in the other direction as possible. I'm not sure what the draw is. Hey, remember when you had your heart ripped out, stomped on, put back in, ripped out again, had it #%^$#! on and flushed down the toilet? Well, you can relive all that right here. No thanks.

 

It reminds me of the whiner line mentality. Bitch, moan, complain about everything you will never have control over. Shoulda, coulda, woulda...enough already. Look forward and live with the results.

[Chief Enabler]

Me. The only games I want to watch again involving my sports teams are chamionship victories. I don't need to be reminded of all the failure involved with the teams I root for. Every time a Bills Superbowl is being replayed on TV, I run as far in the other direction as possible. I'm not sure what the draw is. Hey, remember when you had your heart ripped out, stomped on, put back in, ripped out again, had it #%^$#! on and flushed down the toilet? Well, you can relive all that right here. No thanks.

 

It reminds me of the whiner line mentality. Bitch, moan, complain about everything you will never have control over. Shoulda, coulda, woulda...enough already. Look forward and live with the results.

You might want to question watching the Sabres at all then :rolleyes:

[SabresFanInRochester]

Is the WGR stream not an option for you? I think you can even download the post games from the WGR site.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I was considering more while I was mobile. If I can get in front of a PC, I can usually get in front of a TV. But there have been times while traveling that I listen via the Sabres.com feed.

[StunningCombo]

Isn't that the problem we all have?

 

I wish I could stop.

 

When I was a youth growing up in Buffalo I always wondered why my Father, Uncles, Grandfathers, neighbors, and people I delivered Pizzas to (Bob & Johns!) always had a negative attitude with anything to do with the Sabres, Bills, Bisons ( I was at the MLB rally with long time Buffalo Sports Fan saying we had no shot.)

 

30 years later after 4 Super Bowl loses, The Forward Lateral, Rob Johnson, The Foot in the Crease, The Letdown last year (everyone was too worried thinking about their contracts to play) I understand why but yet I still can't root for another team.

 

This is the life of a Buffalo Sports Fan.

 

You might want to question watching the Sabres at all then :rolleyes: