TV sports giving the "shaft" to fans

This past weekend, for the third time this season, UL broadcast its weekly football game on ESPNU. That in and of itself is not worth noting. But what is worth noting is that in the Louisville area, only 10% of all households actually get ESPNU as an option on their cable TV service offered by Insight Communications. That does not include the satellite TV people, however, because I could not find out those numbers.

I happen to be one of the 90% that does not get this channel. Why? Because, quite frankly, it is stupid for me to pay a monthly charge for digital TV service and then an additional monthly charge on top of that, all in addition to my current monthly cable bill, expressly JUST to get a single channel. No matter HOW bad I want to watch the game. Or in this specific instance, the 3 games a year I want to watch.

This all started me thinking about how in recent years, sports TV broadcasting has really started screwing the "Top Row Joe" sports fan. And it is NOT just restricted to ESPN only.

As a result I started doing some research to see just how bad this problem really was and to see if it was just me that was being unfair. When I came across this article written by a CNNMoney columnist.

Cable's Fight with NFL, Big 10 leave fans in the dark

If you read the linked article the author does a wonderful job of outlining just how insidious the two sides are about your viewing dollar. And this will only get worse. More and more we will see big business entities like the NFL and NCAA conferences venture into the area of media broadcasting. And that will put more and more fans into the streets, (literally), trying to find a venue to watch their teams or favorite sports.

But as the article points out, there actually IS a solution, IF the cable companies and the sports businesses want to work it out. That being what MLB did with the cable companies and worked out a joint venture partnership, where the cable companies literally have ownership in the channel broadcast. And, as noted in the article, the cable companies now have a vested interest in providing that channel as part and parcel to the BASIC cable packages offered. If you do not believe that to be true, then read the article where it points out that Comcast was VERY quick to provide "free" to basic cable subscribers the "Golf Channel". (And personally I can think of NOTHING more boring that 24/7 of golf. But hey, that's just me.)

So, there is a solution. The problem is, it will likely never be decided by the cable and sports entities. It will likely be decided by Washington and the FCC. If that happens, I guarantee you that the sports fan like you and me will end up getting even more screwed in the process than we are now. And those powerful cable TV and sports lobbyists will see to that.