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Bradley MBB TV Coverage

Da Coach said:
But Bradley has had 12-15 games a year on local TV, every year for as long as I can remember, even when there were only 3 or 4 local stations. Now there are 2 or 3 times that many. I think that is what is going to be hard to convince fans- that this is just a sudden problem this year.
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The article announcing the end of the WTVP relationship said exactly that. They were losing money on the venture.

These games cost give or take 10k each to produce. They did a 1 or 2 rating when they were on WEEK. If you can find a way to make that math make sense, you might be onto something.
 
 
JMM28 said:
The article announcing the end of the WTVP relationship said exactly that. They were losing money on the venture.

These games cost give or take 10k each to produce. They did a 1 or 2 rating when they were on WEEK. If you can find a way to make that math make sense, you might be onto something.
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So using your logic, this would mean there is no chance the games will ever be on TV again. But I predict that is not the case. There are ways to get the games on TV, and we will eventually see it. Other schools that do not have a fraction of the fan following that Bradley has can do it.

BTW, we are not talking about WEEK. That ship sailed a few years ago. The Bradley TV games on WTVP drew higher ratings than their usual local programming.
 
Da Coach said:
But Bradley has had 12-15 games a year on local TV, every year for as long as I can remember, even when there were only 3 or 4 local stations. Now there are 2 or 3 times that many. I think that is what is going to be hard to convince fans- that this is just a sudden problem this year.
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It isn't a sudden problem this year. It's been a problem for many years. It's gotten to the point that everyone has taken a run at it (broadcast television, cable television, and finally public television). The cost of production has exceeded revenues every step along the way. It's been a long time since WEEK made money from Bradley telecasts.
 
Da Coach said:
So using your logic, this would mean there is no chance the games will ever be on TV again. But I predict that is not the case. There are ways to get the games on TV, and we will eventually see it. Other schools that do not have a fraction of the fan following that Bradley has can do it.

BTW, we are not talking about WEEK. That ship sailed a few years ago. The Bradley TV games on WTVP drew higher ratings than their usual local programming.
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You'll see a couple of games here and there, but the double digit games packages are a thing of the past.

The cost of production is nearly the same regardless of where it's broadcast, and a broadcast station is going to garner higher ratings than a cable or public broadcast channel. Right now, airing Bradley games on local television is bad business, as it has been for several years. If anybody made money doing it, they'd still be doing it.
 
Da Coach said:
So using your logic, this would mean there is no chance the games will ever be on TV again. But I predict that is not the case. There are ways to get the games on TV, and we will eventually see it. Other schools that do not have a fraction of the fan following that Bradley has can do it.

BTW, we are not talking about WEEK. That ship sailed a few years ago. The Bradley TV games on WTVP drew higher ratings than their usual local programming.
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If the games were as profitable and as easy to put together as you two claim, every game would be televised. Hell if sponsors were lining up , don't you think Bradley would buy air time and sell the packages themselves. The double sided benefit of marketing the program and makin money?!

And as far as WTVP goes... I could record myself doing menial household tasks and get a higher rating than the usual programming on 47.2.

The best way for BU to be on tv is win and get picked up by the Fox Sports/CSN type channels.
 
Somehow, every year for the last 30 or 40 years the administration at Bradley has found a way to get a dozen or more games on TV. Every single year. But now suddenly it is not possible. It costs too much, nobody wants to televise the games, it can't be done. And yes, it is sudden, this is the first time in memory we have had less than a dozen or more games on TV. We have heard all these excuses for years, yet somehow we always found a way to get the games on TV for the fans in the past. Maybe we need to ask someone from the past how they were able to overcome so many obstacles and get it done?

Sorry, but despite apologists trying to make excuses here, the fans are not going to buy this excuse. I have talked to people at WTVP, and others who were involved in broadcasting the games in the past years, and they are telling a much different story. But believe what you want, and let's keep making excuses instead of getting things done. This will hurt Bradley, just when we need to reach fans to get interest built back up.
 
Da Coach said:
Somehow, every year for the last 30 or 40 years the administration at Bradley has found a way to get a dozen or more games on TV. Every single year. But now suddenly it is not possible. It costs too much, nobody wants to televise the games, it can't be done. And yes, it is sudden, this is the first time in memory we have had less than a dozen or more games on TV. We have heard all these excuses for years, yet somehow we always found a way to get the games on TV for the fans in the past. Maybe we need to ask someone from the past how they were able to overcome so many obstacles and get it done?

Sorry, but despite apologists trying to make excuses here, the fans are not going to buy this excuse. I have talked to people at WTVP, and others who were involved in broadcasting the games in the past years, and they are telling a much different story. But believe what you want, and let's keep making excuses instead of getting things done. This will hurt Bradley, just when we need to reach fans to get interest built back up.
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Not televising the games may be sudden, but losing money isn't. It's been happening for years. I'm not sure why you're taking such a strong position on this, but I happen to have been directly involved in the business and decision making that surrounded Bradley leaving commercial broadcast television. As for WTVP's decision to cease broadcasts, according to Dave Reynold's story, they were also bleeding red ink.

http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x470401895/Reynolds-Bradley-loses-out-on-WTVP

“It was strictly a business decision,” said WTVP president and CEO Chet Tomczyk. “We were losing a lot of money and couldn’t carry the loss any longer. It was a heartbreaking decision because we’re all Bradley fans here. We’ve had a really good relationship with Bradley.”

If you still don't believe me, call Mark DeSantis (someone whose job it is to make money operating a television station) and ask him why nobody is picking up the ball and running with it.

I wish that every Bradley away game was on television, but it just isn't going to happen. I'd hope for the best and look for someone to take shot at producing a small number of games (4-5) this season.
 
Gary the Gargoyle said:
Not televising the games may be sudden, but losing money isn't. It's been happening for years. I'm not sure why you're taking such a strong position on this, but I happen to have been directly involved in the business and decision making that surrounded Bradley leaving commercial broadcast television. As for WTVP's decision to cease broadcasts, according to Dave Reynold's story, they were also bleeding red ink.

http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x470401895/Reynolds-Bradley-loses-out-on-WTVP

???It was strictly a business decision,??? said WTVP president and CEO Chet Tomczyk. ???We were losing a lot of money and couldn??™t carry the loss any longer. It was a heartbreaking decision because we??™re all Bradley fans here. We??™ve had a really good relationship with Bradley.???

If you still don't believe me, call Mark DeSantis (someone whose job it is to make money operating a television station) and ask him why nobody is picking up the ball and running with it.

I wish that every Bradley away game was on television, but it just isn't going to happen. I'd hope for the best and look for someone to take shot at producing a small number of games (4-5) this season.
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Why can't Mark just setup a few more robotic cameras and have Ft Wayne produce the game? ;)

But that does bring up a possible, real issue. In between automation, outsourcing, and combined station engineering (there are only 3 studios for the 13 digital stations in Peoria) a station does not have the extra workers to produce sporting events. The WMBD radio brodcasts seem to use everybody the station has (morning show producer, news guys, technical. They can do the WBB games with their existing staff, too.
And I guess TV now requires more than having their live news crews (I think that is now singular, crew) and news van.. Now they have to rent a production truck.
 
Da Coach said:
Somehow, every year for the last 30 or 40 years the administration at Bradley has found a way to get a dozen or more games on TV. Every single year. But now suddenly it is not possible. It costs too much... This will hurt Bradley, just when we need to reach fans to get interest built back up.
Click to expand...

I agree Da Coach. This just doesn't make sense and will definitely hurt when it comes to creating local interest in Bradley Basketbal. You would think that with advances in technology broadcasts could be produced more cost efficiently than in the past; apparently not. Of course, winning is a cure all for most things. Hopefully, in a few years, media will be clamoring and competing for the opportunity to televise Bradley games once again.
 
Then there is another issue, back when WEEK started Bradley games, they had their choice of games. The cost of a few games vs uninteresting teams were offset by a few marquee opponents. Now ESPN and FoxSports/Comcast Chicago get to cherry pick the marquee games, so there are few games worth while.

I do wonder about shared agreements. Don't teams like Creighton and WSU usually bring their TV crew? Could we affordably simulcast a few of those games? Although that may be more of sharing. I guess it was Creighton that got to see our MVC shuffle?
 
Braves4Life said:
I agree Da Coach. This just doesn't make sense and will definitely hurt when it comes to creating local interest in Bradley Basketbal. You would think that with advances in technology broadcasts could be produced more cost efficiently than in the past; apparently not. Of course, winning is a cure all for most things. Hopefully, in a few years, media will be clamoring and competing for the opportunity to televise Bradley games once again.
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That (technology) does drive me crazy. Now Anyone with an iPhone 5 can "broadcast" using FaceTime in HD.
Or why can't a station simulcast BU Braves.tv?
 
ph said:
Why can't Mark just setup a few more robotic cameras and have Ft Wayne produce the game? ;)

But that does bring up a possible, real issue. In between automation, outsourcing, and combined station engineering (there are only 3 studios for the 13 digital stations in Peoria) a station does not have the extra workers to produce sporting events. The WMBD radio brodcasts seem to use everybody the station has (morning show producer, news guys, technical. They can do the WBB games with their existing staff, too.
And I guess TV now requires more than having their live news crews (I think that is now singular, crew) and news van.. Now they have to rent a production truck.
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WEEK used WTVP's live truck. Commercial broadcast stations can't afford the luxuries that public broadcasting stations operate with. Heck, just check out the differences in the buildings. That joint on the riverfront didn't get built because people bought enough Dean Martin Roast DVDs or love Masterpiece Theater.
 
ph said:
That (technology) does drive me crazy. Now Anyone with an iPhone 5 can "broadcast" using FaceTime in HD.
Or why can't a station simulcast BU Braves.tv?
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Someone would have to want to buy the advertising spots as well, even if production could be done more affordably.

It really is just business. If there was an opportunity to make a profit, somebody would be doing it, but nobody is going to air Bradley basketball games as a community service.
 
ph said:
I do wonder about shared agreements. Don't teams like Creighton and WSU usually bring their TV crew? Could we affordably simulcast a few of those games? Although that may be more of sharing. I guess it was Creighton that got to see our MVC shuffle?
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I know there are times in the past where BU and CU have shared broadcast feeds with each school's crew laying down their own play by play over the top of the feed (we've had similar arrangements with WSU before ESPn started picking up those games). As I understand the arrangement, it was a straight up swap -- CU gets to use the BU feed while in Peoria and BU gets the CU feed in Omaha. One year, I know that am Omaha station (probably the local Cox cable station) picked up the entire Bradley feed - homer announcers and all :-D - and simply aired it. I remember distinctly because the announcers were remarkably one sided and one dude had the biggest head of hair since Mel Kiper in the 1980's.

The scuttlebutt is that BU did not want send anyone in Omaha to do pbp over the feed this year, so there is no swap....

The game against you guys is one of the few roadies that we don't have on TV, so I'm really hoping that you guys get something in place as I'm sure the local Cox station will just air the feed in its entirety once again....
 
What? You mean some schools like Creighton, Wichita, and just about every other MVC school still find a way to televise a number of their games? How is that possible? We are being told it is such a massive money-loser that it is virtually impossible to get the games on TV. 8)

Thanks for showing how silly that argument is. :)
 
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