Saturday, January 5, 2013

Some random MBK notes

* Thank you for being patient with the listings, particularly with RSNs.   Some RSNs haven't been as forthcoming about their listings when replacing content due to lost NHL games.  I admit I haven't been as diligent as in other years when its come to going back through the listings at times.  Trying to keep a better handle on that as we enter conference play.

* It appears that FOX Sports Southwest is going to act as the SEC Network affiliate for men's basketball, at least in the Houston area.  Other parts of Texas look like they'll be served by local stations.  Some Saturdays in Houston will have 3-4 SEC games in a row with the afternoon syndication package, then 1-2 games that are sublicensed to FOX RSNs.

* Thanks to a follower who passed along a list of cable networks and the number of households those networks are in.  Because of that list, I've moved NBC Sports Network up in several places ahead of ESPNU.  It looks like this list is published once a year, so I'll check back before football season. to see where I should list networks like NBCSN and SPEED/FOX Sports One.

* I missed a memo somewhere regarding the Sacramento Kings telecasts moving off the main CSN California feed and over to a plus channel.  This probably happened whenever the Sharks moved over to the network and I never caught it.  I'll have to pay attention to it through the rest of the year.

* Just a random thought, but its probably a good thing that the Pac-12 TV contracts were structured the way they were where FOX had the football championship and ESPN had the men's basketball championship for 2012-13.  FX probably could have picked up the three tournament games they would have to show nationally, but FX isn't showing any college basketball this year and is out of sight, out of mind when it comes to college sports at this point.  FOX can ramp up FOX Sports One knowing that they'll have those three tournament games next year.

FOX might end up keeping the C-USA men's basketball championship next year too for FS1 instead of selling it to CBS. No disrespect to C-USA, but the conference is losing its bell cow in Memphis and its possible CBS will not have the interest in showing the game as they've had in previous years.

* California put out a release this week telling their fans that Pac-12 men's basketball games on FSN will not be available in the Bay Area, unless you subscribe to a sports package that include FOX College Sports or an out-of-market FSN affiliate.  The Pac-12 didn't seem to be very happy about this and this will affect a pair of Stanford games too, including one Cal-Stanford matchup.  FOX managed to clear many of their Big 12 and C-USA football games to independent station KICU.  Not sure if FOX made an attempt to clear at least some portion of their CBK games in the Bay Area, but I'd be surprised if FOX doesn't try to move those regular season games to FS1 to alleviate this issue next season.

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