WTF is Empire doing?

[Earthquake Enyart]

70's Roller Derby? :eek:

If they are going to minimize local programming, at least they could show Best Damn Sports Show Period.

I always thought shows like FanTV were among the cheapest to produce, but I guess they got those Roller Derby tapes for a song.

[Aero II]

It's better than rerunning the same infomercial over and over and over.....

The changes do suck though. I'm about to drop my sports package from DirecTV. It just doesn't seem worth it any more.

[Earthquake Enyart]

If Hockey Hotline goes, so do I.

[R. Rich]

Empire is starting to look a lot like my fantasy football team.

[lordofgun]

Originally posted by Earthquake Enyart
If Hockey Hotline goes, so do I.

Buffalo News said Brian Blessing mighty be gone, but Robi will be back. I'm not sure how that's going to work. My luck, they'll probably stick Josh Moron on there with him.

[Earthquake Enyart]

Did they cancel the longest running television call in show....

The Paul Maguire ramble fest called Sportsline?

I love Roby.

EE :makeout: Roby

[Ebenezer]

Originally posted by Earthquake Enyart
If Hockey Hotline goes, so do I.

I want to see them survive the looming hockey shutdown...


Originally posted by Earthquake Enyart
Did they cancel the longest running television call in show....

The Paul Maguire ramble fest called Sportsline?


Nobody has said yet.

[Turf]

Paul's pause between words eats up about 20 minutes of air time as it is. Throw in a commercial or two, and you have about 3 minutes of usefull material in the form of soft questions.
I can't see it surviving. And they're actually showing old roller derby tapes? Unreal. I couldn't believe it even when I saw it.

[redeye5]

TELEVISION
Empire Sports Network trims its lineup, staff
By ALAN PERGAMENT
News TV Critic
8/20/2003

The Turk, the name given to the team official who has the thankless task of telling a professional athlete to bring his play book to the coach before he or she is released, came to visit 27 employees of the Empire Sports Network on Tuesday.
The magnitude of the cuts, one third of Empire's staff, wasn't a big surprise, considering the future of the regional sports network has been the subject of speculation all summer.

For now, Adelphia has decided to keep the regional sports network in a severely streamlined form about the size of the sports staff of a local network affiliate like Channel 2, Channel 4 and Channel 7.

It is only good news to those sports fans who feared Adelphia would disband Empire now that the money it is receiving from cable systems for carrying it has been drastically reduced.

Tom Haywood, the local Adelphia vice president, said the plan for now is to keep the Buffalo Sabres games on the network, as well as the pregame and postgame shows. But he said the staff cuts were needed to stabilize Empire.

"The economics that once supported Empire have changed," said Haywood.

Adelphia really has little other option than to keep the games on Empire or a local cable channel since no one else was willing to pay the exorbitant $6.5 million annual rights fee it agreed to pay the Sabres before the cable carriage crisis occurred.

To save the network, Adelphia essentially is gutting many of the things that made Empire the televised sports leader in the market - its local programming, the size of its staff and the freelancers it used as experts on various sports.

It is sacrificing one of the network's signature programs, "Fan TV." The hour-long 7 p.m. weekday program has been eliminated, meaning anchors Jim Brinson and Bob Trimble will have new roles if they want them.

Brinson, who has been anchoring the noon radio show on WNSA, has been offered the job of morning man. The morning slot has been open since Rick Maloney was released. Zig, whose real name is Angelo Fracassi, goes back to his evening shift after being the temporary morning man.

Trimble has been offered the role of reporter for the weekday news and highlights program, the Empire Sports Report (ESR). Presumably, both Brinson and Trimble may have to take pay cuts since their new jobs generally don't pay as well as their old ones.

Adelphia has also eliminated the three half-hour Saturday and Sunday editions of the ESR, when the sports calendar is at its heaviest.

The elimination of eight hours of programming, or about half of the hours Empire produces each week, led to the decision to drop reporter Ginger Geoffery.

Larry Felser, the former Buffalo News columnist who was a part-timer on Empire's roster, also was released from his TV role.

The three on-air staffers who have survived the cuts are Empire Sports Report anchor Jason Bristol, who moves from weekends to the 6:30 p.m. shift; Josh Mora, who anchors the 10:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. weeknight shifts of ESR; and Trimble.

Generally, the local network affiliates have three on-air sports staffers to produce about three or four minute reports a few times each evening, seven nights a week.

Howard Simon, whose WNSA afternoon radio show is simulcast on Empire, is considered a radio staffer.

Mike Robitaille, the co-host of the popular post-game show, "Hockey Hotline," also is a full-time Empire staffer though he has little involvement in the daily news shows. He will return on the postgame show.

It is unclear if Brian Blessing, who has been Robitaille's co-anchor, will remain with "Hockey Hotline" because he is a freelancer and all freelancers have been dismissed from the television side. Sources say the decision hasn't been made on whether to keep Blessing, who is an important part of the postgame show.

Freelance experts Jim Kelley (hockey), Steve Tasker (football), Vic Carucci (football) and Jack Armstrong (basketball) no longer will appear on Empire. All but Carucci, who has another radio deal, may be heard on WNSA.

The majority of the 27 people being let go were working in the behind-the-scenes production end of "Fan TV." The station's public relations man, Paul Martello, also was released.

"This was heartbreaking," said Mora. "We lost a lot of talented professionals and they deserved better than this."

Haywood said Adelphia is continuing its efforts to either sell Empire or partner with another cable company. It would make sense for Empire to try and make a deal with Time Warner, whose cable systems have put the network on a pay tier and caused most of Empire's economic problems.

In the meantime, Empire plans to fill the hours of programming it no longer is producing locally with NCAA football and other sport-related events, said Haywood.

He added that Adelphia hopes the 27 Empire staffers let go will look for "other available positions" within the company.

[The_Philster]

Originally posted by Earthquake Enyart
Did they cancel the longest running television call in show....

The Paul Maguire ramble fest called Sportsline?


Is he actually hosting it? Before I lost Empire, he was almost never on.

[SABURZFAN]

you gotta love 70's roller derby.i watched it this morning.i was rooting for the Pioneers.:up:

[lordofgun]

THE PIONEERS SUCK!!! :mad:

[Earthquake Enyart]

T BIRDS SUCK!!!!! :mad:

[lordofgun]

Originally posted by Earthquake Enyart
T BIRDS SUCK!!!!! :mad:

DO NOT! :mad:

[Patrick76777]

Originally posted by Earthquake Enyart
T BIRDS SUCK!!!!! :mad:


I liked the 2nd movie when they bowled, sang and rode Bikes!



T-Birds are the coolest!

[lordofgun]

Originally posted by Patrick76777
T-Birds are the coolest!

:hi5:

[Earthquake Enyart]

Da Kansas City Bombers are da bomb.

[Ebenezer]

mmm...EE, you like this crap but b**ch about other bad things in the 70s?? I don't get it..


http://205.134.177.140/fanzone/showthread.php?s=&postid=315239#post315239

[italian]

Empire sucked and it was nothing more than a second rate tv station. Brinson was funny to look at and his reporting was nothing more than what he read in the morning paper! All the second rate "GUESTS" they had were comical and ludicrous.

[IHateTheDullphins]

somebody call Gollisano!

[Historian]

Originally posted by italian
Empire sucked and it was nothing more than a second rate tv station. Brinson was funny to look at and his reporting was nothing more than what he read in the morning paper! All the second rate "GUESTS" they had were comical and ludicrous.

Agree about Brinson and the rest of the personalities, but disagree on the content. When I lived in Florida, Empire was a valuable source of Bills and Sabres info. I used to like the fact that they had live local programming, while the rest of those Fox Network affiliates were running the Chuck Norris- Christie Brinkley
home gym infomercials. Now that all that programming is gone, it seems as if its just another useless channel.

At least we won't have to watch Ginger Snapper with the crooked teeth cover the Rochester Rhinos anymore!

[Earthquake Enyart]

Originally posted by Billsology
Agree about Brinson and the rest of the personalities, but disagree on the content. When I lived in Florida, Empire was a valuable source of Bills and Sabres info. I used to like the fact that they had live local programming, while the rest of those Fox Network affiliates were running the Chuck Norris- Christie Brinkley
home gym infomercials. Now that all that programming is gone, it seems as if its just another useless channel.

At least we won't have to watch Ginger Snapper with the crooked teeth cover the Rochester Rhinos anymore!


:up:

Like I said, if HH goes, bye bye Empire.