Why is it so hard to see the Bills games?

[OpIv37]

Does anyone else have a hard time watching the Bills on TV?

When I lived in Rochester, the late season games were always blacked out, which is ridiculous. Buffalo has the 2nd or 3rd smallest market in the NFL but the largest stadium. If they sell 75,000 seats the game is blacked out. Meanwhile Chicago's old Soldier Field had only 55,000 seats while the city has 3 times the population of Buffalo. Perhaps the worst part is that the teams make far more money from TV advertising than from gate revenue and concession sales. Basically, they screw 2 million+ viewers in Upstate NY for an extra $50 grand (chump change compared to what they get from the networks and merchandising rights).

Now that I'm in Northern VA (near DC for the geographically impaired), they never show the Bills games. There have been 3 on local TV in the 3 seasons that I've been here (two were night games and one was the first game this season against the Fins). This week, they are not showing Bledsoe against his old team (the Super Bowl champs) in a game that could determine 1st place in the division. Instead, the local CBS affiliate is showing Baltimore vs Cincy (aka the "Who Cares" bowl) because Baltimore is considered local. This is despite the fact that everyone here is a Redskins fan (I don't even know any Ravens fans) and most of us can get the Baltimore CBS affiliate with local cable or a good antenna.

I'm hoping to get a mini dish hooked up this week- it's long overdue. I wish there was a less expensive way to watch the game than paying for satellite or sitting in a smoky bar eating overpriced food all afternoon.

I think the NFL should offer pay-per-view for non local or blacked out games. The networks could still have the game of the week and would get the advertising revenue from the PPV, and there would still be free football on for those unwilling to pay for it.

[Dozerdog]

I own the Dish and love it! I follow the Sabres as well.

Oddly, here in Springfield, they have broadcast 9 of the first 12 games on local TV. A combination of the Bledsoe influence, Bye Weeks, The Pats on at 4 when the Bills are on at 1 (or vice versa), The Patriots playing a lot on Thursday, Sunday Night, & Monday night a lot, and getting Hartford Stations (Jets Games as well) has produced a winfall for me. And they play the Pats this weekend!

Same wierd thing happened back in 91 after our first SuperBowl. I was able to get the first 11 games of the Season on local TV as well.

[LtBillsFan66]

http://members.cox.net/billswatch/dc_billsbars.html

[vabillsfan]

They'll always show the game that affects the local market first, as it should be. Imagine if each week in teh Buffalo market they showed other teams? And then, if they're blacked out locally, what should be shown is the game that the network has put their top announcing team on.

When I lived in Syracuse, they put a fan poll out each week with a choice of two games. One was always the Bills and they won out every week, so they did away with the poll.

As for blackouts, its money first. I posted earlier about doing an average of all the stadiums and making that the number for tv blackouts.

Who knows.

[Typ0]

Hey I was at the last game and I still had trouble seeing it.

[Herdwatcher]

I live way out in California and they (cbs) have put the Bills games on out here! Both Miami games the Pasties, KC, and the Raider game. I'm sure the Charger one will as well.. Go figure..... 3,000 miles away, 3-13 last year and five games on tv out here.
(I do have dtv so I never miss a game.)

[JayWood]

Get the dish and all your problems are solved. Thats what i did, and of course my luck every game has been on national tv this year here in Rhode Island. Doesnt matter to me, still get my football fix on Sunday by watching all the other games, and getting empire sports is a big plus also!!

[Mr. Miyagi]

Here in Wisconsin obviously they show the Packer games. But since the Pack is in the NFC, FOX usually has that game and CBS would show an AFC game. I have seen 2 Bills games this season on TV, but there should've been more. CBS is supposed to show the "most competitive" AFC game weekly, but there were weeks that they would show a KC vs Cincy game over a Buf-Pats game, for example. I don't know how they make the decisions on which games to show, but I guarantee that whoever makes the decisions does NOT follow football whatsoever. It's always just a random game and most of the time is a sucky one.

The pay-per-view game thing is a great idea. I've heard that the NFL Sunday package contract with Direct TV will expire after this season, and cable companies may pick it up. That'd be really cool, since more people have cable instead of dish.

[fabolouspaul]

Originally posted by Herdwatcher
I live way out in California and they (cbs) have put the Bills games on out here! Both Miami games the Pasties, KC, and the Raider game. I'm sure the Charger one will as well.. Go figure..... 3,000 miles away, 3-13 last year and five games on tv out here.
(I do have dtv so I never miss a game.)

Your lucky! I live in LA and i didn't get any of the Miami games or the 1st Patriot game. I did however get the Raider and KC game and im going to get the the Bills-Patriot game this Sunday! I'm glad i know the bartender at the local mariott since he alwaise puts the Bills game on the big screen.

[JJamezz]

You'll be more than glad you got the dish - its really one of the best things I've ever purchased. I just wanted to mention - in case Directv doesn't tell you this - that you don't have to carry their regular monthly service to use Sunday Ticket. I don't think they openly promote that, and there are some people out there that aren't aware of that fact.

BFSIW - Every year I hear that (that Directv's pact with the NFL is expiring)... not sure if its true or not this year. Sunday Ticket is so successful that I just don't see Directv losing it. There were rumors a couple of years ago about Dish Network acquiring it too. Even though PPV seems like a good idea, I highly doubt it ever happens - plus the games would probably be about $25 a piece if not more.

[Dozerdog]

The contract is up soon.... but the NFL does not want to put the Direct ticket on cable like the NHL/NBA/MLB packages are.

it will be on the Dish for a long time. The Good news is, the NFL Sunday ticket was exclusive to Direct TV dish owners. It may soon become available to Dish network/ Echostar customers as well. Direct TV and Echostar may even merge in the future as well.

[OpIv37]

Thanks for all the advice about the dish.

That's interesting that you don't need the monthly service to get Sunday Ticket- I'll keep that in mind, but I've had some absolute horror stories dealing with local cable companies so the dish seems like a nice alternative. When I was shopping around, I asked about the Sunday Ticket and they seemed confident that DirectTV is going to have it for a long time. At the very least, I'll finally have ESPN again to see NFL Prime Time.

Sounds like other markets have been better off than DC for catching Bills games on CBS. On the NFC side, Fox always seems to pick better games for national coverage. Any word on when CBS's contract expires?

[Cntrygal]

I go to the sports bar... when I've watched the few games that were "televised".... we lost. We have a better win record at the bar.
:drinker:

[ublinkwescore]

I've had like 6 games televised on CBS out here (of course I never miss a game - sometimes I leave when we look like complete and total crap like we did against the last jets game and the pats game - which was televised out here)

So far this season, the following games were televised out here -

VS. NYJ (L shoud have been a win)
VS. Miami (WIN!)
VS. Raiders (obviously)
VS. Pats (L)
AT Texans (W)
AT Chiefs (L - should have been a win)

Games that weren't televised
VS. Chicago (W)
At Broncos (L - should have been a win)
At NYJ (L - we got our butts handed to us)
At Miami (WIN!)
VS. Detroit (W)
At Minnesota (W)

I hope we can sweep the NFC North or Central - what ever division it is that we're playing this year.

[colin]

Originally posted by Dozerdog
The contract is up soon.... but the NFL does not want to put the Direct ticket on cable like the NHL/NBA/MLB packages are.

it will be on the Dish for a long time. The Good news is, the NFL Sunday ticket was exclusive to Direct TV dish owners. It may soon become available to Dish network/ Echostar customers as well. Direct TV and Echostar may even merge in the future as well.

Why not?

[Shiny Chicken]

Have they outright said they don't want to put it on cable NEXT YEAR? Since the last time the DirectTV contract was up, dgtal cable has spread all opver the country. It's a lot easier to put PPV football on TV than it was a few years ago.

[MissBuffalo]

There's been more games on TV out here then in the last 4 years. Next weeks game is going to be televised too!!! LOL--the Raiders never sell-out, so there's always a chance for it to be on.

[SabreEleven]

For all you Bills Backers in California... more Bills Backers Bar than you know what to do with....
http://www.buffalobills.com/fans/bills_backers2.cfm?cont_id=25709

[Dozerdog]

Originally posted by Benjudah
Have they outright said they don't want to put it on cable NEXT YEAR? Since the last time the DirectTV contract was up, dgtal cable has spread all opver the country. It's a lot easier to put PPV football on TV than it was a few years ago.

It's not that cable CAN'T get you the sSunday Ticket... the NFL doesn't want the Sunday ticket in every market. Reasons-


1) The NFL does not want empty stadiums when the weather turns bad. If it's Cold and Rainy in Cincy, what's the incentive to schlep to the stadium when you can watch all the games on the dish? Even if the Bengals game is blacked out?

2) More importantly, local TV stations charge mucho dinero for each commercial spot. A market the size of Buffalo or Pittsburgh, for example, charge up to $10,000 per local commercial during games. They are allotted a number of local spots for each game. There is no way they can command those prices if the local cable companies are running 11 other games at the same time.

3) The NFL, unlike the NHL, NBA, and MLB, doesn't have saturation of the airwaves. There are tons of games every day in those other sports. The NFL is an "Event" sport... few regular season games and basically pidgeon holed into Sundays.

Right now, the amount of satelite dishes in the country is growing rapidly, but still command a small enough market share where local stations can make their bones selling the ad space. Plus, technology has allowed all TV markets with NFL teams (with the exception of Green Bay) to broadcast local stations via the dish.


So, in the near future, the digital cable systems will carry the NHL, MLB, NBA, and other sports packages but not the NFL. As a matter of fact, the only local cable company I ever heard even mention that they might carry the NFL Sunday Ticket was Adelphia, and we all know what lying sacks of **** they all turned out to be.

[Typ0]

I don't understand Sunday Ticket (ST) is available in every market via DirectTV. I'm not sure if you are trying to address ST being on cable or local games being blacked out. Local TV stations would be able to charge more for advertising during the broadcast of a local game no matter how many other games were on TV--there would be a lot more viewers. The non-duplication regulation would prevent ST from broadcasting the signal into a local market broadcasting the same game. The NFL's position on broadcasting rights protects the franchises from revenue loss because the franchise controls the gate and concessions but the NFL controls the broadcast rights.

[Dozerdog]

I wish I had the links to the articles I referenced when I used to write the vidiot columns.


One in particular was great in outlining why the Sunday Ticket will not get to cable in the forseable future.

It made it abundantly clear that the Sunday Ticket was not going to get to cable... at least not go to cable in any TV market that has a team.

[Typ0]

Yeah I read that but can't remember the contents...LOL.

[Ð]

On cable here in North Bay, I get the Detroit CBS & ABC affiliate, and Fox Rochester. Global TV from Toronto also usually picks up the CBS feed and usually carries the Bills game as a first preference, as long as they're sold out at home (within 100 mile blackout radius).

If the Bills don't sell out at home, it's 50/50 whether or not the Detroit CBS affilliate carries the Bills game...it's definately not their first choice, but this year has been pretty good @ 80 % of Bills games are on local cable up here.

BTW, Sunday Ticket is available here on digital cable, but there's no way I'm shelling out the money for it...

[Buffarama]

Jjamezz, you're killing me with the Beavis and Butthead thing ! LMAO.

[lunatic_bills_fan]

Move to East Coast Canada, Only game that wasnt on here this year was the Buffalo/Houston game. Ive been pretty lucky. If anyone on ESPN and ABC has 2 brain cells, then we might see Buffalo a few times late Sunday or Monday night games. Especially ones against Miami, Jets and New England.