Which is going to be better: NBC Sports Network or CBS Sports Network?

[SandraC]

Both...because they now both will carry college hockey

Gotta love how many networks are covering college hockey now...NBC and CBS Sports Network, NESN, Fox Sports Minnesota and Detroit, Root Sports Rocky Mountain, Fox College Sports, and Big Ten Network.

And that's just nationally...there are more games available locally in Alaska, the Upper Midwest and New England.

Then there are the tournament games on the ESPN family of networks. College hockey has come a very long way.


Sandra

 

[dfergie]

I believe so.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

IMHO,

NBC:

Notre Dame - despise
Minor League Soccer - despise
French bicyle racing - despise
Olympics "sports" (subjectivly judged circus tricks) - despise
NHL - love
Indy Car - like, but going bankrupt again as it has lost its way, again.
Other hockey - like
Sports talk - great potential, but so far poorly executed

CBS:

Mid-major college football - like/love
College baseball - like
minor college sports - disinterested
Lacrosse - disinterested
lack of sports news or talk - unacceptable

Both, IMHO, need to get some rights to some more sports. But, as of now, NBC is deeper.

The first thing CBS should get is the secondary rights to its own Masters Tournament from ESPN.

Who can forget the start up days of ESPN & Australian Rules Football? For both CBS & NBC Sports Networks,there's always the Arena Football League,&,like it or not,the CFL is entertaining. The Lingerie Football League could attract viewers.

 

[Mets82]

Not to beat a dead horse about Classic programming but I think CBS Sports Network might have to dip into its archives. NFL,MLB, NCAA and show those games because they really dont have enough programming. I mean when you look at there college football or college basketball schedule they really do have a lower tier schedule of games with some of the lesser conferences. Do you agree?

 

[Mr Tony]

so far NBCSports Net coverage of college hockey gets a thumbs up

NBCSN...NO bottom line during the game...thumbs up!
CBSSN....bottom line blocking the bottom of the screen...thumbs down

 

[Mets82]

Do you guys think that NBCSN and CBSSN will add college bowl games to there network? I would think they would considering they need programming. They can get some of the lesser bowl games from ESPN.

 

[osu1991]

I'm sure they will try for some of the bowls, but espn just finished getting almost all of them. The Sun and Cotton just reupped with CBS and Fox. It may be a while before any bowl game roghts come up for bid. I'm sure they will be bidding on the conference game packages. I think that is why ESPN is wanting to negotiate a new deal with the Big 12 early.

The NFL is wanting to add a 2nd Thursday night package and I bet that is at the top of CBSSN and NBCSN list. It would be nice if they did a CFL package since NFLNet doesn't do much with it.

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[SamCdbs]

Do you guys think that NBCSN and CBSSN will add college bowl games to there network? I would think they would considering they need programming. They can get some of the lesser bowl games from ESPN.

NFLN tried that. The self-appointeds pontificated about how the fans "could not" (really they meant would not, as it is a simple as a phone call) get the games. Blah, blah, blah.

Remember, ESPN outright owns most of the minor bowls, and the mid-level bowls know they risk this ESPN crapstorm if they sign elsewhere.

 

[CK SatGuy]

Well, if the Bengals-Texans game goes into OT, they could put the beginning the Lions-Saints game on NBC SN. I think that's one advantage in having NBC SN over CBS SN.

 

[BillD1984]

Well, if the Bengals-Texans game goes into OT, they could put the beginning the Lions-Saints game on NBC SN. I think that's one advantage in having NBC SN over CBS SN.

Great point, I never thought about that.

FYI, NBCSN will be showing the movie "Tin Cup" when the Lions-Saints game starts.

 

[Mets82]

NFLN tried that. The self-appointeds pontificated about how the fans "could not" (really they meant would not, as it is a simple as a phone call) get the games. Blah, blah, blah.

Remember, ESPN outright owns most of the minor bowls, and the mid-level bowls know they risk this ESPN crapstorm if they sign elsewhere.

Sam, I agree with you but some of the bowls have nothing to do with ESPN's contract. Ex. the Kraft Hunger Bowl that was on ESPN featured teams from the Big 10 and the PAC 12. I believe that the Big 10 and Pac 12 have contracts with FOX, so how does ESPN show the game?

 

[osu1991]

The bowls have conference affiliations if the conference has teams that are bowl eligible but the Bowls themselves make their own tv deals, hence espn having all but 2 of the bowls under contract now. The conferences have nothing to do with bowls tv contracts.

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[Mets82]

Thank you for clearing that up Sam. But I think the stranglehold that ESPN on the bowls could end with the Big East contract and BCS contract coming up. And lets face it, money talks. If CBS, NBC, FOX ponys up big dough for some of even the lesser bowl games the bowls will take it.

 

[fhsucade07]

I think both need rights to other sports. During the football off-season I'll often watch some of the replay games on CBSSN. I also admit to watching softball games on there but ESPN has the rights to the NCAA Women's College World Series. That, as you know, is superior to the softball games you'll find on CBSSN. As another poster said, CBSSN has the feel of local access programming to me and I hate the constant talk show.

NBC's network, I feel, does a good job of representing the NHL and I was happy with the IRL coverage on VS. I really don't care about MLS but it is another sports league feather they can add to their cap. I enjoy the NFL show on the network. I don't imagine either will reach the level of ESPN but in the eyes of potential subscribers the NBC network will likely be of more importance to many subscribers between the two.

 

[SamCdbs]

Not to beat a dead horse about Classic programming but I think CBS Sports Network might have to dip into its archives. NFL,MLB, NCAA and show those games because they really dont have enough programming.

Great idea. Couple of problems.

When ESPN Classic was the independently owned Classic Sports Network, CBS and NBC (and the remnants of the old Mizlou, TVS, and Raycom/Jefferson Pilot landline based syndicators) sold much of their back library to CSN.

Most networks never saved "ordinary" games in many sports. Remember that NBC even erassed Carson's shows after a few months for the first 10 years, thinking that there was no rerun value in "current events".

CBS, et al, do not have rights to NFL games they produced. They revert to NFL, via NFL Films.

If I were running CBSSN, my goals would be to use CBS's current relationships as thus:

- Get The Masters (rights are theoretically sold every year, although CBS has had them forever). ESPN has secondary coverage rights, no reason for that, natural synergy with CBS.

- Consider getting rights to a major conference in basketball. The forgotten half of the conference realignment in football is that basketball rights will be out and about. Make a deal for games between the two. Also move the current now and then regional college basketball (currently the out of region game is a bonus on DirecTV only) to a regionalized CBSSN feed.

- Get some more mid-major basketball. Particularly the coming CUSA/Mountain West merger/partnership. This is a natural for CBS and CBSSN.

- Do some promotion. You never hear CBSSN mentioned on any CBS program.

- Do straight news. The world is begging for sports news different from ESPN, with its twin issues of too much showmanship (BOO - YEAH!!) and "descriminatory" coverage of events not on ESPN getting short shift. Play it straight and see what happens.