25 games. TWENTY-FIVE.
UN-BE-LEIVE-ABLE.
I am so angry about this I don’t even have the words. A full 30 percent of TORONTO Raptors games cannot be seen in cable TV in Toronto.
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/521892
I cannot fathom what sort of IDIOT at MLSE allowed this to happen. I cannot believe that TSN thinks it’s acceptable to relegate the only professional basketball team in Canada to a secondary network. I can’t believe Rogers isn’t making an effort to make as many channels as possible available to its subscribers.
I think what pisses me off even more is how the Raptors completely glossed over this fact in their announcement of the schedule.
Two quotes from the press release:
“82 regular-season contests being broadcast in High Definition (HD) and televised nationally for a third consecutive season.”
- A very misleading statement, bordering on fallacy, since A) TSN2 is not available “nationally;” according to my research, it is currently available on 19 of the 45 cable providers in Canada. That’s less than half, by my math.
- In addition, only six - SIX! - of those carry TSN2 in HD. Also some cable providers do not carry Raptors NBA TV in HD either. So, while you can tell us every game is broadcast in HD, who the hell cares if HD service is not available to the viewer?
“This also marks the seventh straight campaign that the entire regular season schedule will be aired locally.”
- An outright lie! “Locally?” I’m assuming by locally, they mean Toronto. Yet Toronto isn’t getting the entire regular season! We’re missing 30 per cent! How can they make such a statement? (And I can even play the semantics here and argue use of the word “aired,” since most of the games are only available via cable or digital cable - if you get the channels! - you can’t say it’s being “aired” locally. The only over the air broadcasts are on CBC.)
Tom Anselmi, MLSE’s executive VP and COO, is quoted in the release as saying, “”We’re excited to have the CBC, Raptors NBA TV, The Score and TSN as part of the broadcast line-up” - note how he doesn’t mention TSN2 - and “The promotional power of these four networks supports growing basketball across Canada.”
Again, he doesn’t seem clued in that the games are actually on FIVE networks, one of which is NOT available “across Canada” and more importantly, in the team’s own home market.
To top it all off, there’s no mention of TSN2 fall to the 11th paragraph of the press release! Even then, no breakdown is given - you have to read the attached schedule to see that there are 25 games blacked out in Toronto. Maybe they thought no one would notice? Apparently they think Raptors fans are too ignorant, stupid, or mindless to actually read that far.
You insulted us all by not acknowledging this situation, expecting us not to notice, and trying to tell us that all games are available to everyone.
Nice spin job, guys. Really. But all you did with that press release was confirm, once again, that you don’t care about your fanbase.
I try not to curse on this blog, and that’s a good thing because the profanities that are streaming through my head right now, directed at MLSE, Rogers and TSN, would probably get this site blocked by Google’s safe search.
I thought it was bad when they forced people to cough up the $$ for Raptors TV for, what was it, 24 games two years ago? Now it’s 25 and even if I wanted to pay for them, I don’t even have the choice. Screw you all, MLSE, Rogers and TSN.
SCREW. YOU.
Tags: MLSE, Rogers Cable TV, Toronto Raptors TV Schedule, TSN, TSN2
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