Monday, June 21, 2004
Letter To Hartford, CT's Fox 61-TV
The Sox were on Fox on Saturday--woohoo! I can see my team, right?
Wrong. The CT Fox station opted for yanks-Dodgers. I wrote a letter, feel free to do the same here: WTIC-TV
If not in this case, please take the time to write a letter or make a phone call whenever you feel injustice is being done.
Here's my letter:
Hello. As a lifelong resident of Fairfield County, Connecticut, I've never been able to get New England Sports Network--which now carries almost all of the Red Sox' games--due to the fact that my county is the only one in New England considered outside of NESN's viewing area. So the nationally televised games are my only chance to see my favorite team.
I was very disappointed with your decision to show the Yankees-Dodgers game on Saturday, June 19th, over the Red Sox-Giants game. This move denied everyone in Connecticut the chance to see the Red Sox (New England's only team). Including one entire county (mine) that NEVER gets to see them.
It also put the Yankee game on two different stations through most or all of Connecticut. (I couldn't find the exact facts here, but I'm pretty sure almost all of CT gets Channel 5, the Fox station in New York, which also showed the game on Saturday.)
I don't understand why you wouldn't want to give the baseball fans of our state a choice of which game they want to watch, especially when the alternate game involves a team loved by so many viewers in the area.
I could see choosing the Yankees over the Red Sox if you were the only station available in the state showing the game(although I'd still complain). But like I said, most of the state already gets the New York Fox station which will, understandably, ALWAYS show the Yankees over any other team.
If the reason is for ratings, well I still feel like the Red Sox-Giants game would've given your station higher ratings.
Consider the following:
1. The biggest concentration of Yankee fans in CT reside in Fairfield County. I know that ALL of Fairfield gets Channel 5, and I would say that most people here consider 5 their main Fox station. I think this stems from the fact that up until cable TV came along, it was very hard to get stations beyond 2 through 13 (without making a trip to the roof!) And since the New York Fox station is 5, and yours is 61, I think a lot of people are just used to going right to 5 for Fox programming. Also, with this being the "tri-state area," many people here consider New York to be the home of their "local" stations, which is unfortunate, since we are our own state. Even for news, I'd say most people here watch the New York news over the Connecticut News. (I prefer your news to that of the NY stations.) So most Fairfield County fans probably watched the game that you showed on a channel other than yours.
2. There are probably enough Sox fans in the rest of Connecticut, and fans who are sick and tired of seeing every Yankee game (as their games on YES are available throughout the state) to give you better ratings if you showed the Sox game. And
3. The matchup of the greatest hitter in the game today, Barry Bonds, against one of the best pitchers in the game, Pedro Martinez, probably would've enticed many more neutral fans to the Red Sox-Giants game than the Yankees-Dodgers "rivalry" would've to the game between those two teams.
My request is that you consider these issues the next time there is a choice of showing the Red Sox or Yankees to the viewers of Connecticut.
However, I've noticed on your schedule that yo've already made the same decision for next Saturday, as Fox has again put both teams on at the same time, with the Yankees being the "primary" game, and the Red Sox being the "secondary" game.
Changing to the Sox game would make a lot of people happy, and not many sad, as alomst everyone can still see the Yankees anyway. Plus, most Yankee fans don't start paying attention until October:)
Do you just go with the primary game automatically? Or does Major League Baseball decide for you? Please let me know.
Sincerely,
Jere
http://www.letsgosox.blogspot.com.
In other news, the magic number is down to an even 100 through June 20th, as the Sox and yanks lost on the same day for just the fourth time this season...The Red Sox have 5 more losses than the yanks, and 5 less than the Devil Rays. I'm not kidding...On Friday, before the yankees-Dodgers series, Mike Francessa was saying on the FAN that he'd like Gagne's streak to be broken, specifically by an Enrique Wilson bloop hit. He said it with that smug yankee-fan style confidence, while giggling. Gagne saved both Dodger wins as the yanks lost 2 out of three. Nice.
Wrong. The CT Fox station opted for yanks-Dodgers. I wrote a letter, feel free to do the same here: WTIC-TV
If not in this case, please take the time to write a letter or make a phone call whenever you feel injustice is being done.
Here's my letter:
Hello. As a lifelong resident of Fairfield County, Connecticut, I've never been able to get New England Sports Network--which now carries almost all of the Red Sox' games--due to the fact that my county is the only one in New England considered outside of NESN's viewing area. So the nationally televised games are my only chance to see my favorite team.
I was very disappointed with your decision to show the Yankees-Dodgers game on Saturday, June 19th, over the Red Sox-Giants game. This move denied everyone in Connecticut the chance to see the Red Sox (New England's only team). Including one entire county (mine) that NEVER gets to see them.
It also put the Yankee game on two different stations through most or all of Connecticut. (I couldn't find the exact facts here, but I'm pretty sure almost all of CT gets Channel 5, the Fox station in New York, which also showed the game on Saturday.)
I don't understand why you wouldn't want to give the baseball fans of our state a choice of which game they want to watch, especially when the alternate game involves a team loved by so many viewers in the area.
I could see choosing the Yankees over the Red Sox if you were the only station available in the state showing the game(although I'd still complain). But like I said, most of the state already gets the New York Fox station which will, understandably, ALWAYS show the Yankees over any other team.
If the reason is for ratings, well I still feel like the Red Sox-Giants game would've given your station higher ratings.
Consider the following:
1. The biggest concentration of Yankee fans in CT reside in Fairfield County. I know that ALL of Fairfield gets Channel 5, and I would say that most people here consider 5 their main Fox station. I think this stems from the fact that up until cable TV came along, it was very hard to get stations beyond 2 through 13 (without making a trip to the roof!) And since the New York Fox station is 5, and yours is 61, I think a lot of people are just used to going right to 5 for Fox programming. Also, with this being the "tri-state area," many people here consider New York to be the home of their "local" stations, which is unfortunate, since we are our own state. Even for news, I'd say most people here watch the New York news over the Connecticut News. (I prefer your news to that of the NY stations.) So most Fairfield County fans probably watched the game that you showed on a channel other than yours.
2. There are probably enough Sox fans in the rest of Connecticut, and fans who are sick and tired of seeing every Yankee game (as their games on YES are available throughout the state) to give you better ratings if you showed the Sox game. And
3. The matchup of the greatest hitter in the game today, Barry Bonds, against one of the best pitchers in the game, Pedro Martinez, probably would've enticed many more neutral fans to the Red Sox-Giants game than the Yankees-Dodgers "rivalry" would've to the game between those two teams.
My request is that you consider these issues the next time there is a choice of showing the Red Sox or Yankees to the viewers of Connecticut.
However, I've noticed on your schedule that yo've already made the same decision for next Saturday, as Fox has again put both teams on at the same time, with the Yankees being the "primary" game, and the Red Sox being the "secondary" game.
Changing to the Sox game would make a lot of people happy, and not many sad, as alomst everyone can still see the Yankees anyway. Plus, most Yankee fans don't start paying attention until October:)
Do you just go with the primary game automatically? Or does Major League Baseball decide for you? Please let me know.
Sincerely,
Jere
http://www.letsgosox.blogspot.com.
In other news, the magic number is down to an even 100 through June 20th, as the Sox and yanks lost on the same day for just the fourth time this season...The Red Sox have 5 more losses than the yanks, and 5 less than the Devil Rays. I'm not kidding...On Friday, before the yankees-Dodgers series, Mike Francessa was saying on the FAN that he'd like Gagne's streak to be broken, specifically by an Enrique Wilson bloop hit. He said it with that smug yankee-fan style confidence, while giggling. Gagne saved both Dodger wins as the yanks lost 2 out of three. Nice.
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