GAME 1 SHUTOUT
Spectrum customers may miss Rodgers’ Jet debut
There’s a scene in the final episode of “Hard Knocks” on HBO where Robert Saleh, standing in front of a picture of Mt. Everest, tells his team they have only reached the bottom of the mountain.
The climb begins Monday night against Buffalo in the Meadowlands. Yet there is no certainty whether millions of Jets fans will be able to watch Gang Green start their ascent.
They are caught in the middle of a cable carriage dispute designed to screw you, the fan.
If honchos from Charter Communications-owned Spectrum cable systems (14.7 million subscribers, about 2 million in the New York area) and Disney, ESPN’s parent company, cannot reach a new carriage agreement before kickoff, ending a blackout that began Aug. 31, Spectrum subscribers will have to find another way to access the game, ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” opener.
Finding an alternative will cost you more money. It will also mean there is no end in sight to this carriage dispute.
Charter already was paying Disney $2.2 billion annually to distribute ESPN, ABC, FX and a variety of other channels. Customers left in the dark could opt for alternative pay services like FuboTV or Hulu (That means paying your Spectrum bill and adding another bill for the alternative service).
Or they can go old school and listen to Robert Wischusen and Marty Lyons call the game on ESPN-98.7 radio, which presumably won’t be pulled off the air by the Bristol Faculty.
The business media is billing this cable stalemate as beyond Armageddon; a battle for the future of television, a seminal moment for the industry.
Each company paints the other as the villain. Should anyone really feel sorry for these giant entertainment conglomerates piloted by executives who don’t know the meaning of consumer-friendly? They have a history of dragging their customers through this type mud.
There are reports Charter is so flabbergasted, the dispute may hasten its exit from the TV business altogether (The entire cable business is in free-fall, at 70 million homes, down from its high of 105 million homes 12 years ago.) The situation is so grim, even a company “soldier” like Stephen A. Smith is carrying ESPN’s water via a tweet where he accuses: “...folks are once again coming after the World Wide Leader.” Poor, poor ESPN.
It’s hard feeling a scintilla of sympathy for ESPN who in one breath, cries poverty, trimming its budget by firing employees but turns around and pays its “MNF” team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman a combined $33 million per year.
No matter the outcome of this fiasco, even if it ends before BillsJets on Monday, there will be only one loser: You, the fan. The only certainty coming out of this “negotiation” is the price of accessing your entertainment, whether it is sports or whatever, will increase. Let’s just say the “winning” side is not going to celebrate by offering you discounts?
The best possible outcome for Disney and Charter is if they both figure out a way to make you spend even more. Not that they care, but this is not good for either company’s image. Nor is it a good look for the National Football League.
Unfortunately for these corporate creeps, the prospect of a bad image has never been an impediment from shafting you, the fan. And the beat goes on.
COMCAST STILL WITHOUT MSG
There are other cable clashes that continue dragging on, but currently fly under the radar.
The MSG Network was dropped by Comcast Xfinity in October 2021. That situation has yet to be resolved. The impasse impacts fans in New Jersey, Connecticut and New York.
Moving out west, Altitude Sports, TV home of the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets, is in the fifth year of a carriage dispute with Comcast Xfinity.
RODGSANITY?
Who has more juice? Aaron Rodgers ?Or Jeremy Lin?
If the Charter-Spectrum blackout is lifted in time to air Rodgers Jets debut, you have to credit the quarterback for playing the role of Pressure Point.
Rodgers is the drawing card for ESPN’s Bills-Jets “MNF” telecast. If the dispute is settled before game time, the Rodgers factor would have helped speed the negotiating process.
That’s what Lin did in 2012. At the height of Linsanity, Time Warner Cable (now Spectrum) and MSG Network were in a carriage dispute that knocked MSG (TV home of the Knicks) off TWC.
After 37 days of the blackout, Lin became the Knicks’ starting point guard. 11 days later MSG was back on TWC. Lin was mustsee TV.
GANG GREEN HYPE TRAIN
In some media precincts, it’s considered a “sin” that the Jets appear to believe the hype surrounding them.
Yet some of the Gasbags ripping Gang Green are the same ones who filled their shows with Jetsian commentary. So, when cornerback D.J. Reed dares to mention the 1985 Bears and the Jets defense in the same breath, he gets picked to pieces.
And the subject fills plenty of air-time. If anything, these G-Bags should celebrate Gang Green for providing them with so much material.
REAL SPORTS DONE
For over 30 years, HBO Sports created a superior brand with its internally produced shows everything from boxing, to talk soirees, to documentaries to “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.”
At the end of its current run, “Real Sports” will be the last of those internal pillars to crumble. Gumbel said: “Although goodbyes are never easy, I’ve decided that now is the time to move on.” The show was an original and set a high bar for sports journalism.
There were others like ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” and Showtime’s “60 Minutes of Sports,” but the last one left is ESPN’s “E60.”
While the genre is compelling and thought-provoking, it has given way to presentations featuring gasbags screaming and debating topics of the day.
AROUND THE DIAL
If J.J. Watt delivers the same goods to CBS’ “The NFL Today” as he brought to last year’s in-season version of “Hard Knocks” with the Arizona Cardinals, he might just steal the show from the regulars on the pregame panel . ... Considering it was their first performance together, the cast of CW’s “Inside the NFL” didn’t suck. And that’s a good thing. Ryan Clark, in his first host gig, kept the show moving. One problem was technical, but annoying: Two segments were cut before they ended for commercial breaks. The rest of the cast (Channing Crowder, Jay Cutler, Chad Johnson, Chris Long) delivered some edgy soliloquies but were light on getting into conversations. Too many mouths on the panel? ... Other possible “MNF” Giants/ Jets blackouts: Giants- Oct. 2 vs Seattle, Dec. 11 vs Packers. Jets- Nov. 6 vs Chargers . ... Was Christopher (Mad Dog) Russo delirious when he recently said on “First Take”: “I would never cuss like [Robert Saleh] ... I speak properly.”