<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Digital TV to broadcast 25 of team's 82 games Aug. 4, 2006. 01:00 AM CHRIS ZELKOVICH Warning to Toronto Raptors fans: Prepare to take out your chequebook and open wide. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the folks who asked you to pay for 13 Maple Leafs games last season, will be suggesting that Raptors fans sign on for digital TV in order to watch about 25 of the team's 82 games this season. MLSE chief operating officer Tom Anselmi wouldn't give a number, but confirmed that a package of games will be on the digital basketball channel starting in November. "The other broadcasters have less shelf space available so we have a package that works better for them and works better for us," Anselmi said. ``Getting some exclusive games on Raptors TV is big for us." This should not come as a big surprise. The minute the team launched the basketball channel in 2001 anyone who could fog a mirror should have known this was coming. A six-game package was tried during the 2002-03 season, but for the past two years all Raptors games have been available on channels most people have already paid to get. There is method to this latest move. The main reason is that Raptors NBA TV needs to boost its subscriber total and the best way to do this is to make it home to must-see programming, at least must-see for basketball fans. The other is that MLSE wants all the games broadcast nationally because the team's Ontario base isn't big enough. With regional games attracting a paltry 60,000 last season on Rogers Sportsnet, a national audience has to be cultivated. It's a gamble, though. Fewer than 5 million homes have digital boxes and millions can't get digital even if they wanted it. Then there's the rather ominous shadow left by Leafs TV. MLSE calculated that putting 13 games on the digital channel last season would produce audiences approaching 150,000 and drive subscriptions above 300,000. Though subscriptions more than doubled, it fell short on both counts. And that was with the mighty Leafs, whose fans have been know to pay big bucks for anything blue and white. A rebuilding Raptors team that faces a very tough early schedule is no lock to drive subscriptions. While MLSE might lose in the end, the loser right now is Sportsnet, which will see its Raptors content slashed from 35 regional games to about 10 national ones. A channel that claims it wants to attract more young males and needs a strong Ontario schedule can hardly afford that, especially in light of losing the NCAA basketball tournament. The Score is expected to announce next week that it has struck a three-year deal to carry the March Madness package, mainly by promising to give it greater priority than Sportsnet did. The tournament doesn't draw huge audiences, but those who watch are generally in that lucrative 18-34 male demographic. And that's where The Score has done a better job than Sportsnet in recent months. It is also expected to announce a new three-year deal to carry CIS sports, including the Vanier Cup and playoffs, regular season football, basketball and volleyball. Throw in the recent addition of wrestling and the expansion of Cabral Richards' Cabbie Unlimited show to 30 minutes and it's obvious The Score is taking strong aim at young men.</div> http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentSe...ol=970081593064
Well, I guess I will be watching less games this year. Maybe it's for the better because I have spent many a nights watching basketball instead of studying for university I'm not liking this trend though. We shouldn't have to pay extra just so we can follow our own team.
wait is digital tv ...raptors tv? (might be a dumb question) if so i am for sure getting raptors tv cause i've always wanted to watch the other games they boardcast and now that they have 25 raptor games...
I think Raptors TV is on Digital TV. So if you have Digital TV, you pay a couple of dollars extra to get Raptors TV.
well its inexpensive, just a couple bucks a month. i got it just because i think tv sucks in general and raptor coverage is all i really want to see anyways. although, its a stupid move by the boyz at mlse cause the raptors are unlike the leafs cause they haven't established a worthwhile market share to strongarm their fans yet.
Well that sucks, but it might be for the better for me as well. My parents have been biatches lately cause i havent been "studying" in the summer and my dad's saying he'll cut my internet access and all that crap if i dont.
Boo! Well at least I'll be living in the city in the fall. So on nights I really want to catch a game that isnt on TV I'll walk over to the ACC and watch a game in the nosebleeds. lol
Yeh its kinda of bush league that they are doing this. I mean arguably they are coming off some off some of the most lackluster seasons in franchise history; we have been in the lottery the last 4 years. Especially if the raptors do start making a play-off run this year there going to allienate the avg. sports fan who wants to start taking an interest in the raptors. You know.. someone who would tune into a game on t.v but not someone likely to re-arange his entire t.v subscription in order to get a few extra games . I mean if they want to add to there fan base this is not a good way to start it.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting deception:</div><div class="quote_post">well its inexpensive, just a couple bucks a month. i got it just because i think tv sucks in general and raptor coverage is all i really want to see anyways. although, its a stupid move by the boyz at mlse cause the raptors are unlike the leafs cause they haven't established a worthwhile market share to strongarm their fans yet.</div> Its a couple of bucks extra but you still have to subscribe to either digital cable or satelite service.
my dad was saying you need a special kind of tv to view digital tv is this true? if so i guess i cant get raptors tv T.T
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting McGrady^1:</div><div class="quote_post">my dad was saying you need a special kind of tv to view digital tv is this true? if so i guess i cant get raptors tv T.T</div> Uh...no. I have digital cable, and you don't need 'a special king of tv' to view it. It's only a couple of dollars extra to me, so it's no biggie.
