What do you think of this explanation from CBC re blackout ?

[120dB]

What do you think of this explanation from CBC re the blackout hoopla? Sounds like Bob Ackles was fully aware of the fact that due to these mysterious "technical " problems, many more viewers than normal would be deprived of seeing the game and yet Lions management apparently according to this explanation still went ahead and blacked out the game. Now that's what I call effective marketing!!!

quote: "Thank you for you email to CBC regarding the broadcast in British Columbia of the CFL match-up between the BC Lions and the Toronto Argonauts. I hope the following information is helpful in explaining what happened with the game in your area.
Earlier in the week, CBC received notice that the BC Lions intended to blackout local broadcast of this game which would affect viewers primarily in the Vancouver-area. Unfortunately, we also were notified by Shaw cable that due to technical reasons, they would not be able to limit the blackout to their customers in the Vancouver-area only: it would affect a much larger area, as they could not adjust their signal. This is why Shaw Cable subscribers in BC outside of the geographic blackout range also received the substitute programming CBC provided for Vancouver, instead of the game.
When we realized how this would affect viewers in Victoria, Nanaimo, Ladysmith, etc., CBC contacted the Lions to ask that they re-consider their blackout decision, but unfortunately,

they declined.

Despite CBC's efforts to create a workable
solution, this decision, made by the team, league and cable company, resulted in many CFL fans in British Columbia unable to view the broadcast of the game.
We appreciate that those affected viewers had little information about what was happening, and I have forwarded your email to senior staff members who oversee relationships with our cable and satellite providers to see if a system can be devised to
inform viewers of such situations, even in the case of last minute changes, in a more timely manner.
I hope this information is helpful. Please do not hesitate to contact CBC Audience Relations should you have any questions
or comments about our programming in the future.

Sincerely,

Denis Andrychuk
Communications Officer
CBC Audience Relations" end of quote

Bob Ackles, I'm extremely disappointed. You still decided to black out the game just to get another few hundred people inside the Stadium and knowing full well about the fact that addistional fans would be deprived of seeing the game; like a few hundred people will make a noticable difference in a 60,000 seat stadium that you consistenly only half fill.

I'm shocked. What an absolute shocker. I just can' t believe this

[No Ordinary Joe]

If true, that's very disappointing news. I don't really see the pay off of losing all the viewers on the Island and up north just to sell a few extra tickets.

The stupid thing is that the HD station in Vancouver wasn't blacked out and David Pratt bragged about staying home to watch the game instead of heading down to BC Place. That pisses me off, Pratt can just walk into the stadium as he chooses without having to pay to get in, and yet chooses to stay home anyway just so he can use his BBQ and watch his TV even though he doesn't have to even drive to get there and the people who actually have to open up their wallets and drive 45-60 minutes and attempt to find parking downtown are the ones that are screwed over crap like this.

[LFITQ]

I have an issue with Shaw cable supposedly not being able to do the blackout in just the stated area as per usual.

Hello, but this is not the first game blacked out in Vancouver nor will it be the last. But in the past Shaw seemed quite able to keep it to just the normal range. Suddenly NOW they are saying they can't do it?

For the past SEVERAL years the blackout has worked just fine. This past weekend is the FIRST time we have ever had a problem and the first time SHAW has ever had a problem limiting the effects of the blackout?

Sorry but I don't buy it. Something is very fishy and stinks with that explanation. There is something else at work here and there is CERTAINLY more to the story than what that e-mail is saying.

[No Ordinary Joe]

I have an issue with Shaw cable supposedly not being able to do the blackout in just the stated area as per usual.

Hello, but this is not the first game blacked out in Vancouver nor will it be the last. But in the past Shaw seemed quite able to keep it to just the normal range. Suddenly NOW they are saying they can't do it?

For the past SEVERAL years the blackout has worked just fine. This past weekend is the FIRST time we have ever had a problem and the first time SHAW has ever had a problem limiting the effects of the blackout?

Sorry but I don't buy it. Something is very fishy and stinks with that explanation. There is something else at work here and there is CERTAINLY more to the story than what that e-mail is saying.

So you're suggesting that Shaw is simply passing the buck to avoid the hot seat? Wouldn't surprise me. I have to agree, because it doesn't make sense from a Lions perspective.

[LFITQ]

I have an issue with Shaw cable supposedly not being able to do the blackout in just the stated area as per usual.

Hello, but this is not the first game blacked out in Vancouver nor will it be the last. But in the past Shaw seemed quite able to keep it to just the normal range. Suddenly NOW they are saying they can't do it?

For the past SEVERAL years the blackout has worked just fine. This past weekend is the FIRST time we have ever had a problem and the first time SHAW has ever had a problem limiting the effects of the blackout?

Sorry but I don't buy it. Something is very fishy and stinks with that explanation. There is something else at work here and there is CERTAINLY more to the story than what that e-mail is saying.

So you're suggesting that Shaw is simply passing the buck to avoid the hot seat? Wouldn't surprise me. I have to agree, because it doesn't make sense from a Lions perspective.

I don't know if it is all with Shaw or what, but it just seems weird that blackouts have worked for YEARS and for all games up until this weekend, and suddenly it doesn't work? I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it. Something you've been doing for years doesn't just SUDDENLY become impossible to do. There is more to the story than that. I also wouldn't put it past CBC to be passing the buck with their track record this year. I don't trust CBC nor anything they say.

[OrangeShoes99]

Forward the e-mail to the Lions, see what their side of the story is. Better yet, send it to LU, and maybe he'll get to the bottom of it.

[No Ordinary Joe]

Forward the e-mail to the Lions, see what their side of the story is. Better yet, send it to LU, and maybe he'll get to the bottom of it.

Great idea!

[Hambone]

It's very easy to point the finger at any one of the Lions, CBC or Shaw. However it seems to me to be one of those situations where nobody would look good whichever way the decision was made. First of all it is my understanding that the decision from the Lions standpoint is not which games they want blacked out, but rather for which games do they wish to lift the blackout. Essentially all Lion home games are to be blacked out, but they have an obligation to lift the blackout for either 1 or 2 games; I can't remember which. As someone living from well outside the blackout range I couldn't tell you if the Lions had already met their blackout lifting obligations this season. They only had 3 more home dates left after the Argo game, 2 of which are vs Calgary. If they hadn't already met their blackout lifting quota one would think it would be natural to opt for one of the Stampeder games. I do know that Ackles is a firm believer in the positive effect that blackouts have on the gate. He doesn't take the lifting of blackouts lightly. If he's already tagged one of the Calgary games for blackout it would be behoove him to add Toronto at the last minute.

I tend to side with LFITQ that something on the Shaw thing doesn't add up. However this was a CBC game which may have presented different challenges for Shaw versus TSN. By enlarge Lion home games are picked up by TSN as opposed to CBC. At least with TSN you're dealing with one network broadcasting into the province from the Centre of the Universe. With CBC they are dealing with a different kettle of fish in that the game feed would be coming from several regional broadcasters most of which of course are available on peasant-vision in their respective markets. We did get the game up here in Prince George on CBC's local affiliate CKPG. I don't get back home to "The Rock" often enough but it seems to me the Island would've been getting the feed from CBUT in Vancouver. I would think it would be their responsibility to deliver something that Shaw could split into blackout vs non-blackout areas.

Obviously since we received the game up here in PG the blackout didn't hit the entire province. Was it just the Island and some other outlying areas of the Lower Mainland like Hope and Pemberton that missed it?

[KnowItAll]

so, I wonder what if people disconnected cable and just used antenas, the old fashioned way?
I cant see shaw being in control of CBC signal.
I am a delta cable customer. What if I was outside the supposed blackout area, would I have still been blacked out because of Shaw?? I sure hope not.

[KnowItAll]

who exactly got this supposed email anyhow???

Where is the return email address?

something is fishy here

[Rammer]

Lions have lifted their obligatory two blackout games for the season, Hambone.

If one was a conspiracy seeker, they might wonder just how valuable the lifted blackout would be for the CBC. Seems like a poker game was played with the Lions by the CBC and unfortunately the Island Lion fans were the pawns here.

[Soundy]

Bobby Ackles and the Lions did nothing wrong. They requested that the CBC blackout the game locally and it is their responsibility to carry this out.

They didn't request that, actually; that's not how it works. From my understanding of it: by default, all CFL home games are blacked out in their own markets. By CFL rule, each team must lift the blackout for *AT LEAST* two games. There is nothing that limits them to only two; a team may choose to lift the blackout for ALL games if they so desire. The Lions, we're told, have a policy of lifting it if a certain minimum attendance number is met, for example (31,000 I believe?).

In this case, it would have been prudent for the team to tell CBC at the last minute, yeah, go ahead and lift the blackout, if you can't limit it to just the local market. Frankly, I have a hard time believing they wouldn't have done just that... it seems more likely to me that CBC and/or Shaw either never contacted the Lions with this information as they should have, or the word never got to the right people to make that decision.

Frankly, the very phrase "could not adjust their signal" smacks of BS to me. Someone somewhere along the line is just making $#!t up as they go.

The fact that Lions season ticket sales have quadrupled over the past 4 seasons is evidence that their blackout policy is working.

No, it's evidence that their marketing is working, and that they've been winning a lot more. The blackouts were also in place when attendance sucked for several years - it didn't help then. People aren't going to make the journey to see a lousy product just because they can't watch it on TV.

All that said, from a strictly pragmatic angle, there's no reason the decision couldn't be made last-minute to lift the blackout altogether; everyone who's GOING to the game is already there. Someone sitting at home in Burnaby who is expecting it to be blacked out and flips on the TV to find it playing isn't someone who was about to rush down to the stadium anyway, so you're not losing one single person at the gate by making that decision at that point.

If someone at the CBC had really been thinking clearly, they could have simply said, "this isn't going to work for 95% of our customers", made the last-minute executive decision and flipped the switch to lift the blackout, and dealt with the consequences later. What's the worst that could happen, the CBC would lose their broadcast rights for next season? Oh, wait...

[West Coast Blue Fan]

Do you know how much work Shaw would have had to do to blackout that game to the Island.....it would have been a logistic nightmare, and quite frankly something their call center or tech dept couldn't handle on such short notice.

The game was available on both Express Vu and Star Choice, and we (StarChoice) cable end (feed) the Shaw signal.....so I can guarantee that this had nothing to do with Shaw.

CBC simply blacked out their entire CBC Pacific feed....which is what Shaw receives on their analog/digital BC feed. Satellite subs receive multiple CBC feeds which are accessible based upon your postal code listing....thus Island folk with them fancy dishes received the game.....and btw, satellite is substantially cheaper than cable (hardware)...programming prices are only somewhat less expensive.....make the switch!!

[CatsEyes]

Thanks Andrew-that's what I figured! Deep down I knew CBC was passing the buck and didn't want to admit it. And on the satellite note, probably the only reason we're with Shaw in the first place is because we have internet through them as well.