58 Comments

As a DirecTV subscriber unable to view the PAC-12 Network, I couldn’t be happier about the CW agreement. 👏🏻👏🏻

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Exactly! Glad to have the Beavs on channels I get on Youtube TV (Roku last year)

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Me too. It's about time!

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May 14Liked by John Canzano

Mt. West games, at least in the recent past, have been FS1 or FS2, and CBSNet - not Fox and CBS. I mention that because cable or some form of streaming may be required rather than just relying on "antenna TV."

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May 14·edited May 14

Works for me. I just want to be able to watch the Beavers here in Scottsdale. I really don't care about the ego game being played in college "FBS" football. At one time it was fun. But it has become clownish, to be honest. As is said: ESPN and FSN have "jumped the shark"

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Bob is correct. This will be a big ratings experiment for WSU and OSU. If these games show well for the CW, and I think they will, then WSU and OSU have a little more leverage on multiple fronts moving forward.

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It will be interesting to observe. The 13 ACC games on The CW last season, while available nation-wide, had very low viewership except for the one Florida State game. My guess is the viewership was primarily East Coast because the numbers were small and games were in competition with SEC, Big Ten. That being said, even if the OSU/WSU numbers are also low it might provide some "leverage" to demonstrate a West Coast market?

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I generally think the "late games" would fair better ratings wise. It's WSU or OSU vs. whatever ESPN is showing. In general, I think you would get a decent PNW, west coast audience watching the Cougs or Beavs.

The problem with the CW and ACC is their a ton of other games on all other channels, so you are likely just getting the viewing audience of the teams playing.

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ESPN does not have a lot to show in a late window this fall. AZ schools can do 7 or 7:30 starts until the time changes. Then it is all 8 or 8:30 starts. Maybe this is what ESPN does to AZ schools, plus Utah, BYU, and Colorado. Fans hate it, as I would

Or ESPN can show more poker or corn hole

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May 14Liked by John Canzano

Any idea whether the OSU & WSU away games broadcast via MW media partners will be viewable in the Portland market?

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author

They're slotted for Fox/FS1 and CBS. You should be able to get those easily.

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Just to clarify, last Oct. 14 after conference games were being played, the Mt. West's 3 games for TV that day:

FS1 - Boise St at Colorado St

CBSNet - San Diego St at Hawaii

CBSNet - Wyoming at Air Force

If you have cable/satellite you likely have those options - which are not the same as Fox and CBS.

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I'm fairly sure that poor ISU and PSU will get walloped on 8/31 but pretty cool that the Big Sky Conference will also receive national exposure on a broadcast network of these games.

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I got season tix for both Ducks and Beavs, but now I can actually plan my Beaver home games except Oregon while not a single Duck game, home or away, actually have any start times yet. With the Pac12 NW we at least had some of the early games start times set up by now. Fox & company will force us to wait until 2 weeks before game day or maybe even 1 week sometimes.

Good job Beavs thinking about your season ticket holders!

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Scott Barnes did an awesome job.

Would really like it if you could interview him and get the details how this all unfolded... Must be a great story

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What happened to OSU/Wazzu airing on FOX?

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I imagine The CW paid a little more for that one. Why would you want to air all the so-called Pac-2 games on your network but then surrender that one to Fox? Or maybe Fox wasn’t interested. They seem to be trying to shovel dirt over our two programs.

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I imagine it wasn't offered to Fox. Whatever CW is paying, I doubt it didn't want to give up the value game of the 11. Something like, "hey, we'll give you $8 million for the 11 with it, or $6.5 without it." (i.e. each game worth $727K or $650k) Will have to wait to see the actual 11-game package value and compare to Fox's single game value. The contracts will be "public information."

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Mr. Canzano, I was trying to donate a subscription and I’m not sure I accomplished it. My credit card was charged $59, but my auto renewal isn’t until the end of the year. Could you please make sure it goes for a donation. Thank you, Geo

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Being a season ticket holder from Eastern Oregon I like the game times.

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I think they did the best they could, and this is a good arrangement. I'll be watching!

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Does anyone have access to two [2] GB Packers vs Vikings tickets for 9/29 at Lambeau field? Larson in Longview,WA

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Nice to know we can plan now what time to drive and what not and all the game time activities they can take place in the daytime now

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Oh! I’ll be darned. I thought it was more complicated than that. LOL. Does that his simply refer to OTA? Thanks for your expertise!

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Sadly, Bill Oram of the Oregonian doesn't share your optimism. https://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/2024/05/bill-oram-oregon-states-deal-with-the-cw-sounds-good-but-might-hurt-the-beavers-more-than-help.html

He feels there will be little audience for these CW games for several reasons.

"The two-team Pac-12 will be going head-to-head with games on CBS, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Fox, FS1, the Big Ten Network and SEC Network. Even with traditionally strong viewership, what the Beavers do on The CW won’t resonate on your average Saturday."

He argues that the PAC 2 needed to make the departing teams sorry they left, and this isn't doing that. Time will tell, and the CW is better than streaming I guess.

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I read his comments also but would be curious to read what John thinks about them. I think any move to streaming games leads to problems for folks who like to follow more than one game. Has anyone paid attention to how long it takes to load streamed games on your TV? It’s absurd!

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