Kyyle23 Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 This was part of the reason I just wasn’t interested in buying an antenna, the rug pull was all but certain because cable channels don’t offer things for free. The other reason is straight up garbage results Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chitownsportsfan Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 8 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said: This was part of the reason I just wasn’t interested in buying an antenna, the rug pull was all but certain because cable channels don’t offer things for free. The other reason is straight up garbage results TBH having an antenna is a good backup for avid sports fans. Just buy some cheap $20 one and throw it behind your TV it will come in handy sooner or later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted April 22 Author Share Posted April 22 22 minutes ago, caulfield12 said: They counted 100%...Hahn and Boyer...on renegotiating that last three or five year deal upwards, bigtime. Ofc that renegotiation timeframe for their unprecedented competitive window fell right in 2022/23, when the team had already started to descend towards unwatchable. I would hope our baseball people aren't out negotiating TV deals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeC Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 10 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said: I would hope our baseball people aren't out negotiating TV deals. I'm sure they've got TV people for that, like Schriffen. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 10 minutes ago, JoeC said: I'm sure they've got TV people for that, like Schriffen. Extreme Arrogance is what got them in this predicament in the first place. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chitownsportsfan Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 10 minutes ago, JoeC said: I'm sure they've got TV people for that, like Schriffen. comcast should just run a "highlight clip" of Schriffen and then play the scene from the Godfather were Micheal offers nothing to the scumball Senator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 20 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said: TBH having an antenna is a good backup for avid sports fans. Just buy some cheap $20 one and throw it behind your TV it will come in handy sooner or later. I really dont think so. I love sports and this is just not necessary for me, there isn’t one scenario I can think of that would make me feel it is needed. I’m done playing the game they want us to play. They provide s%*# products and tell US that we need to spend more, year in and year out, and when they f*** up they want me to spend more. I’m good 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 At least Benetti picked the right time to get out...away from the total train wreck that is Stone/Schiffren and to a market that seemingly embraces his underdog/blue collar/fight for every opportunity persona. Thankfully DJ and Kasper are professional enough to strike the right balance of criticism and homerism/optimism, not laying either on too thick and demonstrating a lot more patience/long-term mindset about the current sorry state of affairs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chitownsportsfan Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 14 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said: I really dont think so. I love sports and this is just not necessary for me, there isn’t one scenario I can think of that would make me feel it is needed. I’m done playing the game they want us to play. They provide s%*# products and tell US that we need to spend more, year in and year out, and when they f*** up they want me to spend more. I’m good I personally have used it a half dozen times just during CFB season, if nothing else to get a free 2nd game going. But, to each their own. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 11 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said: I personally have used it a half dozen times just during CFB season, if nothing else to get a free 2nd game going. But, to each their own. And I see no problem with that, it just isn’t anything that I personally need. And I know that there are plenty people in both boats here. but the issue isn’t even really OTA. OTA broadcasts aren’t gonna increase their ratings, airing it on cable will. The issue is that this dumb channel is available on all of the networks -except- the most widely used cable carrier in the area. And now, they are all probably feeling a different pain, which is advertisers wondering why they should spend their money here 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac9001 Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 The CHSN app is fine, if you have smart TV or stick of some kind you can easily watch the content. That's a much wider distribution opportunity than even Comcast. The problem is Bulls/Hawks/Sox collectively are a shitty product right now. If any of those teams were worth following people would pay the $20-30 a month to get access on those platforms. Comcast is probably charging you $100 a month for cable plus the $10-15 they're charging for the local sports fee. The $20 a month to just access to a specific team without all the extra bullshit Comcast throws at you is not a bad deal, the problem is the product on screen. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 "getting rid of free TV for games was my biggest mistake". And like TLR fixing that is a bigger mistake. I do find it a little absurd that giving the product away for free is a bad thing. I cut the cable years ago and just stream. I've hooked up an antennae for a while but didn't ready find that I needed it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
77 Hitmen Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 6 hours ago, Paulie4Pres said: Antenna TV. The future!!! Turns out making your customers jump through hoops to watch your shitty teams is bad for business. Who would have thought? I can't wait to see the White Sox numbers after this season. Probably going to exceed that 78%. Be careful about saying "White Sox" and "78" in a pair of sentences. That might trigger some fans. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleAleSox Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 4 hours ago, caulfield12 said: At least Benetti picked the right time to get out...away from the total train wreck that is Stone/Schiffren and to a market that seemingly embraces his underdog/blue collar/fight for every opportunity persona. Thankfully DJ and Kasper are professional enough to strike the right balance of criticism and homerism/optimism, not laying either on too thick and demonstrating a lot more patience/long-term mindset about the current sorry state of affairs. Nobody wants to live in Detroit over Chicago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 2 hours ago, PaleAleSox said: Nobody wants to live in Detroit over Chicago. Sure, but he spends half of the summer traveling, does that every weekend for college football games for 3-4 months and 2-3 games per week for college basketball. If anything, he's probably happy to be back home (anywhere) with that schedule, plus they probably treat him QUITE WELL in a city like Detroit where he's something of a local celebrity by now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lip Man 1 Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 3 hours ago, PaleAleSox said: Nobody wants to live in Detroit over Chicago. With what they are paying him I'm guessing he's VERY happy to live in Detroit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 CHSN Debacle Results in Blackhawks Being NHL’s Biggest Local TV Ratings Loser According to a report published Monday by Sports Business Journal, the Blackhawks had the biggest drop in television ratings in the entire NHL. And it wasn’t very close; they were almost 30 percent worse than any other team in the league! Here’s what Austin Karp wrote about the Blackhawks: The Blackhawks had the biggest decline, down 78% this season on the team’s new RSN, Chicago Sports Network (co-owned alongside the Bulls and White Sox). But leaving NBC Sports Chicago for an RSN that has not gotten distribution with Comcast in the market meant a loss of just over 40,000 homes per game this season for the Blackhawks. I expected a massive drop, but to be this much worse than any team in the league is an incredibly bad look for the entire CHSN process. And if you think there’s lost money on the books from the plummeting television ratings, wait until their sponsors get a look at those numbers. https://www.bleachernation.com/blackhawks/2025/04/21/chsn-debacle-results-in-blackhawks-being-nhls-biggest-local-tv-ratings-loser/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeC Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 9 hours ago, PaleAleSox said: Nobody wants to live in Detroit over Chicago. Speaking as someone who lives in the Detroit area, I can say that this is factually incorrect 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tray Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 For me free OTA broadcasts of TV and FM were fun to tune into back in the day. I delighted in 60's music as my Fisher 500C receiver picked a new generation of FM underground pop stations. WGN TV had mostly Cub coverage. It was great to watch the June swoon and their demise in the summer of '69. I hated the circular UHF antenna needed to watch the Sox. Very poor quality reception. Once Comcast wired-up every house in the world, they proceeded to create a monopoly over advertising, content and subscriptions. Now OTA broadcasts can only serve as a supplement to much more robust cable content. Nice having in a pinch when the cable goes out or when a storm hits. Unfortunately, OTA TV can't compete with cable. That ship sailed decades ago. Yes, OTA has very restricted content, but , personally, I prefer local news (2,5,7,9) to so-called cable "news" - stations that have an undercurrent of politics. A lot of people love a steady diet of political content, but I don't. So I watch OTA broadcasts of local news every morning and local weather at 6 and 10. And yes, Hawks, Bulls Sox on CSHN at night. If I didn't need Comcast for internet I would cut the cable under my carpet so fast it isn't funny. If only 5G internet was faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteSox2023 Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 JR and Getz — everything they touch turns to s%*#. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliSoxFanViaSWside Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 On 4/22/2025 at 8:59 AM, tray said: Free over-the-air digital broadcasts are the exact opposite of the absurd Sportsvision analog/descrambler set-up. One problem now is that there are some who are too lazy or stupid to set up an antenna and run a cable to it. Those that have are amazed at the cable quality of over-the-air free broadcasts. I think there is some merit to what you say. People are used to paying for their sports through cable and satellite and the sports packages offered by the league. If you're a cord cutter and many are you don't really expect to get free over the air sports unless you can get it through antenna or other more nefarious means. I'm not in Chicago but cord cutters are usually quite used to monkeying around with their smart TVs and various " other" methods to watch sports. I watched plenty of Hawks and White Sox games. Yes I'm usually a few minutes behind the live action and the picture quality is HD instead of 4K and the signal sometimes has to be rebooted often but free is free. And this is without using the advice you get about hiding your ISP through the use of a VPN. People are innovative which is just the opposite of lazy and stupid but I do agree that there are some people who just say f*** it and won't put the time or effort into it because it doesn't involve the ease of use that handing over your cash provides. Where there's a will there's a way . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 As someone who does these kinds of measurements professionally, I would say not to take the exact numbers too seriously in this case. No doubt that the number of people seeing games has dropped dramatically given that so many have lost their ability to do so without taking some kind of "expensive" action (buy new equipment, buy new subscription). But getting a grasp of how many people are using a fledgling streaming service vs. antenna vs. conventional cable are just very different kinds of measurements. Not to mention that with the subscription model, ownership would gladly trade some cable viewers for a smaller number of paid subscribers...not that they are likely to be anywhere near enough of those direct payers to be coming out ahead yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted April 23 Author Share Posted April 23 25 minutes ago, Jake said: As someone who does these kinds of measurements professionally, I would say not to take the exact numbers too seriously in this case. No doubt that the number of people seeing games has dropped dramatically given that so many have lost their ability to do so without taking some kind of "expensive" action (buy new equipment, buy new subscription). But getting a grasp of how many people are using a fledgling streaming service vs. antenna vs. conventional cable are just very different kinds of measurements. Not to mention that with the subscription model, ownership would gladly trade some cable viewers for a smaller number of paid subscribers...not that they are likely to be anywhere near enough of those direct payers to be coming out ahead yet. I think the bigger red flag here isn't ratings per se, but more of loss of audience and the huge loss of revenue that would go with it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 7 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said: I think the bigger red flag here isn't ratings per se, but more of loss of audience and the huge loss of revenue that would go with it. And frustration level of advertisers/sponsors promised more "bang for their buck" that will have to be comped additional air time to make up for decreasing numbers (compared to more optimistic Boyer predictions.) Then there's the Schiffren issue as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 20 hours ago, PaleAleSox said: Nobody wants to live in Detroit over Chicago. The Detroit suburbs are very nice. If you prefer a quieter, more outdoor rich lifestyle, the Detroit area would be a great option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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