Sportsnet gives Ontario more McCown, less Connected

When Rogers Sportsnet decided five years ago to start simulcasting The FAN 590's Prime Time Sports, it looked like a move to get some cheap programming on the air and do some Rogers cross-promotion at the same time. It even urged viewers to send text messages, using their Rogers cellphones.

It's still relatively cheap programming, mainly because it costs almost nothing to adapt a radio show for TV. But now,  PTS is about to be used to drive ratings for Sportsnet's early news show. As of Labour Day, PTS will be extended to two hours in Ontario, meaning Sportsnet Connected's 6 p.m. show will be absorbed into the Bob McCown radio show. 

Instead of an hour of  Connected, viewers will get less than 30 minutes of it spread out over two hours of McCown and company. 

`My job is to increase ratings," says Sportsnet programming head David Akande. ``Prime Time Sports is doing very well and this should bring more viewers to Connected."

In fact, PTS attracts an average of 29,300 viewers in Ontario alone, a pretty impressive audience for a 5 p.m. time slot. The fact that Connected was drawing fewer viewers in a better time period should be a concern, though. Apparently it was.

Akande insists this is not a cost-saving move and that no jobs will be eliminated. Connected will run in its existing format on Sportsnet's three other channels, although Akande is looking at the possibility of duplicating the Ontario experiment in the East.

This is not, Akande says, an admission that Connected is failing. It's more a sign of the changing times, he says.

``Connected is not going anywhere," he says, noting the show will exist across the country in its full format at 10 p.m.

But in the early evening, he says, viewers want something different.

 ``People don't wait for the sports news to come on at a specific time and then sit through a 30-minute show waiting for results," he says. ``We can deliver the news better in smaller doses."

While no jobs have been cut, jobs have been affected. Brad Fay will move from the old early Connected to the prime-time show alongside Martine Gaillard. Her former partner, Sean McCormick, will now do the early show outside Ontario.

This sounds a lot like what The Score is doing with its short hits. Maybe it is the way to go in this instant information age.

Either way, it will be interesting to see if a radio show on television can boost a news show's ratings. If it can, it says a lot about the drawing power of McCown.

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO TURN ON THE TV ...

If you can't think of anything to do on the Sunday evening of a long weekend, what could be better than watching the debut of The T.O. Show, Terrell Owen's new ``reality" show. I'm kidding, of course, since the prospect of inserting knitting needles into my eardrums holds more appeal than this piece of vanity fluff.

It will air Sunday at 7 p.m. on Citytv and, according to our good friends at Rogers who are airing this for its artistic value and not because it will promote their Buffalo Bills series, should be a blockbuster.

Here's what the press release says: ``The T.O. Show takes an introspective look at the life of Alabama native Terrell Owens, revealing his private side and providing new insight into his famously brash and brazen personality. Follow Terrell from the day he was released by the Dallas Cowboys until he reports for summer camp to his new team, the Buffalo Bills. His close friends (and publicists) Monique (Mo') Jackson and Kita Williams accompany Terrell on his road of discovery, playing an essential role in his quest for success and personal growth as confidants, business partners and his support system.  Mo' and Kita are there to guide Terrell every step of the way--always keeping him on track, always keeping it real, and always letting him know when T.O. needs to step aside and let Terrell take over."

Why do I think that Terrell's ``road to discovery" is a road best less traveled?

Stop if you've heard this before: More changes at The Score

This just in: The Score is making wholesle changes to its programming. In other news, the sun will set in the west tomorrow and there will strife in the Middle East.

Now, I may be off by one or two, but by my count this is about the ninth major format change at the specialty sports channel. Nobody can accuse these guys of standing still, that's for sure.

``If you're not moving, you're standing still," Score president John Levy said yesterday. ``If you're standing still, you're falling behind."

But if you're moving too fast, sometimes you fall down.

Unfortunately, the changes weren't made without spilling some blood. Nine Score staff were affected, with five losing their jobs. The others, Levy said, are being reassigned and some of those positions may change from full-time to part-time.

In addition, two shows will disappear -- sort of. The Score Tonight will be reduced from one hour a night to snippets and Hard-Core Hockey Talk will also be minimized.

As for the jobs, two on-air staffers are gone. Ten-year veteran announcer Tony Ambrogio and basketball host Nikki Reyes were axed along with three behind-the-scenes people. 

It's never a good thing when people lose jobs, but Levy insists the moves have nothing to do with cost-cutting. They're about giving viewers more accessible news and features, he says.

The Score Tonight and the hockey show have been carved up into more digestible bites, he says. Sort of like serving tapas instead of main courses. Instead of an hour, they'll consist of quick hits sprinkled among Cabral Richards bits and Gerry Dee comic bites. 

Other features, which Levy doesn't want to reveal right now, will be added in the fall.

As Ambrogio put it, this sounds like less news and more entertainment. 

One of The Score's strengths is that it isn't afraid to take a chance. The live morning show never really had a chance to succeed, but I applaud Levy and company for trying.

It's possible the moves may be good ones. But from where I sit they take The Score farther and farther away from what it was and what it was supposed to be: news and highlights. 

CFL RULES THE AIR

 While the faltering Toronto Blue Jays are still drawing decent television audiences, they can't compare with the Canadian Football League.

 The three most-watched sports events over last weekend were three-down football games. What's amazing about that is that only one was what you might call a classic: the Saskatchewan-Edmonton game. The Argo-Bomber game was a yawn and the Stampeders-Lions game was a blowout. 

Ratings for the Canadian Open were the lowest ever, but the fact very little golf was played on the weekend had a lot to do with that. I guess people could have looked out the window if they wanted to watch rain.

Here are the weekend sports ratings for English Canada, as provided by BBM Nielsen Media Research: 

1. Football, Argos at Blue Bombers, Friday, TSN: 455,000 

2. Football, Eskimos at Rough Riders, Saturday, TSN: 427,000 

3. Football, Stampeders at Lions, Friday, TSN: 409,000 

4. Baseball, Rays at Blue Jays, Saturday, Sportsnet: 337,000 

5. Baseball, Rays at Blue Jays, Friday, Sportsnet: 332,000* 

6. Baseball, Rays at Blue Jays, Sunday, Sportsnet: 317,000 

7. Auto racing, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Sunday, TSN: 287,000 

8. Golf, Canadian Open, Sunday, Global/CBS: 200,000 

9. Golf, Canadian Open, Saturday, Global/CBS: 157,000 

10. Auto racing, F1 Hungarian Grand Prix, Sunday, TSN: 151,000 

11. Aquatics, World diving championships, Saturday, CBC: 150,000 

* Ontario and Pacific channels only

Whitlock hits the nail on the head

Seeing that I am in Winnipeg doing the other part of my job -- covering the wild and crazy goings-on of the Toronto Argonauts -- and that those same Argos are making me crazy  just too busy to pursue media-related matters, I'm going to use one of the oldest journalistic tricks in the book. I'm going to direct you to a piece that I might have written if I a) had the time; and b) the talent.

So here's what Jason Whitlock of Fox Sports had to say. Needless to say, I agree.

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/9839296/Whitlock:-Who's-to-blame-for-Erin-Andrews-scandal?

Erin Andrews case a wake-up call for all. Let's hope we wake up.

I've always felt the Internet ranked as possibly the best technological advance of this age. I've also felt it also ranks as the worst. For every great use of it, there's at least one  that manages to shine a light on the slimiest elements of our society.

The latter was on full display earlier this week when video of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews, captured by a hidden camera as she walked around naked in her hotel room, found its way on to the web. Worse, it made its way on to Deadspin, previously known as one of the best sports websites in existence. Although its editor removed the video and apologized for his actions, the damage to its reputation is done in my books.

This was a criminal act, if Deadspin somehow didn't notice, and an invasion of privacy of the highest order. It was a virtual sexual assault.

Deadspin was not alone. Less well-known sites also aired the video and the New York Post, which will never be confused with the New York Times, printed a grainy clip from the video.

For shame.

This wasn't just an example of people showing poor judgment. It lays bare the Internet culture that believes everything is for public consumption, libel is a concept from the past and common decency is something your grandmother worried about. It's a culture that preaches everything is designed for entertainment, whether it's video of people suffering serious injuries doing stupid things or invasions of privacy of the most heinous degree.

It's a culture that made the video the most sought-after item on Google this week.

I've never favoured regulating the Internet. Until now. 

WEEKEND RATINGS: What's most interesting about last weekend's overnight ratings isn't so much what's on the list, but what isn't. That would be an MLS game between Houston and Toronto FC on Saturday, which drew all of 51,000 viewers to CBC.

It was a bit of an anomaly -- TFC games are averaging 118,000 on CBC -- but even that season average might not be enough to keep the national broadcaster interested beyond this season. TFC games on Rogers Sportsnet, which shows them mostly on its Ontario and Pacific channels, are averaging 46,000 viewers. The good news is that's up 53 per cent from 2007.

 Here are the top-rated sports events in English Canada over the weekend, as always, provided by BBM Nielsen Media Research:

1. Football, Argos at Stampeders, Friday, TSN: 413,000

2. Baseball, Red Sox at Blue Jays, Friday, Sportsnet: 400,000

3. Football, Blue Bombers at Tiger-Cats, Saturday, TSN: 374,000

4. Golf, British Open final round, Sunday, TSN: 329,000*

5. Baseball, Red Sox at Blue Jays, Saturday, Sportsnet: 296,000

6. Football, Alouettes at Roughriders, Saturday, TSN: 295,000

7. Baseball, Red Sox at Blue Jays, Sunday, Sportsnet: 254,000

8. Golf, British Open third round, Saturday, TSN: 236,000*

9. Track and field, Golden League, Saturday, CBC: 144,000

10. Swimming, World aquatics championships, Saturday, CBC: 133,000

* Viewers on ABC broadcasts not calculated

NBC likes the NHL, it really does ...

One of the most popular sports in the world of sports media these days is knocking the National Hockey League’s television situation in the U.S.

Targets of ridicule include the fact that the league still can’t get a rights fee from network television, it’s still fighting with bowling in the ratings lists and it insists on selling its cable package to Versus, a network that’s so high up the dial it gives remotes nosebleeds.

Some of that ridicule was heightened this week when the league signed a new deal with NBC, once again without a rights fee. Compared with the billions and hundreds of millions commanded by the like of the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball the NHL isn’t even on the map south of the border.

It leaves the NHL in the same position as the likes of the Arena Football League, though at least the NHL didn’t take a year off. Oh, right, it did. But not this year.

Despite all this criticism, the fact is the NBC deal is a pretty good one for the league. It's not as if the NHL had any choice - no one else came calling - but NBC has done some good things for the league.

By playing the game by NBC’s rules, the league has seen its ratings increase. Regular-season ratings are still dismal, but the winter outdoor games and the Stanley Cup finals have scored impressive numbers. That should continue to grow as long as NBC continues to air a first-rate product.

Is it a great deal? Well, no, considering the NHL gets little money out of its profit-sharing arrangement. And NBC’s scheduling demands and insistence on putting hockey behind horse racing preview shows certainly don't do much for the league's image.

But things are looking up. It’s even possible – though not probable – that when the new deal expires in 2011, somebody like Fox or ABC might even be interested.

Okay, maybe that's a stretch. But if ratings for the NHL's big events continue to grow, there could be interest a little farther down the road.

Well I'll be hornswaggled: Rodeo tops the TV list

While it's pretty much a given that football and baseball dominate the summer sports ratings in Canada in non-Olympic years, there's a sport that tends to get overlooked: rodeo.

Apparently all that calf-roping and steer wrangling makes for some compelling television. The most-watched sports event over last weekend was the Calgary Stampede, which is amazing considering that there were likely few PETA members in that audience. 

This is no ratings blip, by the way. CBC's average of 250,000 viewers for each Stampede showing is up only 3 per cent over last year.

In other ratings observations, the Blue Jays audiences continue to slip slide away as the team pretty much takes the same route. Expect them to drop even further, especially if Roy Halladay is sent packing.

The Toronto Indy didn't fare badly despite a year's absence.

TSN attracted 174,000 viewers to the race, which was also broadcast on ABC. Since we don't know how many people watched on the American channel, it's impossible to know how many Canadians watched the demolition derby at the Ex. But it's safe to assume there were more than 300,000.

That pales in comparison to the race's glory days, when it routinely hit 500,000 -- but it's a start.

That said, here are the top-rated weekend sports events in English Canada. As always, they were compiled by BBM Nielsen Media Research:

1. Rodeo, Calgary Stampede, Sunday, CBC: 384,000

2. Football, Stampeders at Bombers, Friday, TSN: 353,000

3. Football, Roughriders at Argonauts, Saturday, TSN: 325,000

3. Football, Tiger-Cats at Lions, Friday, TSN: 325,000

4. Rodeo, Calgary Stampede, Saturday, CBC: 318,000

5. Baseball, Blue Jays at Orioles, Saturday, Sportsnet: 308,000

6. Baseball, Blue Jays at Orioles, Friday, Sportsnet: 258,000

7. Auto racing, NASCAR Lifelock 400, Saturday, TSN: 222,000

8. Rodeo, Calgary Stampede, Sunday, CBC: 221,000

9. Baseball, Blue Jays at Orioles, Sunday, Sportsnet: 203,000

10. Auto racing, F1 German Grand Prix, Sunday, TSN: 178,000

11. Auto racing, Toronto Indy, Sunday, TSN: 174,000*

* Ratings for ABC broadcast not calculated.

OTHER STUFF: 640 Toronto's Bill Watters Show included a great interview with prospective new Raptor Jarrett Jack. It's an interview that shows you don't always have to ask good questions if the subject has a sense of humour and an idea of what makes a good story. At one point, Watters asks Jack where he's from. Couldn't he have at least Googled the guy?

Here's the link if you missed it: http://www.640toronto.com/HostsandShows/BillWatters/Audio.aspx

How did this happen to John Saunders?

I made the mistake the other night of watching a bit of ABC's The Superstars, which is yet another failed attempt by the network to recreate successes from the past (Exhibit A: Howard Cosell clones on Monday Night Football.) 

Even in an age of reality TV, which is about as real as pro wrestling and Bob Costas' hair colour, this doesn't quite make the grade. I'm not sure why anybody would want to watch sports stars and alleged celebrities (stars of home makeover shows) bowling or racing jet-skis or participating in the rest of the lame stunts that make up the show.

But what struck me hardest was the fact that former Citytv guy John Saunders is handling the announcing duties for this embarrassment. What, I had to wonder, had Saunders done to deserve this? Did he fill Mike Tirico's shoes with shaving cream? Oil Brent Musburger's office door handles? Pronounce the last letter of the alphabet the Canadian way?

Whatever it was, Saunders now finds himself in an announcing gulag from which there may be no escape. Now, he could help himself by calling this foolishness with the tone it deserves instead of performing as if he were covering the Super Bowl. ``Drama" and ``gruelling competition" are words that never should have escaped his lips.

But Saunders deserves better than this. 

Heck, viewers deserve better than this.

OTHER STUFF: Could Nike (or was it LeBron James) have looked any pettier this week when it pulled video of a college player dunking on the Cleveland Cavaliers star? Xavier University guard Jordan Crawford somehow managed to beat King James at his skills camp. But before anyone could get to see the video, the suits from Nike stepped in and confiscated them. Now, really. Is James' reputation so fragile that the sight of some college player fluking a dunk would send fans back to shoe stores demanding refunds for anything James-related? Or is it that Nike is just a tad paranoid? ... Former Score second-in-command David Errington, who left the sports channel earlier this year, has landed as president and CEO of the National Broadcast Reading Service. Talk about a career change. ... NBC's ratings for the Wimbledon men's final were the highest in 10 years. ... Hardcore Sports Radio (Sirius 98) will carry a full slate of CFL games, including the playoffs and Grey Cup.

Regular-season CFL game beats out record-setting Wimbledon

For all those legions of CFL-haters who contend that no one outside of a few prairie hicks and small-town types care a whit about three-down football, we present the following evidence:

Friday's night home opener in Regina, an entertaining game between the B.C. Lions and Saskatchewan Roughriders, was the most-watched sports event of the weekend as it drew an average of 457,000 viewers to TSN. More amazing, it topped Roger Federer's record-setting Wimbledon victory on Sunday -- a broadcast that was filled with emotion, great tennis and history.

This isn't all that unusual. CFL games routinely outdraw a lot of sports, including the hallowed NFL.

What was unusual, though, was the fact that the Calgary Stampede rodeo derby on Saturday night attracted more viewers to CBC than Saturday's women's final at Wimbledon. It might have been a blip, but it probably says more about the waning popularity of tennis than any huge increase in rodeo interest.

Here are the weekend English-language sports ratings, according to BBM Nielsen Media Research overnight figures:

1. Football, Lions at Roughriders, Friday, TSN: 457,000

2. Tennis, Wimbledon men's final, Sunday, Global/NBC: 384,000

3. Baseball, Blue Jays at Yankees, Saturday, Sportsnet: 273,000

4. Baseball, Blue Jays at Yankees, Sunday, Sportsnet: 267,000

5. Rodeo, Calgary Stampede, Saturday, CBC: 230,000

6.  Tennis, Wimbledon women's final, Saturday, Global/NBC: 227,000

7. Baseball, Phillies at Mets, Saturday, Sportsnet: 205,000

8. Baseball, Blue Jays at Yankees, Friday, Sportsnet: 184,000

9. Rodeo, Calgary Stampede, Friday, CBC: 107,000

10. Baseball, Rays at Rangers, Sunday, Sportsnet: 81,000

OTHER STUFF: Kudos to the FAN 590 for introducing a daily noon-hour baseball show, for no other reason than it gives us a break from 365-days-a-year hockey talk. The show, hosted by Mike Wilner, is still in its infancy and apparently hasn't settled on a format -- Wilner was asking listeners for suggestions on Monday -- but I have no doubt it will give baseball fans what they want. ... The Tiger effect was in evidence again on the weekend. CBS reports that its PGA National coverage, won by Tiger Woods, scored a 207 per cent ratings increase over last year.

There's only a little bit of Toronto in the Toronto Indy

The Toronto Indy is back after a brief pit stop, but Canadian television coverage will not return.

TSN president Phil King says the specialty channel will not buck the trend and go back to the days when Canadian networks produced their own coverage of what used to be this country's biggest auto race.

Instead, TSN will pick up ABC's version of the July 12 spin around the Ex.

In past years, I would have gotten my Calvin Kleins in a knot and fussed about more Canadian treasures being handed over to Americans to save a few bucks. In fact, if memory serves, I did just that a few times.

But that was then, before whatever racing circuit that controls the event fell into a death spiral. Back when CBC used to cover the Toronto Indy, it drew upwards of 500,000 viewers and was a true national event. 

But when Champ Car (CART, whatever) and the IRL did their best to kill interest, there really was little sense in Canadian networks losing money on a race that few cared about. The event struggled to attract 200,000 viewers the last time it was on.

As much as Canadian networks should be producing Canadian events, it's hard to justify mounting an expensive production that will have to go up against ABC's in hopes of sharing 150,000 or 200,000 viewers.

Now, the only Canadian content on the broadcast will be the analysis provided by Toronto native Scott Goodyear. And he works for ABC. 

OTHER STUFF: Despite the best efforts of Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke -- or Burkie has his buddies in the electronic media affectionately call him -- the Sedins won't be coming to Toronto. Too bad.

Leaf fans don't know what they're missing ...