Sportsnet One's debut shuts out Jays fans

It probably doesn't happen that often, but I  understated the case in my Monday column when I knocked Rogers for shutting out tens of thousands of Blue Jays fans by putting Saturday's game on Sportsnet One.

The Jays two games on the West Coast scored more than 480,000 viewers apiece on Rogers Sportsnet. Saturday's game, available only on Sportsnet One to Rogers customers, drew substantially less than that. BBM Canada originally reported the audience at 31,000, but admitted today that there were errorrs in its calculations.

Suffice to say, though, that it didn't make enough mistakes to drive up that number to 400,000.

It should be noted that any numbers for Sportsnet One right now are not national because Rogers sphere of cable influence doesn't extend to the West and many parts east of Ontamrio.

In addition, most viewers were probably unaware that Sportsnet Junior even existed. One reader tells of calling Rogers in Toronto and finding that even some of their employees didn't know what Sportsnet One was or what channels it was on.

This will eventually change. After all, TSN2 scored some pretty dismal ratings in the early going and is doing just fine now. But in the meantime there are legions of irate Blue Jays fans wondering what they did to deserve this treatment.

Here are the weekend's most-watched sports events on English-language television, according to BBM Canada ratings:

1. CFL, Alouettes at Argos, Saturday, TSN: 829,000

2. CFL, Tiger-Cats at Blue Bombers, Friday, TSN: 817,000

3. CFL, Eskimos at Stampeders, Sunday, TSN: 768,000

4. Golf, PGA Championship final round, Sunday, TSN: 530,000*

5. MLB, Blue Jays at Angels, Sunday, Sportsnet: 484,000

6. MLB: Blue Jays at Angels, Friday, Sportsnet: 481,000

7. Golf, PGA Championship third round, Saturday, TSN: 427,000*

8. Tennis, Rogers Cup second semifinal, Saturday, CBC: 364,000

9. Golf, PGA Championship second round, Friday, TSN: 314,000

10. Tennis, Rogers Cup first final, Sunday, CBC: 299,000

11. Track and Field, Diamond League London, Saturday, CBC: 224,000

12. Tennis, Rogers Cup first semifinal, Saturday, CBC: 221,000

13. Auto racing, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Sunday, TSN2: 217,000

14. Soccer, West Brom at Chelsea, Saturday, Sportnset: 130,000

* Viewers for CBS not calculated

Comments

[Paul O.]

Hi: Just short comment to let you know what Jays fans in the west think of Rogers & their stupidity. I have friends in 2 Srs. homes in Kelowna who gather nitely to watch the Jays play, both men & women. They are so disappointed in the decision by Rogers to pull these games. Of course they could always gather to watch exciting poker or darts or even pool, but I do not think so. The people at Roger do not have a clue what their customers will support. As for the CRTC and their rant about Canadian content, they are also in the dark about what the ordi nary citizen watches. Thanks for this chance to vent my frustration. I will not buy into Rogers Sportsnet bid to make more money.

[DB]

I live in Burlington just 45 minutes west of Toronto and I can't get this channel...Cogeco isn't carrying it yet. You'd think Rogers would've sorted out other carriers for its new channel prior to launching.

[Merlin9]

This whole things sucks big time. The only Canadian team playing baseball and I can't even watch them. I'm not going to pay to subscribe. I'm paying enough for TV as it is.
Sherwood Park, AB

[Alex K.]

They definitely rushed this new channel out. It seemed like we only started hearing about it a week or so before it launched. Now I currently receive Sportsnet One with my cable package in Toronto, but I still so confused about the way Rogers has proceeded with the roll out of this new channel. The last two nights poker played following the out of market games that were shown and currently Sportsnet Channels across the country are showing some random soccer game that I'm sure practically no one cares about in the middle of the day followed by POKER (which isn't even a sport). Now could understand the need to move the Jays for the following reasons: 1. The Leafs are playing, 2. The Olympics are on 3. Memorial Cup (remember the lame alternate feed business earlier this summer) 4. Some other MAJOR sporting event that would potentially draw more viewers then an average Jays game...BUT a random soccer game and poker is absolutely ridiculous.

[joe]

no surprise, CFL takes top spots again.
AAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooos!!!!

[Anthony John]

This is stupid, why would Rogers want less exposure for the Blue Jays and not more just as they are starting to create some buzz.

What a terrible decision and a rotten way to treat loyal Blue Jays Fans.

[Jason S]

I think that Rogers really dropped the ball on this one. This type of strategy to launch a new channel might have worked 10+ years ago, but in this day and age of social networking they have create a monster wave of negativity against them.

I can't imagine why they are acting this way towards us blue jay fans on this one. It's really dissappointing to see this from a company that I used to adore.

[cliff wood]

Chris, last year I was in Boston at this time of year and there were people on the street with deck chairs watching the Sox game on a tv in a liquor store window! And the Sox weren't even in contention, these were just die hard fans who evidently have no interest in paying for cable nor pub fare.

[Studmuffin69]

to all the people complaining about not being able to watch the blue jay games chill out have a glass of prune juice and watch some shuffel board

[Captain_Kirk]

Where I worked, the slogan is "Customer is the boss". Us fans are the boss, not Rogers. We don't have to go to anymore Jays games if we don't want to.

[Dave Barron]

My 97 year old shut in great aunt in BC loves the Jays, and all of her nephews recently bought her a big new LCD TV so she could watch her team with her failing vision. You can imagine how disappointed she is now, and how angry I am at Rogers. I have convinced my auntie to start watching Mariners games instead. I will never support any Rogers team or channel.

[Ted]

If the Jays had the rating the Argos get, then perhaps they would not allways be moving the games

[MikeS]

The Chelsea-West Brom match was televised on Sportsnet One and apparently got quadruple the viewers the Jays game got...

[Michael]

I represent a houshold of 4 long time Blue Jays fans who are furious that Rogers has decided to play only the games on Sportsnet One, which we don't get now because we are will Bell. My grandmother has been a fan all her life and now she can't even watch a single game.
This is a perfect example of greed run rampant. With the high player salaries, expensive merchandise and tickets, along with the already pricey cable packages Rogers seems more interested in getting as much money out of the fans rather than entertaining them.
Their attempts at strong-arming people into paying more for what they were already getting won't work.
We have decided to boycott all Sportnet broadcasts of any kind and also boycott all things Blue Jays. We are now looking for a new team to support.
I noticed the viewship dropped 94% from 480000 viewers to a pathetic 31000. I hope this trend continues.
Give the fans their games or get lost. Better yet, just move the team down to the U.S. If we can't watch you guys - then who needs you?

[Ferd Buckles]

This may be a calculated move by Rogers to get Jays viewers across Canada to put pressure on their cable provider to include Jr.

[Brett S]

Everybody is exactly right with their comments. Rogers is a backwards company and I hope for all the fellow Jays fans out there that they sell the team to an owner with some common sense. Also, the BC-Saskatchewan game did over 1 million on TSN but was on Thursday. Zelk, at the start of the season you included the Riders-Als game in the ratings when it was on a Thursday, why aren't you applying that to all the ratings?

[Joel]

Actually, if you go back to the 8/12 sports media watch, the Jays had 760,000 while the Argos had 649,000. Also, the CFL plays on TSN, not Sportsnet.

[louis]

What are the ratings for the riders vs alouetts on Thursday night.

[sterling]

where is the riders game?

[Guelphdad]

Just unplug the cable and save the money.

[blueJoe]

For what it's worth, that soccer game noted in the list above was on Sportsnet One. For the record, they plan to show next Saturdays game Wigan v Chelsea only on Sportsnet One. There are lot of unhappy Chelsea supporters out there.

[Industry]

Ted, the Jays draw many times the ratings the Argos get on a weekly basis and have 6-7 times the content...it's actually a much more valuable property because it translates into much more ad revenue. This is no different than Tsn2 from last year...and we are all pawns in the Rogers/ctv chess match...or should I say checkers.

[mlbfan]

"If the Jays had the rating the Argos get, then perhaps they would not allways be moving the games"

That's the stupidest comment ever. The Jays drew over 480,000 viewers on Friday and Sunday. And they play seven days a week. Can you imagine what kind of numbers they'd draw if they only played once a week like the Argos?

[john]

Alex K, it was no random soccer game, it was UEFA Champions League (the #1 club competition in the world) that had differing matches on Sportsnet, TSN2 and Setanta. Just because you don't know doesn't make it a random match.

But looking at the weekend ratings, something isn't right or more soccer supporters have Sportsnet One than Jays fans. Because #14 rating West Brom at Chelsea with 130k was on Sportsnet One - the channel's first program at 12 noon on Saturday. So, a soccer match on Sportsnet One beat out the Jays later that night on Sportsnet One by about 100k?

[Dave]

MIBFAN
yes I can imagine the ratings the Blue Jays would get if they played once a week, it would be the same they get now about 450,000. if the Argos played everyday, they would still get 850,000 people watching per game. CFL fans watch every CFL game no matter what, but that would never happen, as football is a real sport, where your body takes a physical beating, not like that girls game called baseball