The Ratings Game and the blame game…

By: Jim Williams

The Examiner

 

For over 25 years my job has been to explain ratings, to tear into them and most of the time try to spin them to show advertisers and viewers that my station or regional sports network was doing well.

 

The Nationals rating released recently showing the stat that 9,000 house holds on average watch the team’s telecast caught this veteran ratings spinnerby suprise. The rating should be more like this the Nationals draw a crowd of 25,000 at the park then the TV audience should be around 35 and 50 thousand homes depending on the night of the week and the opponent. That would still be low however more in line with the Washington market.

 

What caused the ratings to go down?

 

That answer is simple the team isn’t playing well and there just not seem to enough compelling storylines. Add to that the area is not yet used to following the Nationals. The dedicated fan bease needs time to grow and that will take time.(OK that is a little spin)

 

Winning equals fans both in the ball park and on television.

 

So, while I can’t explain away these ratings, the Nationals know better than anyone that when you choice to build a team from the ground up then poor ratings can happen.But show some rebuilding and some new young stars and like TampaBay you will reward at the gate as well as in front of the TV.

 

Are the low ratings MASN’s fault?

 

I think that it is unfair to blame MASN for the low numbers. I have heard the absurd argument that because the Nationals and the Orioles alternate between MASN and MASN2 fans can’t always find the games.

 

If you can find NBA basketball on CSN, TNT, ESPN, ABC and even NBA-TV then you should be able to find the Nationals games. Here is a hint – If you see that the O’s are playing on MASN then turn the channel to MASN2. If you can’t figure that out turn in your remote and listen to the games on the radio.

       

The argument that the Nationals telecasts are not as well done as the Orioles is also hogwash.     

 

Jon Miller and Joe Morgan could do every game in HD on MASN and that would not add that many more viewers the Nationals broadcast.

 

Bob Carpenter, Don Sutton and Debbi Taylor are as good a local broadcast team as there is in Major League Baseball. Johnny Holliday and Ray Knight who do the Nats Xtra pre and post game shows are always entertaining and educational to the fans.

 

As for production the Nationals have the same graphics as the Orioles but in a red, white and blue color palate. The production teams headed by Executive Producer Chip Glass are top of the line tech people. The MASN cameraperson’s, tape operators, audio engineers and graphics teams are among the most respected in the business. The crews are shared between both MASN and CSN so many of the same people that work the Wizards and the Caps games are also part of the MASN baseball production team. These same people also work network shoots for FOX, ESPN, CBS, and NBC so they are not chopped liver.

 

The production facilities MASN uses come from the same company that provides ESPN their remote HD trucks for everything from Sunday Night Baseball to NASCAR.

 

So to cheapen the efforts or the talents of the people who put the Nationals telecasts on the air for MASN is both unfair and wrong.

 

There is a problem with the high home camera placement at the new Nationals which is causing everyone problems. Since the press box location is so high the high home camera which is located in the broadcast booth is dramatically affected.

 

Tim Scanlan the ESPN Vice President, Event Production who over see’s the networks baseball coverage told me “The new NationalsPark provides us with some very challenging camera angles due to the height of the press box camera is quite high and somewhat awkward looking. Not unlike Pittsburgh and some of the other new ball parks. All the other camera locations are fine it just seem like high home was not considered when they built the park.” So for those who wanted to know about the funky angle from the high home game camera it is because the press box is high the camera has a limited range, it is that simple. 

 

I have spoken to a number of radio and TV broadcasters and production people and they say that NationalsPark is beautiful and a great park for the fans. However, it has worst and most poorly planned out broadcast location in baseball. Some may recall opening night when Jon Miller quipped “I have always wanted to do a game from the top of the WashingtonMonumentand tonight my dream has come true.”

 

By contrast when they were building Oriole Park Bill Brown who was then the Executive Producer of Home Team Sports (the forerunner to CSN) was involved with every aspect of the construction of the park. He was able to turn the new stadium into a state of the art television studio. The camera angles at OriolePark are some of the best in all of baseball and fans can thank Brown (now the Senior Producer for FOX Sports) for that. It is too bad that the team in charge of building the NationalsPark did not include the television people in their construction meetings.   

 

Another issue I hear debated is the one on Broadcast parity.

 

Both teams get the same money about $25 million a year, both teams are on the same amount of times 81 each on MASN and MASN2 and both teams have the same amount of games on in high definition 40.

 

Could Comcast have done better?

 

MASN with the exception of the addition of Gary Thorne has exactly the same broadcast crew on the Orioles as did CSN. It is true that CSN can offer games in HD but I defy anyone to show me an O’s telecast on CSN that is any different than the one’s that air on MASN. I have seen them and they are for the most part the same games.    

 

What would help…

 

Comcast and the other cable companies must address the dedication of two HD channels for MASN. We need to be able to have all 81 home games of both teams in HD next season. It would alsobe great to have all the Wizards and Caps home games in HD when there are conflicts so we need a CSN+ channel.

 

We could debate forever that Major League Baseball did not deal fairly with the Nationals by giving their television rights to the Orioles owner Peter Angelos. That issue is dead and gone so what we can do is fairly look at what is being done by MASN to make the Nationals telecasts the best they can be.

 

In the end if the Nationals do not draw an audience and build better ratings that has a direct impact on MASN’s bottom-line. They need both teams to win, to generate fan buzz and to draw rating if not then MASN will not be a successful regional sports network. This is after all at the end of the day a business. Nationals success equals MASN’s success.