Rich Pegram, general manager at local ABC affiliate WFTS Ch. 28, said he's gotten "many e-mails" from USF fans upset that next week's game against Louisville won't be shown, with Ohio State-Michigan being shown instead.
"They're obviously very angry," Pegram said Thursday, explaining that the station was asked by ABC to carry the national Ohio State-Michigan game rather than the USF game, even though the local game would likely carry higher ratings.
"It's not a financial decision. We would make more money with USF because it'd be higher-rated," Pegram said. "It purely is a matter of supporting the network. We are an ABC affiliate, and ABC asked us to carry Ohio State-Michigan. We could pre-empt that (and run USF), but quite frankly, if we carried USF, we'd get jus as many e-mails from the Ohio State and Michigan folks."
The USF-Louisville game will be broadcast locally on Bright House Sports Network, which reached more than a million customers locally, but for fans who don't have Bright House for cable, they'll have to turn to ESPN's Game Plan pay-per-view option or elsewhere.
Pegram said he understands the frustration from USF fans, but said the decision to show the Big Ten game shouldn't be taken as any kind of disrespect for the Bulls and their fans.
"We love USF. We value the relationship we have with them and try to show them as much as possible," he said. "Am I going to be able to convince somebody it wasn't insanity or a lack of appreciation for the Bulls? I don't know. You can't pick and choose when you're an ABC affiliate, and if every local affiliate pre-empted the national game to show the local team, there would be no network game."
UPDATE: Some of you in the comments have asked me to see what Louisville's ABC affiliate is showing, given the same choice between the local team and the national ABC game.
WHAS, Louisville's ABC affiliate, will be showing USF-Louisville, with the Ohio State-Michigan game airing on a partner station, WBKI, the local CW affiliate. WHAS won't be showing the 3:30 p.m. ABC national game (Penn State-Michigan State) either, instead showing Louisville men's basketball against East Tennessee State, with the ABC national game again going to WBKI.
Tampa-St. Petersburg is a considerably larger market than Louisville, with 1.82-million TV homes, as opposed to 668,000 for Louisville, so ABC national would logically have a greater interest in influencing Tampa's programming as a result.
Times sportswriter Greg Auman, who covers USF, will post news and thoughts on the Bulletin and we invite your participation in the comments area.
According to Directv's channel schedule, USF vs. L'ville shall be on channel 639 (SNY). Whew!
Posted by: Cat | November 15, 2009 at 06:30 PM
Today's noon game on ABC 28 is syracuse vs. l'ville!??? Yet, they are failing to show our USF Bulls next week.
Posted by: Cat | November 14, 2009 at 12:13 PM
F- WFTS. The local station not showing the local team's game is inexcuseable. I hope this entire town writesd of these jerks.
Posted by: Son of a Beach | November 13, 2009 at 09:23 AM
There will be PLENTY of cheap tickets around for all of the people that want to see the game and you can park for $5 near the stadium...or stay home and watch 2 schools that probably have a higher fan base in this area...OSU and Michigan. If people in this area actually supported USF the game would be sold out and you whiners would have an argument for the game being on TV...but there isn't and you don't.
Posted by: GMANBULL | November 13, 2009 at 08:36 AM
Here is a crazy idea Bulls fans...GO TO THE FREAKING GAME!!!
Posted by: GMANBULL | November 13, 2009 at 08:32 AM
Considering the Bulls performance at Rutgers, it sounds like the right call to me. Part of the Bulls problem is that the fans are way more dedicated to the team than the coaches and players.
Posted by: Deemarie | November 13, 2009 at 06:58 AM
BullzFan:
as a USF Mass Comm grad from too many years ago to count, the point you are missing is that channel 28 is not an independent station, they are beholden to the network to some degree. One of the things you will learn is that what you are taught and what really happens in the workplace are very, very often too distinctly different things. Perfect opportunity for USF to invite Mr. Pegram to class to explain how the real world works.
JerseyBuc
Posted by: jerseybuc | November 12, 2009 at 06:22 PM
Would ESPN 360 be blacked out in the area? If not, it's free on all college campuses, so I'd recommend to everyone otherwise not able to watch to take a laptop on a trip to a college campus. If the hits are high enough, it might influence future broadcasting decisions.
Posted by: David Weber | November 12, 2009 at 05:53 PM
I'll get you guys an affiliate map next week that has all the stations picking up the game.
Posted by: G.A. | November 12, 2009 at 05:49 PM
Still trying to determine if the game will be on SNY (directv). Hoping.
Posted by: Cat | November 12, 2009 at 05:30 PM
Lame. Super Lame.
The only show I watch on ABC besides college football is "V".
Since Verizon carries both the Tampa (WFTS-28)and the Sarasota (WWSB-7) affliates, I will start watching the Sarasota channel instead.
Why give WFTS-28 any ratings if they are going to sell us out?
Posted by: High Tech Bull | November 12, 2009 at 04:15 PM
Thanks for getting that answer, Greg - nice work!
It is nice to hear it's at least on ESPN360, since Verizon customers do get ESPN360 but would otherwise be shutout from Bright House Sports.
I still don't get the decision; but hey, if they think they have to pass up higher ratings in order to comply with the network, that's their problem.
The worst part to me is that this OSU/Michigan game is nowhere near as important as it usually is; that means it's really the only the hardcore OSU/Michigan fans who will be truly interested. I wonder if WFTS will regret their decision once OSU is up by 28 points and everyone tunes to another game.
Posted by: JKR | November 12, 2009 at 04:00 PM
Sounds like a bunch of booshiz to me!
Posted by: USFBullsBabe | November 12, 2009 at 03:56 PM
The network has more interest in influencing the local, but the local also has more clout in saying no and supporting the local station, esp. if that's the more lucrative financially (as they said).
Posted by: Ken | November 12, 2009 at 03:35 PM
Just found out the Lville-USF game is on ESPN360 and ESPN GamePlan. I have both...and yes, if I lived near Tampa, I'd be at the game.
GO BULLS...thump the Knights, and get some rest to blow thru Lville and head strong into the UM game. FINISH!
http://espn.go.com/college-football/schedule/_/week/12
Posted by: Jupiter Bull | November 12, 2009 at 03:34 PM
Super. Weak.
ABC 28 is bush league.
Not cool.
Posted by: Mike Lakeland | November 12, 2009 at 03:14 PM
Greg, so the Louisville ABC affiliate is carrying the USF-UL game. How nice. I guess they cater to the local interest. Thanks for your excuses WFTS.
Posted by: Ric | November 12, 2009 at 03:05 PM
You can contact the General Manager at this email: wfmanagerweb@wfts.com or maybe the sports department would like to carry a Division 1 college football game in Tampa so that email is: wfsportsweb@wfts.com
Posted by: Bullfan | November 12, 2009 at 03:00 PM
Is it possible that USF would prefer the game not be televised? Might drive up attendance by a few thousand.
Posted by: bob | November 12, 2009 at 02:59 PM
There are probably just as many Buckeye and Wolverine fan in WFTS's viewing area as there TV Bull's fans. If the game means that much to you, buy a ticket and go to the RayJay.
Posted by: Done with the Jim | November 12, 2009 at 02:59 PM
All of his responses are dodgy, and I get that they should be supporting the local team. That said, USF fans within the reach of that station have the option of actually going to the game, while OSU/Michigan fans do not.
Posted by: Curtis | November 12, 2009 at 02:40 PM
Guys, at your request, I called the Louisville ABC affiliate and got a call back with information on what they're showing on the other side of this game.
They'll be carrying the USF-Louisville game, as well as a Louisville basketball game immediately after. The two ABC national games will be shown in the market on the local CW affiliate.
Posted by: G.A. | November 12, 2009 at 02:39 PM
So WFTS doesn't want to offend OSU or UM fans by showing the USF-UL game, but disappointing USF fans is OK. I thought WFTS served the Tampa Bay area, not OSU or UM fans. This is a made up excuse that carries no credibility.
Posted by: Ric | November 12, 2009 at 02:26 PM
It is so much "bull"... in one paragragh Pegram says "they could pre-empt and run the USF game" and in the last paragraph its "they can't pick and choose if they are an ABC affiliate". In another he says USF would be the far more popular choice and then later says they would "get just as many e-mails from Ohio-Michigan folks" He seems to be a master of corporate doublespeak.
Posted by: Wayne | November 12, 2009 at 02:24 PM
Greg - You are at Rutgers today. You should track down the Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti who was a Sr.Exec at a few networks and get his take on this situation. I would also be curious to hear what the Big East has to say about it considering the conference has a deal with ABC/ESPN.
Posted by: Pierre Roche | November 12, 2009 at 02:02 PM
What a bunch of nonsense. I can assure you if the Gators were playing at 12 noon on ABC, the Gators would be on ABC.
fly me to the moon bro,
Posted by: Ari Hinkelberger | November 12, 2009 at 01:53 PM
That sounds like Bull to me. They could preempt and show the local game if they wanted to. And the rest makes no real sense, as other readers have pointed out.
Posted by: Ken | November 12, 2009 at 01:24 PM
Oh gee, I could just buy a freakin ticket, or get Bright House! Thanks for your great advice. I don't know what I was thinking.
Seriously though: Greg, do you know which game the Louisville affiliate is showing? If they're showing USF/UL, I'd love to hear Pegram explain that. If they're showing OSU/Michigan, I'm not terribly sure why ESPN/ABC would even bother sending a crew (unless it's contractual obligations).
Posted by: JKR | November 12, 2009 at 01:22 PM
just get brighthouse
Posted by: Windbane | November 12, 2009 at 01:09 PM
shut up about not be able to see the game on TV and buy a freakin ticket. If you are close enough to watch it on regional TV you are close enough to drive. Show up and support your team!!!
Posted by: a | November 12, 2009 at 01:04 PM
The question is... Would they do this to the University of Florida if they were playing Vandy the same time as Michigan-OSU? If the answer is yes... then it is what it is. If it is no, then it's worth complaining about.
Posted by: Terry Lucas | November 12, 2009 at 12:57 PM
So the USF game would get more ratings for WFTS, but they'd get just as many e-mails from OSU and Michigan fans if they chose to air USF? That makes no sense.
I'm assuming it's ESPN (part of ABC) that's handling the broadcast of the game, right? Why would they send an entire TV broadcast crew to a game, then ask one of the two markets that would actually care about that game to show something else? Do they really think that many people will just want to pony up the dough to pay for it on ESPN Game Plan?
I'd love to know which game Louisville is going to show.
Posted by: JKR | November 12, 2009 at 12:50 PM
As a journalism student at USF, and an avid Bulls fan, I do not understand his argument. If it is not about money, then local stations, newspapers and media have a duty to serve their local area. I feel that carrying OSU Michigan is going against what the media is taught in journalism school, and that is to satisfy the wants and needs of their community.
Posted by: BullzFan | November 12, 2009 at 12:45 PM