Vikings and Packers rivalry spreads to TV time in Twin Ports
September 22, 2011 at 7:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
KQDS Fox 21-TV News Director Jason Vincent says he braces himself every Monday morning after the Green Bay Packers get bumped in favor of the Minnesota Vikings on his station. He knows he’s going to get honked off calls from northern Wisconsin. But since his station is in Duluth, they’re in the Minnesota TV market. So he says they’re required by the NFL to put the purple and gold on over the green and gold.
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I know this will probably get a lot of dislikes (I don’t blame you really) but I am a Cowboys fan. The solution is not ideal but there is one. In Superior, I believe Grizzlies has DirectTV and gets all the football games and in Duluth I always go to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch my ‘boys play. Sure it’s annoying because you feel like you need to throw down for a drink or appetizer to be there (although I don’t always when it’s not too busy – they don’t care at BWW). But at least you get to watch your team. So come on over at hang out with me and we’ll watch the Cowboys on one screen, Packers on the other and laugh ourselves to death laughing at all the despairing Viking loons.
(all meant in good fun folks)
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Check the weather for Sunday. Why would anybody want to sit inside watching other people do something active on TV, when they can go out into the beautiful area we live in, and do something THEMSELVES?
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Typical Sconny – you live out in the woods in BFE and get your TV feed from Minnesota because there is no established city in the top half of your state. Then you complain because the Minnesota programming does not pander to your backwoods Wisconsin liking. Here’s a thought for “Crunch” the bar owner: Why don’t you stop being a cheap*** and buy Direct TV or NFL Ticket through your cable company? It costs $30 per month and you get every single NFL game! If you truly lost half of your customers on Sunday, they would have easily made up for your $30 monthly investment through their continued purchase of beef sticks, cheese, Miller High Life and rubbing alcohol in just 1 Sunday. How simple is that? “Crunch” is not a smart business owner, but what would we expect from a Sconny.
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This is not a new issue. When I lived in Duluth (not that long ago), the Viking games were frequently “scrubbed” in favor of the Packer games. This was usually when the Packers were doing better than the Vikings (sound familiar?). It angered me to no end. A Minnesota station should play Minnesota games if there is a choice. The Packer fans will get to see their team in the playoffs, so let Minnesota fans watch a Minnesota team on a Minnesota TV station. Or, as has been suggested, get Direct TV or go to a bar.
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Buy the NFL Package on Direct TV or go to a bar (there are enough of them in Wisconsin) to watch the Packers. Minnesota station shows Minnesota teams….enough said. Get a station in Superior then if you want and have them broadcast the games.
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If the local stations didn’t have an agreement with all the satelite providers, you would be able to suscribe to network tv all over the country, New York abc,cbs,nbc, etc. or L.A. or many other cities. Example, you want to watch Lost but ch.10 has UMD hockey instead. I have nothing against UMD hockey but not everybody wants to watch it but thats the only choice you have. I know Directv has NFL ticket but wouldn’t it be nice to get a network station from Madison Ws. and get the local take on the game?
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It would actually be less expensive to drive from Ashland to Green Bay to watch the packer game, than to pay for cable or direct tv. Probably more pleasant to…
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I’ve always known the moderators are bleeding heart liberals…but Packer fans?!?!? Really?!?!?!
As for the Sconnie’s upset with the lack of TV coverage…get you own TV station, and then you can complain.
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Giving it more thought I find several disturbing trends here.
1) In the past when there was a conflict in vikes/pack game, there was an alternate channel that I could switch to on my charter cable (like a secondary espn or something). Now that doesn’t exist. Wouldn’t the provider want to capture more of audience than ticking people off to show a bunch of talking heads or an abersizer infomercial.
2) If hundreds of customers are calling the stations each day wouldn’t you want to capture those hundreds of customers rather than denying them something. If I’m running a candy store that sells milk chocolate and every monday hundred of people call my store mad as hell that there is no dark chocolate for sale I’m not going to say, “sorry, i’m not carrying it.” That’s money out the window.
3) The tv people may have their facilities in minnesota, but it is only a stones throw to wisconsin and if you look at the area they service, it seems nearly equally wisconsin and minnesota (and a little UP too). Ticking off half of your audience isn’t good. I found a similar article from an Ironwood/hurley audience that was mad in 08 about not seeing the packer game. So ticking off the audience every season for 3 years is downright bad for business.
4) Packer fans are highly devoted to watching the games, no matter the outcome, to the very end. There games are always sold out. There are 83,000 people on their ticket waiting list. And when they play the vikes in minnesota you can see and hear an amazing amount of fans. And you don’t want to capture that advertisement viewing audience?
Go Pack!
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Thats what I was talking about with sat. providers. If the local stations have an agreement with local network tv, I can’t buy other network channels like abc west or nbc east. The only choice I have is local tv. Normally I would watch local tv but there are times an alternative network channel would be nice. But at this time I can’t do that even with my own money. Fox network carries more than 1 game. So does CBS and the others.
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