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Suns, Mercury to KTVK/KPHE

K

KeithE4

All games not airing on ESPN, ABC, or TNT will air on Channel 3 or 44, with Mercury games starting next week.

Channel 3 will air 40 Suns games with another 30 on 44, beginning in October.

Hopefully Gray will put 44 on a subchannel of 3 or 5. Being an LPTV, they don't come anywhere close to full market coverage right now.
 
"Hopefully Gray will put 44 on a subchannel of 3 or 5. Being an LPTV, they don't come anywhere close to full market coverage right now."

What about the must carry provision? Surely Flagstaff is in the Market if Kingman is with Channel 6! Common DISH and DirectTV get with the program!!!
 
Some more information on this.
According to Forbes it could be a drop from "$35 million to $8 million by switching to a direct-to-consumer option." NBA’s Phoenix Suns Become First Major Sports Team To Ditch Cable

According to ESPN Mat Ishbia the owner of the Suns says the deal is not about the money, but instead about "winning, success and taking care of fans, taking care of the community" and "What happens is you always end up making money. It always works out." Suns, Mercury cut cable, moving to new TV setup

Also, from Diamond Sports response, sounds like they may be planning to sue. According to Axios Diamond has a right to "match any deal the teams make with a new broadcast partner." New Phoenix Suns, Mercury deal sends warning signal for cable
 
Diamond Sports is in bankruptcy. They don’t have enough money to pay their existing bills but have money to sue, sure thing.

This appears to be Ishbia getting ahead of not having a broadcast partner for next year. The Diamondbacks are in the same boat, and may have received a partial payment from Diamond but not sure.
 
charles420 said:
Diamond Sports is in bankruptcy. They don’t have enough money to pay their existing bills but have money to sue, sure thing.

This appears to be Ishbia getting ahead of not having a broadcast partner for next year. The Diamondbacks are in the same boat, and may have received a partial payment from Diamond but not sure.
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Diamond has to pay at least 50% to the Diamondbacks and other teams by court order. The Diamondbacks and I think 3 other MLB and have a hearing in bankruptcy court on May 31 to hear their arguments for whether or not their agreement is fair market value. That court date could decide if Diamond gets the court to restructure their agreement with the Diamondbacks and other teams to pay less money or if the teams can terminate their agreements. Bally Sports Must Pay 50% of What it Owes to 4 MLB Teams In First Major Bankruptcy Ruling | Cord Cutters News
 
KeithE4 said:
All games not airing on ESPN, ABC, or TNT will air on Channel 3 or 44, with Mercury games starting next week.

Channel 3 will air 40 Suns games with another 30 on 44, beginning in October.

Hopefully Gray will put 44 on a subchannel of 3 or 5. Being an LPTV, they don't come anywhere close to full market coverage right now.
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Wonder what this means for Wheel and Jeopardy! at 7pm on 3. I see a lot of preemptions coming.
 
Derek said:
Wonder what this means for Wheel and Jeopardy! at 7pm on 3. I see a lot of preemptions coming.
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With Alex Trebek gone and Pat Sajak and/or Vanna White possibly nearing retirement, maybe the Wheel/Jeopardy block ain't what it used to be.
 
KeithE4 said:
With Alex Trebek gone and Pat Sajak and/or Vanna White possibly nearing retirement, maybe the Wheel/Jeopardy block ain't what it used to be.
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The question is how the local ratings are doing. In particular, how "strip viewing" behaves (where the same viewer watches all or most days of the week).
 
There should be no need for Gray to put KPHE programming on a subchannel of either KTVK or KPHO. KAZF and KAZS should be eligible for must-carry on the Flagstaff and Yuma cable and satellite systems, respectively, and any cable or satellite system refusing to carry KPHE beginning in October will be crazy. Same goes for Tucson-area systems that don't add KOLD 13.5. Besides, cable and satellite systems are no more obligated to carry a non-primary subchannel of a full-power station than they are a LPTV station. As for OTA coverage, KPHE is a 15 kW station, and covers well the populated areas of the Phoenix metro. (Signal contour, per RabbitEars.)

I, for one, am quite pleased with this announcement. I refuse to pay for television and fondly remember the days when Suns games were on channel 45 and Diamondbacks games were on channel 3. Some stations even carried Coyotes hockey and Rattlers indoor football. I look forward to watching Suns games again and might even take in a few Mercury games.
 
dhett said:
I, for one, am quite pleased with this announcement. I refuse to pay for television and fondly remember the days when Suns games were on channel 45 and Diamondbacks games were on channel 3. Some stations even carried Coyotes hockey and Rattlers indoor football. I look forward to watching Suns games again and might even take in a few Mercury games.
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Not only that, you may get a Mercury game or two on KPPX ION because of their new deal with the WNBA for Friday night games.
 
itsTheRolyPoly said:
Not only that, you may get a Mercury game or two on KPPX ION because of their new deal with the WNBA for Friday night games.
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The WNBA has very small TV audiences, among the lowest of any sport.

For some perspective, the WNBA's average ratings for national broadcasts fit in between the NASCAR truck series (the 3rd tier NASCAR tour) and professional bowling according to USTVDB.com.
 
KAZF and KAZS would give cable and satellite must-carry in the Phoenix and Yuma DMas, and I have to believe that is what Gray intended to do all along. Much like KMOH Kingman giving Me-TV must carry in the Phoenix DMA. Can't wait to watch the Suns on Directv Channel 44..With must-carry for 44, 3 can still run their programming as usual. I'm still holding out for local newscasts for the Flagstaff area being carried in Phoenix on 3 or 5 instead of the duplicate news programming.
 
charles420 said:
What will happen with the 8 pm - 10 pm newscasts on 3TV? This deal may allow Gray to reduce on-air talent too.
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Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

They'll still be there during non-Suns telecasts.
 
dhett said:
There should be no need for Gray to put KPHE programming on a subchannel of either KTVK or KPHO. KAZF and KAZS should be eligible for must-carry on the Flagstaff and Yuma cable and satellite systems, respectively, and any cable or satellite system refusing to carry KPHE beginning in October will be crazy. Same goes for Tucson-area systems that don't add KOLD 13.5.
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I thought Dish dropped the RSNs a few years back. If that's true, then I wouldn't expect them to put this channel on their system. DirecTV may or may not do so. Cox already has.

But the soon-to-be-obsolete cable and satellite carriers don't matter as much as they used to. Gray needs to make deals with YouTube TV and the other streamers, and soon.
dhett said:
Besides, cable and satellite systems are no more obligated to carry a non-primary subchannel of a full-power station than they are a LPTV station. As for OTA coverage, KPHE is a 15 kW station, and covers well the populated areas of the Phoenix metro. (Signal contour, per RabbitEars.)
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I can only get 44 on the one TV that I can connect to an outside antenna. Because of the grounded chicken wire (a 30-40 dB attenuator from DC to daylight) that's holding up the stucco, none of the LPTV channels can reach my indoor antennas without severe breakups. Most aren't viewable at all. I'm in NE Mesa, 25 miles from South Mountain.

Also, looking at that map, that's an awful lot of money that Channel 44 can't reach, thanks to Camelback Mountain blocking much of Paradise Valley.
dhett said:
I, for one, am quite pleased with this announcement. I refuse to pay for television and fondly remember the days when Suns games were on channel 45 and Diamondbacks games were on channel 3. Some stations even carried Coyotes hockey and Rattlers indoor football. I look forward to watching Suns games again and might even take in a few Mercury games.
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IIRC, the Coyotes and Rattlers were on 61, with a few games on 3 when they were co-owned.
 
KeithE4 said:
I thought Dish dropped the RSNs a few years back. If that's true, then I wouldn't expect them to put this channel on their system. DirecTV may or may not do so.
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Correct. But the Fox Sports (now Bally Sports) RSNs didn't have the abilty to elect must-carry. No idea if Gray would be willing to go without compensation on this though.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if they sale ad time during the games separately between KTVK and KPHE to make more ad revenue especially since AZ Family Sports and Entertainment Network will be state wide on multiple stations. I have noticed that they have different ads during commercial breaks during the news simulcast on Channel 3 and Channel 44.
 
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