The Case of the Missing MSNBC Live News: Epilogue…
I’m closing out this story with a late email from the person who originally tipped me off to the story of the alternate MSNBC feed…
I’m watching CNBC’s Olympic coverage and switching back and forth to the Maddow show that is being broadcast now. Which kind of shoots the NBC enhance package argument in the foot. I guess Morning Joe and Daily Rundown just don’t rate coverage in my area. No wonder my provider didn’t” opt to pay extra for coverage we are getting anyway.
It is a head scratcher. I don’t get why MSNBC’s “vanilla” feed that’s supposed to keep the Olympic experience to a minimum necessitates the blackout of Morning Joe and Daily Rundown.
Update: MSNBC, apparently sensing a PR problem in the making, responds to Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer with some figures that puts the problem in perspective…
Update: An MSNBC spokesperson tells us less than 1% of all homes with MSNBC are on the cable providers that do not subscribe to the feed.
February 16, 2010 at 10:44 pm
I thought perhaps the providers who weren’t getting feed might be Canadian holdings or franchisees all sharing one feed license.
Rogers Cable of Windsor, ON, for example, from their website: “1981 Rogers starts to operate in U.S. cable market. Wins franchises in Orange County, California, Minneapolis, and Portland and purchases the cable system in San Antonio”
I’m also recalling something I read many years ago about the NBC stations in Detroit and Buffalo each having an ownership or rebroadcast deal with cable providers in MB and northern ON…so maybe others around the US also have such dealings.
February 17, 2010 at 5:36 am
^That’s a really good point Al.
Spud: The thing I find confusing in this soap opera is why there are three options for affiliates. If they are doing Olympic broadcasting in the Morning Joe timeslot I get putting out the Doc Block for Canada etc. And I guess there are reasons why some US affiliates pick up the Doc Block instead. But why is Morning Joe producing any show at all? If most MSNBC affiliates are doing the Olympics or Doc Block in that hour who is MJ ‘s audience.
Another question is how are they going to determine ratings & advertising rates if there are three different shows playing at the same time in various locations?
February 17, 2010 at 7:05 am
Good questions fritz, i can answer one of them. There are no actual olympic events telecasted during morning joe or way too early. I think the issue is the actual “coverage” of the olympics visa v. Willie Geist, Chris Jansing and Chris Licht live in Vancouver.