ON DIFFERENT TOPIC; BUT RELATED, I’M LIKELY ONE OF THE FEW WHOSE 2012 RECEPTION EXPENSE WILL DEC REASE SIGNIFICANTLY FROM 2011 AS I’VE MADE AN EXECUTIVE DECISION NOT TO PONY UP THE COUPLE OF HUNDRED CLAMS FOR THE BASEBALL PKG THIS YR SINCE I’VE ALEWAYS BEEN MUCH MORE OF A NYM FAN THAN A MLB GENERALIST FAN I CA N THINK OF NO VIEWING MORE EXCITING THAN A MET GAME TRO WATCH WHILE TEAM WAS XIABLE; YET NOTHING AS BORUING TO WAtch thaN A BASEBALL GAME BETWEN TEAMS UI CARE ZERO ABOUT ie KC Vs SEATLE IS ONE I MAY SLIT MY WRISTS OUT OF BOREDOM ON IT’S PURELY A PHENOMENON OF MY UPBRINGING AS A PUREBRED HOMIE

WHILE I KNOW PURISTS WILL ADAMENTLY STATE THE BEAUTY OF A PERFECTLY TURNED DOUBLEPLAY IS WORTH ADMIRATION, IT’S A DEFINITE “FLAW” IN MY PERSONALITY THAT, I COULDN’T CARE LESS IF I DON’T HAVE A DOG IN THE HUNT.

I ALSO REFUSE TO ACTUALLY BE CHARGED A TARRIFF TO WATCH MY FAVORITE TEAM DELIBERATELY SC UFFLE TO STAY ABOVE .500 IF WILPONS DON’T CARE WHY SHOUILD I?
I SEE IT AS TO WHY A DEMOLITION DERBY IS LESS FAN ATTRACTIVE THAN A DAYTONA 500. AS SUCH THEY’LL CERTAINLY HAVE LESS OF MY MONEY TO SPEND WITH MY WIFE GETTING THAT WELL DESERVED HONOR INSTEAD
PERHAPS I’LL GET TO SAVOR THOSE MUCH FEWER OPORTUNITIES FOR DISAPPOINTMENT BEING AVAILABLE TO ME VIA BRAVES TELECASTS, MLB-NETWORK & ESPN.

MORE THAN LIKELY I’LL BELESS VISABLE ON THESE BOARDS BECAUSE OF MY LACK OF FIRSTHAND OBSERVATIONS & I’M MUCH LESS INCLINED TO BECOME FULLY INVOLVED RELIANT UPON STATISTICAL DATA INSTEAD OF PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS; BUT REST ASSURED AS SOON AS THIS CURRENT “WITHDRAWN TO LOSE TREND” RUNS IT’S COURSE & PETERS OUT I’LL BE BACK WITYH A VENGEANCE THE MOMENT THE FRONTOFFICE PREFERS TO PARTICIPATE IN IMPROVING INSTEAD OF SHOWING UP TO SIMPLY MOUTH THE WORDS. 50 YRS OF OWNERSHIP BLUNDERS BE IT PAYSON,DeROULETTE, WILPON IS MY SATURATION POINT

(BTW, TO SEE THE SEAVER/SANTANA BROADCAST, I HAD TO GET MY DAUGHTER TO “TAPE” IT 4 ME THEM MAIL ME THE TAPE)

AS TO WHAT I GET INSTEAD IT’S A BLUE SCREEN WITH A NOTIFICATION BOX IN THE BOTTOM R-HAND CORNER INFORMING ME THE PROGRAM IS UNAVAILABLE IN MY REGION.
UNFORTUNTELY JUST AS IN TOO MANY JEFF WILPON CONTROEDL AREAS THE VIABILITY OF “NOT THINKING THINGS THROUGH” & NOT CONSIDERING ALL RAMIFICATIONS IS ALL TOO OFTEN THE MOST VIABLE “CAUSE” TO THE LATEST ADEVERSE EFFECT; BU,OBVIOUSLYT UPPER EXECUTIVE ECHELON PROCESSIES SUCH AS PLANNING ABSTRACTLY WAS NOT AN IMPOORTANT CURRICULUM CRITERIA @ GOOD OLE PALM BEACH CC SINCE SO FEW CHIEF EXECUTIVES RELY SOLELY UPON THE LESSONS LEARNED WHILE ATTAINING THEIR ASSOCIATES DEGREE IN AN UNNAMED MAJOR

They were both what you would call SUPERSTATIONS who were nothing more than Local Stations who would only buy National Syndication rights so they could broadcast via satelite and generate national ratings.

WOR was actually the first station to do this and they were dumb to sell it off to paramount who wanted create their own network for their content and drive up the price of content to the major Networks.

It failed badly because the best content they produced was bought by the networks and they were left with the crap the networks didn’t want.
Only Star Trek Enterprise was reasonably successful and it didn’t last all that long either.

Turner was second to do that and he built a rather impressive empire and financed CNN with the money he made becoming a SuperStation.

WGN is now the only station that fits that model anymore.
TBS is now a true network and has very little local fare, WOR became paramount and then My9. PIX eventually became the WB Network and WGN is the only real local Super Station left!

They still call themselves that in some cases but the truth is there is very little LOCAL about them.

While it might seem reasonable that investing that money in the team would do that I am sure they are considered different business’ from each other and an improvement in the team does not really mean an improvement to the property itself. Just means quicker profitability for the same property value.

But I don’t proclaim to know the intimate details of their corporate structure and how they have all their business’ aligned.

I can’t say I know the actual reason for that to happen but I can tell you why it MIGHT happen.

In a general TV broadcast sense it is usually due to broadcast rights limitations. Broadcast rights are usually sold in two ways, Local re-Broadcast and National. The Local Rights would usually win the day in any conflict in those cases as protection for the “Little Guy” from the big National Networks buying all the same programming and putting them out of business.

There used to be a time (not sure if it still happens) when TBS used to be blocked out from showing the Braves games in NY (TBS would show a blackout slide) whenever they were playing the Mets on WPIX.

In those cases the Cable Carrier would do the blocking for the Network in the regions where they were not permitted to broadcast and let you see them in places where there was no conflict. It was easy because all the Cable Companies are really just local networks that take their feed from the national cable company plus whatever local channel fare they carry.

DirectTV doesn’t really have that capability since Two Satellites (maybe more now) serve the entire east coast and/or much more than just the NYC Area.

If I had to take a guess as to why your not getting those Yearbooks and Specials it most likely is that SNY does not OWN that content outright and instead are contractually limited to LOCAL NY broadcast only in their syndication deal. Probably because when they bought the rights to it they did not think about their DirectTV distribution or perhaps it cost too much to buy the national broadcast rights. I’m sure they just scrambled to buy as much content as they could to start and fill the broadcast day and maybe did not think fully about the eventual National limitations of what they were buying at the time!
I’m not sure who produced those yearbooks and specials but I would guess either Cablevision/WOR/WPIX or some outside entity who SNY has to buy rights from to show it.

Everything on DirectTV must conform to National Broadcast right standards due to the nature of thier distribution so My guess would be that is why SOME programming is blacked out on DirecTV

And because of that it is highly likely that SNY has a Local Feed and a National Feed that they send out. Just as HBO, NBC and other networks have an east coast west coast feeds for different areas SNY probably has one for NY and one for everyone else.

So basically the stuff you own is permitted to be broadcast anywhere you want but the stuff you don’t own is limited contractually under your Syndication agreement.
Thats the most likely reason.

It could be also that SNY is set up to run as a National Network with Local Affiliates like an NBC is. And those programs are considered LOCAL INSERTION programming like the local news is. An Affiliate in NC would show you their local news while the local NBC news would be shown in NY. The National in those cases essentially goes off the air and the local affiliate takes over the programming.

Since this system is usually reserved for Over the Air broadcasts only I doubt highly that is the case here though.
Best explanation I think is the lack of national broadcast rights on those Yearbooks and Specials.
But I don’t actually work for SNY and I can’t be precise in how their broadcast is set up on the National level or how their programming is acquired or from who.

I’VE LONG HELD THE OPINION THAT A LACK OF DIVERSE BUSINESS BACKGROUND & INCOME RESOURCES HAS BEEN A BANE ON THE “HOUSE OF STERLING-NY METS

AS FOR MOST OF HIS TENURE AS OWNER, THE BRAVES WERE THE SOLE MLB TEAM LOCATED BEWTWEEN BALTIMORE & MIAMI FROM THE ATLANTIC OCEAN TO THE TEXAS BORDER(ONE HELL OF A GEOGRAPHIC FOOTPRINT!) TED TRULY BILLED HIS TEAM AS “AMERICA’S TEAM LONG BEFORE BECOMING MEANINGFULL CONTENDERS IN 1990 BY ESTABLISHING A FAN BASE OF SO WIDE A BREADTH, ONLY A SMALL % OF WHICH HAD RELATIVE EASY ACCESS TO EFFECT GAME ATTENDANCE, THUS PLAYOFF TICKETS THAT MOST TEAM’S WOULD FIND IN GREAT DEMAND WERE UNPURCHASED BY AN AVID BASE SEQUESTED TO THEIR “SEASON TICKETS” LOCATED IN THEIR FAMILY ROOMS ACROSS THE SOUTH THE MOST RABID FANS CERTAINLY WOULD HAVE TO TAKE AN ACCOUNTING OF OVERALL COSTS INCLUDING TRANSPORTATION & LODGINGS MAKING SINGLE GAME PURCHASES AN UNQUESTIONABLE IMPROBABILITY AS FAMILY OUTINGS @ THE BALLPARK NECESITATED LONG HOLIDAY WEEKENDS @ PREMIUM LODGING RATES, IN SEASON!

TO ME, A NOVICE IN CABLE PROGRAMMING RULES, THIS APPEARS TO BE A DECISION THAT WOULD LESSEN POTENTIAL DEMAND FOR NETWORK RECEPTION
AND NOT ONE MADE TO MAXIMIZE DESIRABILITY.

METSIE, USING YOUR EDUCATED INCITE WHY WOULD SNY EXCLUDE AN ENTIRE CONSUMER BASE FROM IT’S MOST DESIREABLE PROGRAMMING?

I didn’t really mean cashing out, I mean’t more like SNY investing in Reyes. Seems like that would have served everyone’s interests. I remember Rose saying Turner could offer him the most, even though he declined it, because of ratings.

Wouldn’t a media corporation like Liberty provide cash flow that wouldn’t all “be on paper?”

Not really my field of expertise by any wild stretch but I would think that Malone as a business man would make the investment if he felt he had a reasonable expectation of making a buck off it.

I can’t imagine unsold World Series and playoff tickets don’t have something to do with that.

Anyway I hope the stone passes quickly and without too much pain for all of our sakes.

Go Aguilas!

Especially considering that it costs roughly 10-20 Mil to start and entire TV Network that can get you .50 cents per subscriber from the cable companies who each control about 50Million subscribers. PLUS advertising!

They start off with a 5 Mil profit just on subcriber fees and all the Ad revenue is profit. If the Network takes off it is worth Billions

Same reason why Malone doesn’t invest. There are FAR BETTER investments to be made that have a much higher return than anything a baseball team makes!

It’s not a Mistake these guys got rich!
They made low risk investments for high risk return!

And they keep on doing that unless they are like a steinbrenner who makes it his primary business!

At least I’ll get to see some exciting baseball in 2012.

Hope you have a great 2012 and hopefully things won’t be as bad in Queens as we fear.

Happy New Year and all the best.

He’s had the same payroll for 10 years. Essentially he’s lowered payroll by keeping it the same.

The Wilpon’s own 67% of SNY. Why can’t they tap into that?

Liberty has an 11 BILLION dollar EQUITY in their holdings and they tag expenditures to revenue. Somehow I doubt the Wilpon’s have anywhere near that.

Sure the Meadowlands were probably just a negotiating posture, but just as likely it was a real alternative. Turns out the Bronx could support an average of 53K per game.

After a decade of going to the post season every year and winning it all 5 times though, not in constant recovery of “the worst teams money could buy.”

That was back in the 80′s – mid 90′s.

Well because he is NOT in Atlanta he lives in New jersey!
And he is not as interested in that team as most Owners are!

Why has he kept Payroll at 90 Mil? Because that is what the attendance supports.
If he was more interested in making money with the Braves he would put some cash into it and sign a few guys who could get Attendance back to their levels in the early 90s!

But as I pointed out he is not that motivated!

“The Wilpon’s own 67% of SNY. Why can’t they tap into that?”
Well thats because of the nature of the deal. They really can’t sell even a part of their holdings to anyone but Time Warner (and there is one other Partner may even be Liberty for all I know)

When you start a Network from scratch you usually do so with a CARRIER like Time Warner, Comcast, DirectTV (Liberty Owned I believe). The Shares are split between the partners with stipulation that nbo partner can cash out without giving the other partners a chance to buy first.
They even have clauses that if you make an offer to a Partner to buy them out they can then make a counter offer for more and buy you out instead! This happened to CourtTv who was onced owned by Steven Brill, Time Warner, NBC and Liberty.
Brill Tried to buy off Time Warner and Time Warner made a counter offer he could not meet and as a result lost the network he started!

I don’t know the particulars of the SNY deal and partnership but those types of things are standard operating procedure for most TV network startups! They get those terms because a new network with no distribution can not make any money so the carriers have you over a barrel!

And that would preclude ANY success or profits from helping the Mets (Sterling) in any way! Since no sales are permitted to anyone but your partners and it is unlikely they can even sell to them until after a certain amount of time passes, debts are paid and Profitiability is secure so that is NOT something that can help the Wilpons, Mets or Sterling.

This is the one area where Boras was dead wrong, Even if they are making money with SNY (and reports seem to suggest they are profitable) That will NEVER help the mets pay the bills all it might do is allow them to get more money whenever the rights come up fopr renewal and only if their two partners (who are probably equal in shares with the Wilpons) agree to pay that fee.

SO SNY is a non factor here.
The Stadium has it’s own debts and problems that only Attendance can fix!
So the bottom line here is the REAL solution to all of their problems is to get more people into the stands that pay off all the debts and if it means investing another 30-40 Mil they will male way more than that to pay bills they won’t make with lower attendance.

Will increasing attendance make the team win more? Depends on WHO you get!
But it sure wouldn’t hurt! And if you can do it WHILE drafting well at the same time they could be profitable sooner and make the issue go away!

“Liberty has an 11 BILLION dollar EQUITY in their holdings and they tag expenditures to revenue. Somehow I doubt the Wilpon’s have anywhere near that.”
Yes Liberty is HUGE!
But most of that worth is PAPER not actually Money!
It’s value of networks and infrastructure they own and operate but it is not cold hard cash like that needed to be able to infuse into a baseball team!

Kind of proves my point. The Braves are tapped out, hence the modest payroll that hasn’t grown in 10 years (90 M)

Unsold playoff and World Series tickets are really all you need to know about demand anyway though, could you ever imagine that in NY?

All things shall pass!

Lets just hope thier passing isn’t as painful as a Gall or Kidney Stone!