Apparently there was a Nextel NASCAR race that was supposed to air in the middle of the week last week, I think. At noon, on FOX! Not hard to guess what happened with that idea if Channel 7 is involved.
7 refused to air the race but they kind of forgot to tell FOX. Well they did tell them but after the race was over. They were the only station in the country to make the skip!
The FOX people are miffed and pouting because, according to FOX spokesman Lou D’Ermilio, WSVN was contractually obligated to carry FOX programming and if they had told them FOX would have moved the race to another outlet.
This isn’t the first time WSVN kiboshed FOX’s programming. I think it was in 2003 when 7 booted baseball in favor of 7News. Later it turned out the baseball games were getting a 1-2 ratings points.
Miami Herald – South Florida misses Nextel race
The Nextel race was rained out on Sunday and was scheduled to air at 12:00 noon on Monday, June 4. I was on the phone with Comcast for over one hour only to find out it was a WSVN issue. WSVN opted to run their 1hr over-repeatative Noon news and 25 year old re-runs of In the Heat of the Night and Matlock in lieu of a ratings boosting sports event. No one was answering WSVN’s phones on Monday and I still haven’t gotten a reply to email sent to the programming director.
Exactly why I don’t watch their station anymore…even though there are some programs I would actually like to see.
Here’s hoping there is a consequence to their actions…
A race on a weekday morning? Are the organizers stupid? If i was WSVN brass i would have done the same thing..
Actually the race was scheduled for noon, and heaven forbid we should miss one hour of 7’s “news” followed by “In The Heat Of The Night” and “Matlock.” 7 is a bush league operation, period. If they had only advised Fox, they were prepared to bump it to FSN Florida, so I think the solution is obvious. When NASCAR ends its season at Homestead this fall, don’t give 7 race credentials. Of course picking sides in a fight between Rupert Murdoch and Ed Ansin is like choosing between strep throat and pneumonia.
WSVN didn’t air the race because their noon newscast would’ve been pre-empted. They said something to the effect that because their focus was more on local news, the race didn’t fit with their programming schedule.
I forgot to mention that I called 7 at 10:30 that morning and they said they would have a decision in a half-hour. The fact remains that they prevented us from seeing a race we were interested in. If that makes me intellectually inferior, I believe that is trumped by refusing to watch 7 News. You really have to be a yutz to call that crap journalism.
I KNEW I wasn’t crazy when the race didn’t air… I could’ve done without ONE single newscast that day. I wanted to watch the race at lunch.
On a side note… I’m starting to see why people dislike this station so much. NOT because of the race, but other things I’ve picked up on lately. Too bad they’re all so pretty to look at… 😉
channel 7 have always had a mind of their own
but given how low the race would probably have been /weekday noon, genious/ and the fact they’ll only get about a minute or two of ads for every hour the race is on, while FOX having all the rest ad time to themselves, 10 minutes at least, makes sense why 7 dropped them
And they’re probably fed up having to delay newscasts because games constantly run over their alloted time
I read something a few years ago, if I remember correctly the debate was whether or not games and racing were good for a local station because so often they had low ratings. And the conclusion if you will was that it was more of a building viewer relationship than something to make money from
While I’m not a big fan of 7’s “news”, anything that costs Rupert Murdoch money is fine by me. I’ll say it again, FOX needs 7, while 7 does not need FOX.
Admin, all 7 had to do was opt out so Fox could move the race to another channel. Stupid is as stupid does, and that’s why I hate 7. What kind of number does “Matlock” pull? 7 sucks and always has.
Ferdy, which is why FOX keeps squirming while getting fingered by 7 😀
ccc229 true they should’ve told FOX no asap
But we also don’t know the whole truth as 7 appears didn’t bother to get back to the Herald, or whoever put that story out, and say their side of things.
They’ve refused sports before and those programs got moved to FSN so why not now?
Personally, I think WSVN-7 is the worst Fox Affaliate ever. If not, the worst station period. I think Fox should be Ch. 33 or 39. I also don’t like that they have to be the ones to air Family Feud and Millionaire Those are such great shows. And they keep getting interrupted constantly. AND I HATE IT!!!! Why couldn’t WSVN-7 be a station to air shows that suck in the ratings?
i dont understand what the big deal is??? who the hell wants to watch some white guys make left turns for 3 hours??? not me! and not the vast majority of south floridians…research shows that nascar gets some of its lowest ratings here in this market…i wouldn’t be surprised if wsvn’s ratings were higher with news and matlock than nascar…
i’m sorry to those racing fans out there…but GET OVER IT!!
Here’s 7’s reply to my email only 7 days after I sent it. I agree with ccc229 – Stupid is as stupid does.
From: Bermudez, Deisy
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 3:36 PM
Subject: RE: Nascar Dover Race
Thank you for taking the time to send us your comments. We regret that you were disappointed in our television station for choosing not to air the rained-out Dover, Delaware Nascar race on Monday, June 4, 2007 at 12:00p.m.
We do understand that this was not the decision that you would have preferred. Please know that we thoroughly evaluated this decision and we decided that the importance of the news of day was significant. We are the News Station in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale market and news is our primary commitment to our community.
We do hope you will continue to watch WSVN-7 Fox.
Sincerely,
Deisy Bermudez
Corporate Director of Programming
This is why I’m so desperately trying to get WFLX FOX 29… Can’t stand WSVN anymore…
I hope one other Fox station pre-empted Nascar. Please let WTVT and KDFW have been two of them.
Get an HDTV. Buy rabbit ear antenna and you’ll get WFLX 29. it’s crystal clear. Thats how I watched the race.
WSVN doesnt need FOX? Hmmm so they’d rather be a CW or MY (fox) or INDP? HOUSE, NFL, IDOL wouldnt be missed? Ansin could run news from 4 to 11pm? dont think so.
Ansin got lucky when they lost NBC years ago.
But content is king. They cant live on MATLOCK and HEAT and news alone.
sorry furley
when 7 lost NBC… fox only had one night of programming… they ran crap all day… and lame movies at 8pm .. and their ratings were as good if not better back then… so he really doesn’t need FOX all that much
I remember those days. FOX only had a couple of nights, tops. So 7 ran a steady diet of movies at 8pm, like a classic indy station. To me, 7 is one of those few stations out there that can function well as an inddependent.