MUPanther,
I just do not see how Fox can abide these low ratings forever, or even for a few more years. Of course I come from a school which spent far to long in the A-10 and had much lower TV ratings. However we were not paid what the BE is paid by Fox. At some point they will look elsewhere for a ratings booster or will approach us and either reduce our payments of break the contract. No one can say that the quality of our BB teams is anything but very good to excellent but if this does not translate into viewership we are in trouble.
TV is a dog eat dog business. A local network affiliate, the second highest rated TV station in the city goes so far as to shift major network programming to a secondary station so that they can put paid info commercial programs on their primary station on Saturdays. On the face of it this behavior seems insane however they have been doing it with some rating success and much financial success for 3 or 4 years.
There are those who say that Fox is increasing viewership slowly and this is a long range matter. I do not believe Fox thinks in the long range, nor is this true of cable TV in general.
The awfulannouncing article (and thank you MUPanther for pointing the site out to me) states that Fox 1 is up 19% and FSN 2 is up 18%. What we really need to know is if this is due to college basketball or their absurd fight programs. If it is because of weird boxing our situation is even worse. Apparently the #13,19,25,47 and 80th programs were basketball on FSN1 while only the 28th program was basketball on FSN2. The latter part of this is of no pith or moment as no one really wants to be on FSN 2. I can not even get FSN 2 on my cable.
My sincere hope is that Val and her crew are holding regular meetings with Fox and discussing ways to make our appearances of the FSN more valuable to the network. She has done a very good job thus far in almost all areas and I have confidence there may be solutions to our lack of viewership. We will never be the B10 in sports, or the SEC in football but despite our small student numbers and alumni we provide a watchable and often exciting entertainment experience to the viewer. Let us hope that is good enough for Fox.
Lastly for those who caution that Fox will buy additional sports options which will secure the future of FSN let me say the success of FSN is meaningless if our success is not part of it. Which only means that we must lead the way.
One last note. I believe we will receive 6 bids to the dance this year. If this kind of performance does not raise our numbers on FSN I am uncertain what would. Perhaps a national championship? Yes I know the NCAA is not on Fox but knowing or believing we will have 6 in the dance should raise current and BE tourney numbers.