By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

Red Sox Nation had a bit of an undetected civil war this week, which played out all across the country and through message boards, emails and more than a few phone calls to NESN’s HQ.

From what we can decipher, DirecTV (if not others) recently began blacking out NESN’s pre- and post- game shows to its ‘out-of-market’ MLB package subscribers. Meaning, in essence, hundreds and maybe thousands, of Red Sox Nation Citizens in places like Dallas and LA, were being deprived of their Tom Caron Time, among other things.

In addition to not being able to watch NESN?s pre- and post-game shows, other NESN Sox-related shows have been unavailable for non-New England Nation members. (Viewers experiencing the problem were greeted with the ever-annoying ‘Program not available in your area’ taunt).

So volatile was the situation, in fact, that NESN’s lead PR man, Gary Roy completely ducked repeated emails and a phone call from Shots seeking clarification on the sudden blackouts.

Roy, in contrast, had been quite attentive early in the week when we asked for some information regarding the Hazel Mae/Tom Caron extensions, but was out-of-pocket when the topic turned to what many were perceiving as NESN being a bit frugal ‘ several message boarders in addition to a Shots NESN mole, proffered that an additional ‘highlights privilege’ rights fee was necessary for the Sox to rightfully use and distribute such MLB highlights Out of Market. The blackouts, went the theory, were a result of NESN not paying MLB its price for the usage.

With Roy unavailable, Shots began reaching out to both DirecTV’s customer service and its PR peeps. We even left a message for a YES Network hack to see if they had similar restrictions (no reply, of course). While DirecTV’s people were responsive, neither the customer service rep nor the PR manager were particularly informed on the subject.

Fortunately the actual people it was affecting ‘ displaced Sox fans around the country ‘ were able to affect some change. (There was even an on-line petition to sign.)

Each of the past two days’ games pre- and post-game shows were not blacked out for out-of-market subscribers, near and far. The change back, is likely the result of some well-placed pressure and diligence by the people who felt deprived of something they had been given for so long.

If you follow a thread like this one from ProJo.com, it gives a good glimpse into the topic. Sons of Sam Horn also got involved and there is some good give and take from NESN’s Karen Verzone, who we’re thinking didn’t have the greatest of weeks.

SOSH also had this gem from a poster:

Long story short, I received a very nice call from the NESN president (Sean McGrail) this evening. He called me on the way out the door to the game. Basically, NESN and most other networks that show a “significant” amount of highlights for a game are not allowed to. It is their job to inform DirecTV that if they’re showing past an X amount of highlights that certain shows be blacked out outside the local market.

NESN had it brought to their attention. They informed DirecTV of the need to blackout the pregame and postgame shows (as well as the Remy’s, Sox in 2, Red Sox Rewind, etc.). That happened late last week and, thus, no pregame and postgame shows now. This is a policy that NESN is following properly now and it sucks”

(That was before, we assume, the situation was resolved ‘ either temporarily or permanently.)

Similarly confusing, Shots received this return message on Thursday from DirecTV’s customer service rep:

Dear Mr. Scott,

Thanks for asking about the Red Sox pre- and post-game shows. Due to agreements between NESN and Major League Baseball (MLB), NESN does not have the rights to deliver certain programming, licensed by MLB, to out-of-market customers including the Red Sox pre- and post-game shows. I understand that these shows were available in the past but NESN will not be able to provide them at this time.

Thanks again for writing.

Sincerely,

Darwin Earl
DIRECTV Customer Service

Either Darwin was still unaware of the changes or the blackouts might be returning soon.

Sure does seem like Gary Roy could clear up a lot of these questions, doesn’t it?

. . . For its part, we only found that NESN had updated its website to include the following:

Why is Red Sox and Bruins related programming blacked out outside of NESN’s broadcast territory?
NESN does not have the right to distribute professional programming, including the Red Sox and Bruins, outside of our home broadcast territory due to league broadcast regulations. This includes live game broadcasts, rebroadcasts and any non-news program which includes game highlights such as our pre and post game programs and Red Sox Rewind.

. . . If all of this seems convoluted, messy and tinged with a whole lot of, avoiding questions, ass-covering and explaining-on-the-fly, it’s likely because that’s exactly what it is. There has to be money at issue here not to mention control ‘ mainly ‘control’ over the content for not just TV but for Web and mobile communication purposes. The rules, regulations and rights to all these emerging media options are being refined, cheated and refined again as the wild west of sports property rights enters its next, logical, frenzied phase. The NFL’s ban on local affiliate sideline cameras in-game is another good example of the battles now being waged as leagues, teams and media outlets struggle to provide coverage AND make a buck or two.

We’re fairly certain that NESN was not willing to pay short money and figured they could get away with it because their core market of Sox fans (New England) was still being served. But NESN (likely with a foot up the ass from the perception-conscious Sox) was reminded that there are many side effects to ‘Nation-building,’ not the least of which is trying to keep ALL citizens treated equally and equitably.

There are still some loose ends to tie up on this one, so do, as the Track Gals like to say: Stay Tuned!

. . . EXTRAS ON BLACKOUTS:

DirectTV blackout rules explained.

DISH TV’s blackout rules explained. (Supposedly, DISH subscribers were not victims of the blackout ‘ which just shows you how haphazard the whole thing can be.)

  • From what we saw, ‘What If. . .?? was as well-cut as could be expected by the project’s editor, Russ Kenn, well-conceived and well-produced. For a slow summer evening of sports, it actually worked on most levels. It will need some tweaking, but it has potential.

    Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy were believable in their ‘roles? and the inclusion of the background noise made it feel authentic.

    But please, put the next game/event choice to a vote. Celtics’ and Patriots’ TV rights probably aren’t available (or cheap, if they are obtainable) so it’s likely going to have to be Sox or Bruins, and we’re guessing that means it’s definitely Sox. The obvious one is Buckner, but I wouldn’t mind some Bucky Dent finagling either.

    . . . Newly re-upped Tom Caron was perfect in his hosting role and Eck gave ‘em heck in the post-’game.?

    . . . Of course, the out-of-market package subscribers were moaning again on Thursday night when ‘WI’. . .’ was blacked out.

    . . . Sean McAdam made the rare NESN appearance (he’s an FSNNE guy from what we know) during the ‘What If. . . ” pseudo-post game show alongside Gordon Edes, Eck and Caron.

  • Guess the lips really are tighter around Fenway ‘ no one was talking about a Beckett extension, were they’ I heard some Gonzalez talk, but Beckett snuck up on me. No time to debate it, really, so the decision was kind of a mandate. Well done, Fenway Fellas. That’s good spin control right there.
  • Freewheelin Franklin and Fat Freddy checked in to say how nice the green in the Sox bullpen was looking.

    Those plants are using HGH, we’re almost certain of it.

    Test the shrubs, Bud! Or vice versa.

    . . . Speaking of Sox Spin, I’m hoping Dr. Chuck is back from Israel and wasn’t directly affected by the recent ugliness in the region.

    Call me Doc Chuck ‘ I worry about you!

  • Here’s how the Herald’s Belichick cover played at Deadspin. Also got some prominent ‘PTI’ time on Thursday, but evolved into a Michael Strahan discussion.
  • The Maroney Baloney this week smelled a whole lot like college football/basketball recruiting to me. However, we do need to recognize that the MetroWest’s replacement for Mike Reiss ‘ Albert Breer ‘ managed to forward the story a bit on Wednesday, leading to Reiss’s follow-up which pretty much explained the whole thing was nothing more than a power play by a lot of greedy people. Reiss’s facts were never in question ‘ it was just Maroney’s judgment and inattention to detail that probably deserves the scrutiny.

    Breer is turning into a good wingman for the Herald on it Pats coverage, the very same way Reiss did it.

    Remember now folks ‘ no one really understands how the whole MetroWest et al/Herald split will be affecting things once GateHouse gets through its transitory phase (which may be a two year period if I’m reading the tea leaves correctly).

    But Breer ‘ and others like him ‘ might be better off ultimately serving the local papers (more likely those papers’ websites) to create and maintain users from the ‘communities’ it serves. That could mean the Herald would lose the extra man power that ’sharing’ MetroWest and other writers currently gives them. That’s bad all around for the Yellow Boxers, but especially for the Herald’s high school sports desk and secondary sports coverage in general (the Bruins and Revs, for instance).

    I’ll say this: the war for the region’s main sports information provider will be won and lost on the web and if GateHouse is really a sassy, spicy new kid on the block ( with jobs available!) ‘ well, then they’re going to be putting themselves in a position to succeed and possibly even thrive.

  • Jeff Horrigan at his wackiest, zaniest, best, blog self.

    I was two numbers off, three ways.

    But I had the kicker. Which is nice.

  • As for Shots’ take on the Peter May fiasco that was dissected nicely by My Boss Bruce earlier this week, I have to say I, too, am most offended by the correction. And then to learn that Pierce was supposedly leaning in just the direction Joe Sullivan was indicating rarely occurs, it only made the episode that much messier.

    . . . And then there’s this, from our very own UFC aficionado on the Ron Borges UFC notes he is now weaving into his Boxing notes:

    This week’s UFC mistakes:

    1. Welterweight champ is Matt Hughes (not ‘Chuck’ as Borges wrote)

    2. Hughes beat St. Pierre with one second left in the first round of a scheduled five-round fight. (Borges had ‘with a second left in the final round’)

    3. Light heavyweight champ is Chuck Liddell (Borges spelled it ‘Lidell’)

    4. Liddell’s challenger is Renato Sobral (Borges had ‘Rentao’)

    If Borges (and the Globe) is going to be serious about adding UFC to his repertoire, he’s going to need to be a bit more careful. And his editors are going to need to bookmark UFC.com.

    Oh, and one other thing, all those links Shots took the time to check out are RED CHECKS according to the old Time Warner fact-check manual. That means that the UFC.com site is the official authority on its own sports, so it’s one stop shopping for all your fact-gathering needs. It took me under two minutes to check the links and verify spellings. I know there are a lot of names in such columns, but still a copy editor has to take the time to check these things or he’s cheating the readers and his/her bosses. That facet of the process should not be negotiable. And if it is, then don’t dedicate space to a sport you’re only going to half-ass.

  • If you know Shots the way some of you do, then you’ll surely agree that Dan Shulman is proving to be a 21st century Sean McDonough ‘ he does EVERYthing really well. Wednesday night’s ChiSox/Detroit tilt on ESPN was the latest of example of how fantastic Shulman has become.

    We got to spend a few hours with Shulman during the Vitale Odyssey this past Winter, and he is, without a doubt, the genuine article. He will have a very long and very successful career with ESPN/ABC. And/or whoever else he winds up working for. Al Michaels, Bob Costas levels, methinks.

    . . . I shouldn’t go out on such limbs. But that’s me, Mr. Foxwoods.

  • Caught a little Andy Brickley on Bruins Classic at NESN and you know what’ He’s national-ready. But to be honest, the OLN-cum VERSUS network will be no better than NESN for the foreseeable future. But when ESPN jumps back in a few years down the road, ‘Brick’ should be high on their list.
  • Here was your Tuesday afternoon line-up at Entercom’s Sports Talk Leader, WEEI 850 AM: In the fill-in role for Dale Arnold, we had Don Banks of Sports Illustrated.com proving that just because you write for a nationally respected organization, you don not automatically qualify as a national-level co-host. Either Banks was being held in-studio against his will or he just didn’t care enough to even make it sound as if he was the least bit interested.

    You’re telling me there aren’t better subs available than Banks? Or has ‘EEI created such an insular line-up that they can only choose from such a shallow pool? Whatever the case, it’s become blatantly obvious that when regular hosts go on vacation, so should the listeners.

    . . . The rest of the afternoon during the Big Woe was highlighted by the snorting giggler, Steve Burton, who admitted to not even watching his own station’s Sunday Night show (which featured Babbling Bob Lobel and his .02 cent prop, the Panic Button). There was also an overly awkward Tony Graffanino interview where usually-listenable and informative Rob Bradford slipped into some short of Big O Coma. Top that off with the always irritating Pete Meathead, a summer doldrums Glenn Ordway and no fewer than 10, complete moron callers and the end result was, well, just another day at Idiot Radio ‘ where substance doesn’t matter as long as the ad spots keep selling.

    . . . Which brings us quite rightly to our favorite email of the summer from Patrick M. in Nashua, NH, who summarized, further, what we are talking about:

    Working in cubicle land, I’m unable to listen to sports radio during the day (which is probably a good thing), so the sampling I hear on weekdays consists of the morning and afternoon commute times. I certainly don’t hear everything that goes on all day. But given that disclaimer, it’s my opinion that the absolute worst days of local sports talk radio are between the MLB All Star break and the end of July. That’s when the idiotic trade proposals come out of the woodwork. Inevitably, those proposals can be summed up as “our trash for their treasure.” It is downright painful, so much so that when a caller even says the subject of the call is a trade possibility, I switch over to Howie Carr.

    But the bigger joke, in my mind, is when somebody like Ordway responds to one of these calls with an incredulous, “Who are these people who think these trades could actually happen?” Well Big O, they’re your biggest fans. They’re the ones who wait god-knows-how-long on hold to impart their wisdom upon the masses. In short, they’re the ones who listen to the Big O show and actually learn things they didn’t already know. Most sports fans who are even modestly educated about the game don’t learn much of anything new from that show.

    In fairness, I believe some of the studio guests do bring value and at times I will try to tolerate the other nonsense while waiting for some salient points. That’s why sometimes I do end up hearing these “Willie Harris and Rudy Seanez for Scott Kazmir” discussions. But boy does it drive me nuts!

    More than anything else, I want to let you know I appreciate your site. I suspect one of the Big O’s problems with “fan sites” is that some of them actually do provide the insight that his show frequently fails to.

    Two things need to be emphasized here:

    1. Patrick listens to Howie Carr instead of ‘EEI
    2. Some listeners really do get it

    . . . In the interest of balance, Michael Holley ‘ during the time he was alone on Thursday morning in the 11 a.m. slot ‘ was the best sports radio (Boston, non-NPR Division) we have heard in quite some time. Holley has eclipsed his partner, Dale Arnold (currently vacationing), and as such, should get the respect of Entercom by re-naming the show ‘Holley and Dale.’

    Holley then shone again when he rebuffed Moron Caller of the Year, Matt, who was trying to suggest that because Holley (and co-host Michael Sillverman) were from out-of-state that they somehow were unqualified to discuss Boston Sports.

    ‘The price of doing business,’ Holley accurately described such idiocy as later on in the abbreviated show (for the second of the rare TWO mid-week, mid-afternoon Sox starts).

  • Getting to that time when it’s not a bad idea to be heading over to some of the pages at CSTV.com. College football is a month away, kiddies!
  • Laugh of the week’ Without question, hands down, this quote from Entercom yes-man, Jason Wolfe, which appeared in the Herald on Wednesday in the outstanding Jessica Heslam’s piece:

    ‘This corporation has zero tolerance for racial intolerance. . .’ said Jason Wolfe, vice president of programming at WRKO (680) and WEEI-AM (850).

    Really Jason? Why are these two mildly offensive illustrations still running on WEEI’s less-than-pedestrian web site? Not part of the Zero Tolerance umbrella, eh?:

  • No sign of the Mnookin book review copy we’ve been silently begging for. We’re still signed up for the July 31 Hingham Library appearance, so if we don’t get one by then, we’ll steal the library copy when we’re there. Borrow, I mean.

    Borrow the library copy.

  • Screw the Phantom GourmAndelmans. Shots has developed a new rating system and it’s subsidized by The Shirl Incorporated (a slightly smaller version of Martha Inc.)

    Our very first ‘Shirl-Approved’ dining establishment sits hard by the Route One/128 merge and not too far from the Shots boyhood home: Brothers Kouzina in Peabody on Route One North, just past the Holiday Inn and Bertucci’s. Taking over what was a Bickford’s back in the day, the restaurant does Greek great. Shirl loved her mousaka and took a liking to the (non-flaming, but still delicious) saganaki. She recalled when it was the Bick as well: ‘Remember when we used to come here for the Big Apple on whatever night it was?

  • All the Brothers restaurants have always done food right,’ said The Shirl, who was almost as fond of the cute waitress who served us Wednesday afternoon, as Shots was. ‘Authentic and excellent quality of ingredients.’

    OPA!

  • We’ve been meaning to mention this for a bit: Patriots season tickets have been in Season Ticket Holders hands for a few weeks and the Pats have slipped a bit from a ticket design standpoint. The tickets are a tribute to the perfect 10 playoff winning streak but lack the impact and coolness of past season ticket packs. No biggie, of course ‘ it’s always easier to make prettier tickets when you can use the Lombardi Trophy.

    However, the real disappointment for Season Ticket Holders (like Shots) is that the team’s on-line ticket exchange program excludes the pre-season contests.

    Seems shortsighted to us. If the demand is so high for the regular season, that should translate into some pre-season interest as well, correct?

    . . .In other Pats news, a problem that Shots has harped on repeatedly appears to be getting a bit of attention for this upcoming season. In the literature sent with season tickets, the team promises, in its 2006 Fan Guide, ‘To improve the efficiency of stadium entry on the west side of the stadium, we have nearly doubled the number of entry points at the West Gate.’

    Why it took this long to address the issue is a bit baffling, and we’ll believe the improvements when we see them. But at least they’re making an effort to make entrance into their gem of a stadium a little less amateurish. . .

  • Not sure why it took me a while to notice this study, but it’s a pretty obvious problem to anyone who has covered a Final Four, a Super Bowl, a national title game or any other major sporting event in North America. Not to say it’s going to ever get ‘fixed’ but at least Richard Lapchick was able to quantify it for us.
  • Let’s hope ‘OTL: First Report,’ debuting Monday at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN helps to re-establish the ground-breaking show to some of its ground-breaking roots.
  • Shots will get a little table time at CN8 on Monday night ‘ so hide the children, fence out the dogs and stand clear of the TV screen. Sometime between 10 and 11 p.m. ‘ we can’t promise anything better than our very best effort and at least one ludicrous statement of absolutely no merit.

David Scott writes from a seaside shanty on the shores of Hull, Mass. And can be reached at shotsATbostonsportsmedDOTcom