1 of 1- RadioActive
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I Know Football Is A Huge Audience Draw But This Is Ridiculous
I've been unavoidably off the board this weekend, and most here know I'm not a huge football fan, primarily because it winds up shutting out or shunting off the shows I like and screwing up my DVR. I wasn't recording anything on Saturday, but really, this was too much.
At one point, every single U.S. over-the-air network was showing College Football. ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and even the CW all had a college game on at the exact same time. You can't possibly watch all of them, even if you're a fan. Five football games on at once. That's just absurd.
How about something for those of us who want something else? You know, like choice?
Adding insult to injury, City TV was simulcasting one of the U.S. network games and didn't have a 6 PM newscast that night. Why would a Canadian station want to take an American College game? I get the popularity of the NFL and the CFL, but a college game?
Meanwhile CFTO was showing a CFL game, interrupting its own 6 o'clock news, which meant the only Toronto station with a local newscast on OTA TV at that hour was Global. Pretty pathetic for the biggest market in Canada, even if it was a Saturday. (And yes, I'm aware that CP24 had the CTV newscast. But I'm talking over-the-air.)
All of this also meant there was no American network newscasts at 6:30 PM on any of the Big Four.
Football is back and I'm probably one of the few who is really sorry to see it return. I suspect we haven't seen the last of these nothing-but-pigskin weekends. Yes, they're big with advertisers. But what about the people who couldn't care less?
- torontostan
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Re: I Know Football Is A Huge Audience Draw But This Is Ridiculous
Football is subsidizing the programs you speak of. Without American football, broadcast TV would be long dead, especially news. The only regular large viewing that remains is NFL, CFB, and the odd award show or presidential debate....
Studies show that less than 10% of TV viewers in Toronto are OTA-only. I reckon most people would've been able to watch CFTO on CP24, but chose football or the Blue Jays instead
- g121
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Re: I Know Football Is A Huge Audience Draw But This Is Ridiculous
RadioActive wrote:
.. most here know I'm not a huge football fan, primarily because it winds up shutting out or shunting off the shows I like and screwing up my DVR. I wasn't recording anything on Saturday, but really, this was too much. ..
If I had a nickel for every time you ranted about a football or weather broadcast ... : )) ..
- RadioActive
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Re: I Know Football Is A Huge Audience Draw But This Is Ridiculous
.. most here know I'm not a huge football fan, primarily because it winds up shutting out or shunting off the shows I like and screwing up my DVR. I wasn't recording anything on Saturday, but really, this was too much. ..
If I had a nickel for every time you ranted about a football or weather broadcast ... : )) ..
You're right, it's a frequent pet peeve of mine. But who can watch all five games at the same time? Yes, it's great for advertising revenue. But if they're all on simultaneously against each other, what's the point?
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Thread Starter- Radiowiz
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Re: I Know Football Is A Huge Audience Draw But This Is Ridiculous
Adding insult to injury, City TV was simulcasting one of the U.S. network games and didn't have a 6 PM newscast that night.
CityNews@ 6 aired on Rogers cable channel 100.
CTV Toronto news aired on CP24 @ 6:30 PM
Those who are not paying for Rogers Cable can still watch CityNews 24/7 and CP24 online.
- RadioActive
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Re: I Know Football Is A Huge Audience Draw But This Is Ridiculous
Adding insult to injury, City TV was simulcasting one of the U.S. network games and didn't have a 6 PM newscast that night.
CityNews@ 6 aired on Rogers cable channel 100.
CTV Toronto news aired on CP24 @ 6:30 PM
Those who are not paying for Rogers Cable can still watch CityNews 24/7 and CP24 online.
I'm well aware of the other viewing sources. And for that matter, you can listen to CTV News via CFRB if you're so inclined.
But I still don't quite get why City would simulcast a U.S. college football game.
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Thread Starter- ED1
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Re: I Know Football Is A Huge Audience Draw But This Is Ridiculous
Football is huge here in Canada, and even more so in the US. So it's not a surprise that CTV and the American networks were loading up on football this weekend.
Though I'm with you about Citytv simulcasting a US College Football game. That's just a headscratcher.
- mace
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Re: I Know Football Is A Huge Audience Draw But This Is Ridiculous
College football is a religion in the U.S. No NFL stadium comes close to a seating capacity of 100K Yet Most of the top Division 1 colleges have capacity of 100K+ including Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, Texas A&M, LSU and Tennessee. Most of these schools are located in small towns most, but not all, of which I could never find on a map. For example the Sooners play in Norman, Oklahoma. Never heard of the town and wouldn't have a clue where it is located in the state. Ohio State played Texas Saturday night. Fans of those schools will tune in. They would have no interest if Penn State was playing Oregon on another network. And we haven't even talked about High School football. There are at least five schools that have a seating capacity of over 20K. Some of them make BMO Field look like a cow pasture.
- RadioActive
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Re: I Know Football Is A Huge Audience Draw But This Is Ridiculous
Just checked next week's listings. And it will happen again next Saturday, with every traditional broadcast network scheduling a college football game. But at least this time, some of them will at least have a nightly newscast before the gridiron overload starts.
There's nothing much on Saturday nights anyway, so it won't really matter. But it's going to be a loooong fall for viewers like me.
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Thread Starter- The Weed
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Re: I Know Football Is A Huge Audience Draw But This Is Ridiculous
College football is a religion in the U.S. No NFL stadium comes close to a seating capacity of 100K Yet Most of the top Division 1 colleges have capacity of 100K+ including Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, Texas A&M, LSU and Tennessee. Most of these schools are located in small towns most, but not all, of which I could never find on a map. For example the Sooners play in Norman, Oklahoma. Never heard of the town and wouldn't have a clue where it is located in the state. Ohio State played Texas Saturday night. Fans of those schools will tune in. They would have no interest if Penn State was playing Oregon on another network. And we haven't even talked about High School football. There are at least five schools that have a seating capacity of over 20K. Some of them make BMO Field look like a cow pasture.
College Football is indeed a Religion in the US, especially in the South. And it's not just the students and Alumni - many of them guilty of Arrested Development at the time of College. It's also the community and region the college is located in. No one except football scouts would try watching all 5 games at once, but the fanatics of any one team would be tuned in to whatever channel had their team.
This article by Wright Thompson should explain all.
The number of US College Football teams in staggering. In the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision alone, there are 138 Teams in 2026.