Quote:
Originally Posted by The Original FFIV
Why does Ottawa get a dedicated broadcast team when it is a population center of approx 1 million like Calgary/Edmonton are? What I would like is to scale back to either a Montreal/Toronto game on the early game and one western game. Ideally Toronto or Montreal but not both but that's not going to happen. It pisses me off that you get 3 broadcast teams covering 3 eastern teams but only 1 broadcasting team covering 4 western teams. Why does Ottawa get special treatment? Can't tell me Ottawa games help the bottom line for cbc.
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You've over simplified your argument. Population (and the subsequent fan base) of each market is a key factor. The other key factor is the time the games are on. Ottawa out east, while being a similar size market to both Calgary and Edmonton, has the advantage of their games starting at 7pm eastern. It's a little bit of luck of the draw, but a 7pm start time will likely keep more of that markets viewers around until the end of the game, and potentially into the post game coverage (if time) and the start of the western game. Unfortunately out west, with just that 1 hour later start, they will lose the more casual viewer later into the broadcast as the night wears on (people go to bed or head out to do other things) and even will lose the hard core fans to other activities if their team is being blown out.
Not too many folks will find after hours appealing enough to keep watching until the bitter end. So it's not a conspiracy against Western teams, its simply a factor of the time zones and amount of the prime time window that can be occupied. A much stronger business case can be made to give "Ottawa special treatment" given when their game starts and the appeal of the programing that follows their game (game 2 of the double headers vs. after hours).