Beardown wrote:
Just a guess here.
I think Jurko and Carm have less than a year on their deals. Maybe they're one of those that are up in the summer as Mac has hinted about.
Maybe ESPN 1000 is just bleeding out their contracts with the intention of THE HERD getting his full show in Chicago once their contracts expire. Or maybe this is a 4 month tryout for Carm and Jurko to see if they can compete with Mac.
I think Bristol wants HERD's full show in Chicago. It's more cost effective even if his ratings aren't great. He just has to hold his own. Just be decent. So Carm and Jurko probably have to be #1 in their 4 month tryout to convince Bristol to keep them. Anything less, they're gone.
Yeah, that'd actually make sense to me. The thinking would be since they're going to lose to the competition's local programming if they offer up local programming of their own then why not just save $$$ and follow the Great Plan(TM) of hammering home the national agenda? I would think that they'd assume they'll get an audience comprised of people who want/prefer national programming, and any ratings loss in the local markets would be negligible since the national shows are de-facto infomercials that hype up their national TV programming.
ESPN devoted plenty of segments on TV over the last week or two to talking about the "historical implications" of the Heat's streak; just about everyone @ ESPN predicted that the streak would end monday nights @ Boston, so be sure to tune in Monday night and find out! That's the kind of promotional synergy that having as much national programming on as possible can give you.... otherwise, talking Chicago sports is only hyping up games predominantly on other networks! I bet in that first hour of the Herd from 9-10am on Monday they prolly devoted at least two segments to talking Heat/Celtics, so maybe the potential ratings loss @ the Score is offset by the fact that they figure a much higher % of the people who ARE listening are caught up into the hype/echo-chamber and therefore more likely to tune into the historical Heat/Celtics game? I reckon that's some of the mindset going on over there.
Of course, this example is moot because I'm sure that ESPN's coverage of the Heat/Celtics game got crushed by Monday Night Raw in the ratings as countless millions held their breath and tuned in to see if HHH would sign the contract to have a match with Brock Lesnar (brought to you by Jimmy John's) cuz THAT, my friends, is how you do drama.
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Curious Hair wrote:
Les Grobstein's huge hog is proof that God has a sense of humor, isn't it?