Tuning out.
Do you have a pair of friends who are dating each other? It’s usually pretty cool. Until they get into a fight. Then it’s terrible, especially when they drag you into their little squabble. They make you listen to their woes, and insist you pick sides. But you couldn’t care less – you just want to enjoy a Bloomin’ Onion at Outback with some pals without feeling like Judge Judy.
That’s how I feel about Time Warner Cable and MSG Network right now. Except I wouldn’t consider either of them my friends, which makes it ten times worse. In case you haven’t heard the story, the two media conglomerates were unable to reach an agreement for Time Warner to continue carrying the sports channel. So as of January 1, a large number of Western New Yorkers are unable to watch the majority of Buffalo Sabres games, starting with last night’s competition. And that’s not good for anyone.
MSG wants more money; TW doesn’t want to pay it and said MSG totally looks fat in those new jeans. I understand cable television is a giant business. And these kinds of things happen in business. Fine. But what’s nauseating is seeing both companies try to get all chummy with the public. Neither wants to be seen as the bad guy, so they’ve launched campaigns pointing fingers at the other party. And I thought political attack ads were bad.
This morning, I heard practically back-to-back radio commercials, one from Time Warner (MSG are greedy greedersons!) and one from MSG (Time Warner punches puppies!), bickering over who is at fault for the blackout. Both spots were self-righteous and insulting to our intelligence, not to mention an annoying way to start the day.
Listen, you two, you’re both forgetting something very, very important. Cable TV isn’t exactly the most loveable industry around. Sure, we love watching TV, but we hate cable. It’s expensive, and you don’t watch 90% of what you pay for. It’s the first expense we’d all like to get rid of, but like an addictive drug, we can’t quit the habit, even though we know it’s rotting us from the inside out. And when I say “cable,” I mean both the providers and the networks – as far as viewers are concerned, you’re lumped into one big pile of necessary evilness.
So what I’m saying is – no one cares about your negotiation snafu. We just want to watch hockey (and if we’re really desperate, NBA basketball). We don’t care how it happens, just that it does. Do you really want to give us another reason to jump ship and resort to internet TV? Didn’t think so. Stop trying to get Joe Sabresfan to join your plight, and just do your job. Or resolve your differences with a good, old-fashioned CEO boxing match. Heck, it couldn’t be any worse than most of the programming on cable anyway.
Tagged with cable, MSG Network, Sabres, Time Warner