Good stuff as always from DyHrd. I never realized the possible motives Cablevision might have for channel placement of the Devils and Islanders. Interesting theory. How much better off would the Isles be on SNY? Does Howie still do their games? Hockey lost me when they took a year off.
DyHrdMET has left a new comment on your post “The 126th Street Islanders?“:
Charles Wong is no Walter O’Malley. The Islanders have as much business being in Queens as the Brooklyn Dodgers do (Citi Field design aside – I mean the original Brooklyn Dodgers) – absoultely NONE. For the Islanders, the same applies to Brooklyn and Manhattan. They’re Long Island’s team, so if they’re going to leave the Island, get them the hell away from this area.
And for Cablevision holding back on and MSG HD/MSG+ HD, I’ve been posting on Neil Best’s blog for years that Cablevision doesn’t know how to play well with others (much evidence of this as both owners of MSG and the former SportsChannel/FSNY and cable operators fighting with YES and SNY). They tied up TV rights to the Devils and Islanders so they can stay on MSG’s “secondary” channel, MSG+, and not in more prominent competition with the Rangers on MSG. Only the FCC can get you MSG HD and MSG+ HD on Verizon FiOS (or AT&T U-Verse in Connecticut).
And who is this idiot commenter saying the Islanders have twice the fan base of the Devils? If that’s the case, why do the Devils get better ratings and attendance than the Islanders?
Main Mets Police page
Follow us on twitter @metspolice
Facebook page
send ideas/guest columns to shannon at metspolice.com
That idiot would be me. Devils' higher ratings are because a. they are playoff contenders every season and b. they do not get pushed to MSG Plus 7. Like fans of any other team in any other sport, Isles fans do not go to games nor watch on TV as much as they do when the team is successful. When both teams are in the playoffs in the same season, Isles tickets are almost impossible to get. You can walk up to the box office and buy Devils tickets the day of. If the Devils fanbase had to endure what has happened to the Isles fanbase over the last 15 years, well, they would not exist.
The Devils get pushed just as much as the Islanders on TV. remember our common hatred in MSG and the Rangers (the ones doing the pushing). Both teams really are small market teams inside the larget TV market in the country.
Islanders would look good on SNY (that's a natural pairing I guess), but you know they'd get pushed around in April and during the playoffs just like what the Yankees have done to the Nets on YES. And yes, Howie Rose still calls their games.