Blast From The Baseball Past.

Interesting news on the Blue Jays broadcast front.  Veteran Canadian sports broadcaster Dan Shulman will be doing play by play on 30 Toronto Blue Jays games next year, as well as appearing on other Rogers Sportsnet baseball coverage.  Shulman was Buck Martinez's broadcast partner on Blue Jays broadcasts on TSN(remember when TSN and CBC had baseball broacasts?) between 1995 to 2001 before joining ESPN.  He'll continuing working for ESPN on baseball and basketball broadcasts, ensuring he'll be a busy man next year.  I'm sure there's an interesting story on how this all came about.

Sportsnet Annoys Again.

Feh.  I was sitting here watching the Blue Jays play Cleveland on Sportsnet.  The game is in extra innings.  In their infinite wisdom they decided to switch to the scheduled Calgary Flames game.  How annoying.  Just another not so subtle way to make you subscribe to more than one Sportsnet feed to avoic such problems.  Won't work on me.

Sorry, Sportsnet.

You're up to your old tricks again, namely playing only some of the Toronto Blue Jays games on all Sportsnet feeds.  But I'm afraid it's not going to get me to subscribe to additional feeds or the Sportsnet One channel.  I'm sure it won't work on most other Jays fans either.

Blackout.

It's not a good day to be a Blue Jays fan in Saskatoon.  Tonight's game is on Sportsnet One, which as was previously mentioned here is not available yet in Saskatchewan.  But you can't hear it on radio, since this is one of the games CJYM Rosetown isn't carrying.  Rogers is blaming Shaw and other cable companies for not carrying the channel, while they claim Rogers wants everyone to pay 3 bucks for the new channel whether you want it or not.  Whoever is really at fault this is a PR mess for Rogers, and if the puny crowds that have been appearing for a lot of the games at Rogers Centre are any indication I would guess the TV audience was already down before the hit they're no doubt going to take over this.

Sportsnet None.

I hope you weren't counting on seeing tonight's Blue Jays versus the Angels game on TV if you live in Saskatoon, because you won't.  Today was the launch of Rogers Sportsnet One, which is supposed to be their "national" channel versus the existing Rogers Sportsnet, which is offered by region.  But said national channel isn't available via Shaw Cable in the Saskatoon market, or apparently on any other cable or satellite providers elsewhere in Canada other than Rogers.  Negotiations are supposedly going on for other providers to carry it, but if that doesn't happen we won't have a chance to see as many as 25 upcoming Blue Jays games.  This is even more annoying than the trouble we had here in previous years, where Sportsnet West, which is the "default" Sportsnet channel on Shaw, didn't always have Blue Jays games on.  If you were willing to shell out the money you could subscribe to feeds of the other Sportsnet feeds and not miss the games.  This time we don't even have that option, and we have no idea when or even if Sportsnet One will be carried here.  What a pain.

You apparently will be able to hear the game on radio via CJYM Rosetown on 1330 kilohertz.  Hope you're like me and have an AM radio to use.

Hockey That Doesn't Matter.

Once again those creeps at Rogers Sportsnet are trying to extort money out of baseball viewers in Western Canada. Instead of playing the Yankees versus the Angels they're playing a Calgary Flames game. This early in the season it's a meaningless game. Of course you can see the Yankees game if you subscribe to the alternate Sportsnet feeds, but this of course costs money. And if you don't already do so I suspect you're not likely going to get those feeds operational in time for tonight's game. Too bad TSN didn't get the rights, as they don't seem to play these kind of silly games.

A Miracle.

Wow, if you get the Rogers Sportsnet West feed you're actually getting to see a full Blue Jays game today. If you've been trying to watch the Jays on Sportsnet West you probably know that in their infinite wisdom they've decided we'd rather see Yankees and Dodgers games instead of Jays games when the former are on at the same time. Rogers' response to complaints? Well, you can see those games if you opt to pick up the other Sportsnet feeds. In other words, send more money to your cable provider and Rogers. Frankly I doubt this will do what Rogers expects. Most folks likely won't shell out more money for extra sports channels unless they're major sports fans, and if they are there's a good chance they already subscribe to the extra feeds, and the current economic climate is likely to dissuade some others who might have gone for it in better times. Of course you might think of subscrbing to the pricey MLB.com online baseball broadcast service, but apparently Jays games are blacked out on there.

Thumbs Down, Rogers Sportsnet.

I really don't know what your programming staff was thinking. In their infinite wisdom they decided those of us who get the Sportsnet West feed didn't need to see the Toronto Blue Jays home opener. I suppose I could see not playing some early season games, but the home opener and season opener? Even more annoying was the fact it was a hot game, with the Jays putting a 12-5 pounding on the Detroit Tigers, including a 6 RBI night by Adam Lind, 3 of which came via a home run. And the Calgary Flames game you played instead? Meaningless, since the Flames have already clinched a playoff spot. It's especially odd programming given that the Jays are owned by your owners, Rogers.

Don't Take Me Out To The Ball Game.

I sure would love to know what's behind the Rogers Sportsnet schedule for the Toronto Blue Jays this year. They have exclusive TV rights(not surprising since they own the team), and there are some games they aren't airing. This evening's matchup with Tampa Bay is an example. Instead we get a NASCAR race, and this applies across the network. Is NASCAR really a better ratings generator in Canada than the Blue Jays? I have no idea. Unfortunately the Saskatchewan radio broadcaster for the Jays, CJYM/CFYM, isn't broadcasting the game either. Bummer. On the other hand TSN is boxing crazy today. They'll be playing a several hour continuous block of boxing programming tonight, including the De La Hoya-Mayorga matchup from HBO. I guess I'll have to watch people beat on each other instead.

Ah, what a bunch of geniuses they are over at Rogers Sportsnet. Those of us who get Sportsnet West found ourselves cut off from the finale of the Chicago White Sox-Boston Red Sox playoff series so they could present a Calgary Flames hockey game. Right, switch over to an early season hockey game that is meaningless at the moment and miss Chicago's first post season series win since 1917. I sure wouldn't want to be the e-mail and call screeners tonight.