After the cut is a convo with our friend (and resident bracketologist) Chris about NBC‘s choice for men’s semi-final French Open coverage. I’m gonna side with the programmers on this one; they went with a the “no-name” match — showing Soderling/Gonzalez instead of Federer/Del Potro — and they shouldn’t get skewered for it.
CP: how could nbc show gonzo vs. soderling and not fed vs. del potro?
TSF: because federer is boring and soderling is the toast of this french?
CP: i know they both went 5 sets but if they’re gonna show CP: one of the 2, you think they’d go with fed
CP: people would tune in to watch fed
CP: not soderling
TSF: lol
TSF: stop
TSF: STOP
CP: or do you think it was live on east coast so they got the whole match?
TSF: people are pissed if they show the big names
TSF: and pissed if they don’t
TSF: these programmers get screwed either way!
CP: and we here on west coast got the match edited
CP: well, they said it was one of the better 5 setters theyd seen in a long time
CP: but i think more people would want to watch #2 vs. #5 than #12 vs. #23
TSF: right
CP: or if they were going to edit us, why didnt they just edit both matches for west coast?
CP: show us both!
TSF: right
TSF: hmm should i try to see if someone has a copy of fed/del potro?
CP: im sure it’ll be showing on tennis
CP: i dont have to see it, i just thought it was frustrating
CP: or a weird choice
CP: maybe they were hoping thered be some oncourt drama with soderling and gonzo
Are you insane? It wasn’t a close call. They are the worst broadcaster in the history of the sport.
Except, of course, for CBS. And ESPN.
that chris guy sounds pretty smart!
Here’s the problem I have with the programmers. You rightly point out that they’re damned-if-they-do, etc. . . but that hardly answers the question. Both women’s semis were aired live and in full by ESPN2. NBC made an intentional decision to pay the bucks necessary to air the men’s semis. . . and then airs only one, on tape delay. So, why exactly did NBC want the rights if they didn’t intend to use them? I suspect ESPN2 would’ve been more than happy to air the matches, even though it is as disruptive to their normal programming as it is to NBC’s.
And, I realize the economic realities facing the French Open on US TV, but can you imagine any other major sport selling rights to air one of their major tournaments to a network that would pre-empt the competition for soap operas? And would NBC ever, except in the case of a major tragedy or outbreak of war, pre-empt even a first round NBA playoff game?
The combination of NBC’s decision to, in essence, behave like a bratty child that takes all the toys even though he doesn’t want to play with them, and the tennis authorities spinelessness in insisting on adequate television coverage for the French Open shows tremendous indifference to tennis fans.
I don’t care that they picked the Soderling match over the Federer match. But I do care that they made the choice at all!
Lovely photo.