CBS TV coverage VP responds

[RONALD78]

I had called a CBS VP about the fact that Xavier's game Thursday was not fully covered/shown within say a 100 miles of Cincinnati ie Dayton,Louisville,Lexington,etc. Also I mentioned it made no sense to cut away from the X WVA Thursday night game mid way through the first half and show the WashST North Carolina game within OHIO, KY, and WVA market areas. The VP at CBS national(PS by the way CSTV is owned by CBS..ie the A10 owners of the TV contract) responded very well. She mentioned that all the NCAA games are on the internet for free....through numerous sources ,so anyone can watch any game for free. I mentioned that the local CBS affiliates never take responsibility for the broadcast and just say it is up to national what is shown in the local markets. The national VP said that is NOT so....national reviews with over 200 local affiliates what games they wish to be shown in each market area and the local CBS choses in advance which games have priority for their areas. She said they can change that at any time before and during broadcast. She said it made no sense for local affiliates to chose NC Wash St over teams in this region but she claims that the local affiliates told national they wanted the highest ranking team shown within the above local areas...which means NC as a no1 would be shown over a 3 and 7 seed.She said she would pass on my concerns but local viewers need to put pressure on local CBS affiliates for which games they want shown prior to a broadcast to let their desires be known.

[XU Rocks!]

I'm not sure I even know how to request a particular game through a local affiliate. That said, with all the #1 seeds still alive, doesn't it make sense cities within 100 miles, none of which have teams ranked higher than a 3 seed, and all of which compete against X for recruiting, might haver a local bias not to show X continuing to shine?

[wkrq59]

Flood WKRC-TV with your complaints. That will get something started. Isn't Brad Johanssen still in Phoenix? Or did he bolt in favor of the Reds figuring Xavier would lose. Let KRC know how you feel.

[Mr. Neutral]

They didn't do it this year, but I recall that in past years, the local CBS outlet would have an online or phone poll as to which game the local viewers wanted to watch, and they'd go with that.

[CarlosTheJackal]

As a local Columbus viewer I was trying to finda phone number for the local affiliate and couldn't, still cant. Web site? a daytime phone only. Email site? perhaps my navigational skills stink, but could not find it.

Thanks to those who posted the CBS link, it saved my sanity, but it just totally stinks. Local kid, Lavender, playing in the Sweet 16, Xavier is an Ohio team, and we cant see him on network? I had some friends in a bar going apesh*t.

Should not have happened.

[RONALD78]

National CBS says it is up to the local channels to request which games they wish to carry. I think part of it is a recruiting thing within certain areas/states and they do not wish the local kids to see the competition.....meaning Ohio State or Louisville or Lexington/Kentucky does not want their kids to see a Xavier for recruiting reasons so if they can get the local channel to request a game that does not feature a local team so much the better. And the other part is just plain stupidity on the Programming dept of CBS.