Word: versus
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...That's right: Channel 603, square in television's Yukon Territory. Since the hockey playoffs are on Versus, formerly known as the Outdoor Life Network, viewers in many markets will have to search the hinterland of channel listings in order to watch the games. Versus is Channel 603 on DirecTV, and its placement isn't pretty on cable either. On Time Warner Cable's Los Angeles system, it's Channel 267; in New York, Cablevision puts Versus on Channel 146; and in Dallas, Versus gets prime position on Channel 254. Of the nation's 115 million television households, some...
...Because of Versus' limited carriage and penalty-box position on many channel lineups, what should be a transcendent series for hockey in America is barely cracking mainstream consciousness. Versus has carried all of the Penguins-Caps series except for Game 1, which NBC broadcast on May 2, and has averaged 1.04 million viewers, according to the Nielsen Co. The series is drawing a smaller audience than last year's College Baseball World Series, which ESPN broadcast for an average of 1.4 million viewers. On May 8, only 647,000 viewers tuned in to Game 4 of the series, making...
...hockey skate into this mess? Coming out of the 2004-05 lockout, Versus outbid ESPN for rights to hockey games. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman chose cash over the increased exposure any sport gets from ESPN, which is currently in 98 million homes. While the game has gotten better - new rules have increased scoring, and phenoms like Ovechkin and Crosby have given the game new blood - Bettman lost a mainstream audience to which he could market this improved product. So while Ovechkin-Crosby plays out in the wilderness, Bettman should wonder what might have been. (See TIME's picks...
...Many hockey insiders are frustrated. "Quite frankly, I don't believe people know what Versus is, and I still don't know what they do," says Chicago Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz, whose team will face the winner of the Detroit-Anaheim series in the Western Conference finals (broadcast on Versus, of course). The players' union has already griped about getting back on ESPN, but that's not happening anytime soon. The NHL and Versus are stuck with each other through 2011. So enjoy tonight's Game 7. Just get ready to climb up the dial...
...really think we're in a post-9/11 world. Our community doesn't feel the same sense of being under siege. President Obama and his election symbolized to us that America no longer wanted it to be "us" versus "them" - it's going to be more inclusive and tolerant. I think right now people are more afraid of a Mexican guy with a cough than an Arab guy. I don't think people love us, but the anger has passed. (Read "Ignoring Arab-Americans...