By Jay Jones, July 31, 2008
As some of you might know, I worked at KEZI and Chambers Productions for a number of years after finishing up at the University of Oregon. As a part of KEZI and Chambers, I had the privilege of working on a number of University of Oregon-related productions, such as Duck Vision.
Those projects were not only good projects, but they were fun projects. Some of my fondest memories at Chambers were of working with very talented co-workers, producing some of the best content in collegiate sports (at very late hours - most of the time that was of my own doing).
And Oregon fans won big.
I’ll keep my comments brief here. But I think the possibility exists that Oregon fans across the state are going to lose in this deal.
And I’ll tell you why: where will Duck fans be able to find University of Oregon programming next year?
Honestly, I don’t know.
My best guess is that ComcastSportsNet will have most, if not all, of Oregon’s programming. Rebroadcasts. Coaches shows. Sports specials.
But I don’t know. Do you?
And that’s kind of a problem.
But what if you don’t have Comcast? If you don’t have Comcast and you’re a Duck fan, you’re probably out of luck.
Sure, ABC will pick up a number of Oregon’s games this year. And there will be a few on FoxSportsNet and Versus (As my wife asked, “What’s Versus?”). But any additional programming is going to end up on some yet-to-be-announced network.
One of the great things about the OSN and Chambers partnership was that I knew I could count on Chambers affiliates across the state for Oregon sports. Where there wasn’t a Chambers station, some type of alternative usually existed.
If everything is on Comcast and you don’t get Comcast (and get satellite instead), I don’t think there’s going to be an alternative.
And Duck fans, that’s too bad, and won’t be fun.
But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
So much for brief.
Here’s the press release:
NEW CONTRACT TERMS END CHAMBERS’ AFFILIATION WITH OSN
(Eugene, OR – 7/31/08) Chambers Communications announced today that new contract language just received from IMG Communications for Oregon Sports Network programming has caused Chambers to not renew its affiliation with OSN for locally produced coverage, live games and special interest shows highlighting University of Oregon athletics on Chambers’ television stations KEZI-Eugene, KOHD-Bend, and KDRV-Medford.
“Chambers Communications has a long history of providing viewers throughout Oregon with unprecedented coverage of University of Oregon athletics,” said Scott Chambers, President. “It is clear from the contract language that the University of Oregon, through its partnership with IMG, now has a business model for rights and programming that no longer has room for the local and statewide broadcast television partnership, viewers or advertisers offered by Chambers’ three ABC affiliates throughout the state.”
Recently, Chambers Communications finished its second successful five-year Agreement with OSN. Under the terms, the company’s three ABC Network broadcast stations produced and/or distributed more than 100 hours of University of Oregon athletic programs per year, including live football and basketball games, pre and post game programs, special coaches’ shows and pre and post season specials.
On January 7, 2008, after lengthy negotiations, Chambers Communications received a signed letter of intent from OSN for a new five-year agreement under similar terms of the previous agreements. In February 2008, the University of Oregon negotiated an exclusive sports representation arrangement with IMG, giving the company exclusive rights over University or Oregon sports inventory, including games, television programs, signage, and stadium game programs. Through numerous discussions between Chambers and the University, there was no indication that terms of the signed letter of intent would be significantly changed.
This past Friday, July 25, 2008, approximately four weeks before Oregon’s first football game, Chambers Communications received a contract offer from IMG outlining new terms. Included in the contract were substantially increased rights fees, restrictions on sponsors, significantly reduced company and sponsor benefits and the elimination of Chambers-produced programs featuring University of Oregon Athletics or coaches, except for live games.
“In the best interest of the company and its advertisers, Chambers Communications has no option but to reject the terms of the IMG contract,” said Dana Siebert, Chambers Chief Operating Officer. “Chambers Sports and our three ABC broadcast affiliates throughout Oregon will cease affiliation with the Oregon Sports Network effective July 31, 2008, the expiration date of the current five-year contract.”
ABOUT CHAMBERS COMMUNICATIONS
Chambers Communications, headquartered in Eugene, Oregon, is the parent company of Oregon ABC affiliates KEZI 9 in Eugene, KDRV 12 in Medford, KDKF 31 in Klamath Falls and KOHD 51.1 in Bend, with newsrooms in Roseburg, Corvallis and Coos Bay; Chambers Sports, an Oregon-based regional sports company; Chambers Cable of Sunriver, Oregon; Chambers Productions, a full service film and video production company based in Eugene, Oregon; and CMC.NET, an Oregon-based internet service provider. Chambers Communications is based in the Chambers Media Center, the most technologically advanced soundstage and production facility between Hollywood and Vancouver, BC.
Get all your sports news on the Oregon Ducks at DuckSportsNews.com. Innappropriate comment? Let us know. Spam filters are set on high. Please be patient for your comments to be posted.
Be Jay’s Facebook friend. Join DSN’s Facebook group.
Tags: Chambers, Ducks, OSN, University of Oregon
Dave Says:
July 31st, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Wow, this is not good.
Living in Woodburn, Comcast is not even an option. Its satellite, or Wave Broadband, neither of whom offer CSN.
Steve Sherburne Says:
July 31st, 2008 at 7:00 pm
You are partially right. If you were a legacy Comcast customer, or are willing to pay $52/mo, you can get the Oregon Sports Channel on Comcast. Otherwise, as a Comcast subscriber, you are just like everyone else, NADA.
Duck Fan 5 Says:
July 31st, 2008 at 8:03 pm
The University of Oregon has stabbed it’s local fan base in the back. In order to move to the big leagues and play with the big boys, U of O has forgotten about the local contingent that got them to where they are. KEZI is the first of many local organizations to fall under the new era of OSN/IMG. We all suffer because of the decisions that the University of Oregon has made. Whomever be responsible for this betrayal, stand up and defend this, because I can’t see how this is in the best interest of anything related to the City of Eugene, nor the entire state of Oregon.
Jake Taylor Says:
July 31st, 2008 at 9:30 pm
I guess it is time to put more pressure on DirecTV to start carrying Comcrap Sportsnet NW.
Nobody Special Says:
July 31st, 2008 at 10:26 pm
IMG is a sports marketing machine used by some of the best in the business. Chambers is a local ABC affiliate. I’d let the dust settle before we call this one over.
It makes no sense for Chambers to walk away. There just has to be a way for them to make money (albeit not as much probably) by broadcasting Oregon athletics. Seriously, what else are they going to broadcast that will have better ratings? Judge Judy?
After they get past the ‘pride thing’ they’ll start looking at their 1″ tape library, the reruns of Taxi and Star Trek, and decide that maybe this wasn’t the best business decision they’ve ever made.
Meanwhile, Fox Sports, Comcast, Versus are all calling IMG as soon as the office opens Friday morning.
Jay Says:
July 31st, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Nobody Special -
I think that 1″ library consisted of Taxi and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Jay
DSN
Hank Hosfield Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 12:00 am
More pain for Oregon’s faithful grassroots fans, brought to you by, well, you know who.
nobody special Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 8:43 am
Jay -
What motivation would IMG have to write a deal that they knew Chambers would balk at? Now that I’ve thought about it a little more, I think that is possible, buy why would they want to send they local ABC affiliate packing?
Eric Pubols Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 10:20 am
While this is disconcerting and concerning to the local fan base, I’m going to hold out judgment through August and let IMG and the AD work through this. If there isn’t a good resolution, obviously the IMG deal will be seen in a negative light for the duration until the games can be seen locally across the state. In the end, I hope Chambers is involved because they are Eugene local and seem to have the best facilities around.
JimmyRay Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 10:37 am
I have been forced to be a Comcast subscriber, since I am a sports fan in the state of OR. Comcast has too much power. Fight the power!
sherburne Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 11:52 am
Comcast is innane, it thinks it is all powerful.
Shell out for Ducks Online at http://www.goducks.com and watch Joe and Anthony as the record the game replay… and there are says to move the view from your teeny screen to your tv.
Did I mention you get some basketball games too!
bristowduck Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I spoke with Franklin at the university of Oregon and he told me that they hope to fix this by the Utah state game. An alternate channel for us that don’t have comcast. I’m not holding my breath. This all feels wrong and dirty!!
Coastal Duck Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 2:16 pm
It’s hard for me to believe that IMG didn’t, in some way, pull the wool over the Athletic Department’s collective eyes - flashing the big bucks that would give the new BB arena a needed boost as well as a new scoreboard/video screen for the “decrepit” one that had served so nobly in past seasons - maybe poo-pooing any objections that KEZI/Chambers was being wedged out of its longtime relationship with Duck sports - (hmm - why do the words “duped,” “devious” and “dastardly” come to mind?)
At any rate, the decision to go with IMG has a bigger downside than any amount of moolah could ever make up for - can you say “local backlash?”
Sheesh!! What next?! First the parking east parking lot, home to the greatest tailgating parties in the PAC-10, has elbowed its way into our world, causing an outrageous gouging spree by nearby auxillary parking areas.
Then, a quality, local production company is muscled out by shortsighted powers-that-be.
Third . . . (just waiting for the hammer to fall)
Guess we little guys better just bend over and smile - and get used to the idea that we, the grassroots Ducks, have regressed back into the days of radio.
Thanks for nothin’, Pat K and company.
tim Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Allot of the rural areas have Charter cable, what the hell are we supposed to do,
they better fix it, they already took away are Blazer games (thanks Comcast) jackass’s
and we mean YOU TOO
U of O
Duck This! Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Nobody Special:
Obviously you have no idea what you’re talking about. It makes no sense for Chambers to walk away? Don’t you see that they were pushed out of the equation? IMG left them no choice. If you knew anything, you’d know that IMG is a giant corporate organization that caters to giant corporate sponsors. They have no interest in working with a small, locally owned station, which is why they made Chambers, what I’m sure is, an entirely unreasonable offer. And Chambers being pushed out is just the tip of the iceberg, bye-bye Bi-Mart, Jerry’s, and whatever other local companies have long standing relationships with the University. Pat K and his goons totally hosed the local Duck fans in the name of more prominence and more profit. If you want to hate on someone, hate on them.
good thing i still have my radio!!! Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 6:34 pm
I’m probably wrong
And hopefully this all gets figured out before any games are played
But the U of O could not be dumb enough to not see this coming
Do they crap on long time fans for more money?
Isn’t Phil giving enough?
Greed
Excessive or rapacious desire, esp. for wealth or possessions
Nobody Special Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Duck This,
Ya, you’re right! I have no idea what I’m talking about. You have a far better grasp of the situation: ‘Pat K and his goons totally hosed the local Duck fans…’
Brilliant. Why didn’t I think of saying that?
Roadie Says:
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:10 am
So far this deal appears to suck from a local perspective, but if a national firm rolls up to your door with a truckload of cash, what would you do?
Seems like the athletic department is going through an expansion phase while simultaneously being expected to become self-sufficient. They need every dime they can get their hands on.
On the flip side, it seems like IMG needs to control every aspect of the marketing if it expects to honor that very rich contract it signed. Unfortunately the longtime local supporters appear to get shafted as a result.
If this deal results in a national title within a year or two, I’ll bet most of the local hard feelings will be swept away in a wave of Duck fanaticism.
Hank Hosfield Says:
August 2nd, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Some people believe that for every formerly loyal fan that gets priced out of the new fun there awaits an eager replacement with deeper pockets that’s been champing at the bit to snap up those empty seats and new seat contracts. (This appears to be the view from the Casanova Center.) Others believe that the ever-pricier college sports (primarily football) juggernaut is steaming toward an iceberg of unsustainable expansion. I don’t know what the national breaking point may be, but I suspect that even the prospect of winning a national championship loses some of its luster for many fans now paying thousands of dollars per year for what used to cost merely hundreds. One can’t help but wonder if the new experience will be commensurately enjoyable? And when does economic friction become resistance and then resentment? What are the essential things that make supporting college athletics most gratifying? Are we getting more of these things or less? Are games more fun than they used to be? Do you feel better about what your increasingly expensive donations are funding? These are some of the questions that I expect more fans are going to be asking in the future. The harder schools like Oregon (a university fast gaining a national reputation for wretched excess) make it for the common fan to share in the fun (by, for instance, restricting broadcasts of the games), the more select your market becomes, the more narrow your appeal. Does the current direction of the UO athletic department make the common fan feel more embraced or more exploited?
Steve Sherburne Says:
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:09 am
The problem with the “comfort” of “one-out, one-in” is that the biggest influx of fans, after the expansin was north of Eugene, not local Eugene fans. These are the fans that are wondering if it’s still worth it. Frankly, I know a lot of people who are going to the opener to see what actually happens. If it’s bad, you will see more visitng team supports in Autzen, because people will sell their tickets, and the vistors are willing to pay more to get in to the game: See Civil War last year, and the influx of Beaver fans, when some duck fans walked away.
Zachary Vishanoff Says:
August 4th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Stand aside as the regional flagship university sets sail for Las Vegas!…..and ends up at the bottom of the toxic Willamette.