Originally Posted by
MU88
Ratings matter very little. Networks receive very little income from advertising. ESPN gets more than2/3rds of its total income in payments from the cable/sat providers. FS1 is in almost 100 million homes at between $.85 and $1.15 per pop. It is in significantly more homes than CBSSN and NBSSN. As long as FS1 gets into the homes, it will be fine. It doesn't need significant numbers on a Tuesday afternoon. While ratings would be nice, a bigger key is having events that generate demand for the network among cable and sat providers. I have to believe that is the sole reason for the BE contract. Having the BE bball games helped FS1 get on cable systems in major markets which, in turn, has made the network profitable. In other words, charging a bit more in advertising revenue is nice. Being on all the cable providers in the Milwaukee area, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers paying $.85 a month, every month, is worth so much more. If MU wasn't on FS1, there would be little incentive for the providers to have added FS1. Its the same strategy the NFL Network uses. It has what, 8 events that people want to see? Those 8 events generate a huge amount of subscriber fees, even if daytime ratings are nil.
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