Baseball Broadcasts Cutoffs?

A quote I often see with regard to Microsoft is:

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence.

According to Wikipedia, that version (there are several) is attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte.

While it's hard to believe that Microsoft's inability to work nice with others is incompetence (or stupidity) alone, it does strike me that this phrase is very appropriate for the traditional broadcasters in Japan (which I don't watch at all any more since cable shows the complete games from start to end). On their defense, it is well informed stupidity on which they base their decision to cut games off.

The problem is that they get higher ratings for the "trendy dramas" that come on after the baseball game than for the game itself. That's why a bunch of bonehead kids popped out of cars and put on a performance before one of the BayStars games last week - they were promoting their new movie "Rookies" which was based off of one of those dramas. (Hey, rookie, a hat is part of your uniform - wear it on the mound. We don't need to see your messy, moose sculpted head. Are you trying to look like an anime character?) Anyway, such nonsense isn't meant for baseball fans, its meant for the unwashed masses. That's the target the broadcasters want. We baseball fans are just carp in a pond to them, we'll eat whatever they feed us. (Google around if you don't know the reference.)

As for the advertisement rush at certain times, I don't think that it's a particular time per se. I believe that they've sold so many commercials and that there hadn't been enough breaks in the action to show them all. For example, a 9 inning game will have 17 breaks between half innings, then breaks before and after the game. So they sell 3 minutes of ad time per slot for 17 slots. But wait! They started the broadcast in the 3rd inning and are running out of time in the 7th inning! Now they've got to cram a whole bunch of ads into a very limited space! No forethought. Just stupidity.

I would guess that most "real" fans have given up on terrestrial broadcasts and watch their teams on cable and/or satellite in full. That's seriously contributing to the "loss of interest" in broadcast TV games. Since TV ratings don't take cable and satellite TV into account (at the request of the traditional broadcasters?) except for special occasions, the real TV market for Pro Yakyu is left unknown while doom and gloom predictions pour forth for baseball on TV.

J-Sports (variety), Sky A (variety), GAORA (Hanshin and Nippon Ham), G+ (Giants), TBS NewsBird (BayStars), and Fuji TV 739 (Yakult) are giving baseball fans what they want - full games. And they're doing it without showing commercials over playing time.

I don't complain about terrestrial TV's habit of cutting off games any more. I just plain don't bother with the incompetence there any more. So while I may watch 2.5 games on weekends (and parts of a couple more), I'm not being counted in Pro Yakyu TV watching ratings. According to the "experts," because I won't watch the only game on terrestrial TV (the Giants), Pro Yakyu must be losing its fan base.

Just as it will be impossible for Microsoft to win me back as a customer after years of abuse, I don't foresee me watching any baseball on terrestrial TV for a very long time (except NHK - but even NHK does Koshien better on satellite than the terrestrial back and forth hand-offs). I will not accept what ever the broadcasters try to feed me. Many Pro Yakyu fans have outgrown that pond. (And the true sea is the Internet, not cable or satellite. That's the future. But it's a completely different topic, and one that the traditional broadcasters don't want to think about.)

Or rather can't think about Westbay-san because those people's mental capacity must surely be called into question when dealing with the advancement of Pro Yakyu as a global commodity.

I used to be like our guest here when I lived in Kanagawa and couldn't see BayStars games on local TV and I got mad. So, I just decided to go to the games themselves every night and it turns out that it was better for me. Now, I honestly don't even bother to watch games on TV here in Japan as I prefer to go and see them live. I keep up with the teams via their websites and other blogs. And since I don't know how much longer I'll be in Japan, I'm holding off on buying a dish or getting cable.

And it's funny that just because people don't turn into "Gomiuri" games on local TV, that Pro Yakyu is losing its popularity. Would someone please get rid of these dinosaurs (in particular in the Central League) and allow for some change in NPB? I probably got off topic with those last few sentences but they fit in with the discussion nonetheless.

At least on NHK BS you can see the game until the end, but they insist on showing the news from 6, meaning the broadcast usually starts from the bottom of the first.

Maybe it is just a genius--but frustrating--marketing plan to get people to go to the game because they know broadcasts on regular TV are usually cut off. Maybe they could even take a 10 minute break at 8:54 and provide a free shuttle and a discounted rate for people who want to head to the ballpark for the final innings!