WAGM to show Giants> Presque Isle station will get Fox feed

It looks like avid New York Giants fans who are non-cable TV subscribers in Maine are in for a very long season.

The shockwaves are still reverberating from the Fox Network’s acquisition of TV rights to the National Football League’s NFC games all over the country… and all the way to Bangor.

Fox’s power play means that Giants’ and other NFC games have moved from CBS affiliates such as WABI (Channel 5) in Bangor and WGME (Channel 13) in Portland to Maine’s only Fox station – WPXT-TV (Channel 51) in Portland.

Luckily for Aroostook County fans, there is one exception to this rule. Presque Isle’s WAGM (Channel 8), despite being a CBS affiliate, will broadcast Fox games Sundays at 1 p.m. It will not be able to show 4 p.m. games, however.

Because WAGM is the only station in a small-market area like Presque Isle, it is allowed by FCC rules to pick its programming from all four networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC), despite already being affiliated with CBS.

“We’re the only one in the state, and I believe one of only two or three stations in the country allowed to do this,” said Linda Connolly, program director and traffic manager at WAGM.

WAGM and Fox officials have agreed on a one-year contract.

And what if you don’t live in the Presque Isle market? You’re out of luck. But it’s not due to a lack of effort by people at Bangor stations WABI and WVII (Channel 7).

“We’ve had informal talks with Fox since January, but we couldn’t come up with an agreement,” said Steve Hiltz, WABI’s program director.

Why not?

“First, CBS said it wouldn’t be happy with us doing that (picking up Fox games) and we don’t want to jeopardize our good relationship with CBS. Second, economic considerations made it desirable for us not to pick up Fox games this year,” Hiltz explained.

Hiltz said CBS was particularly concerned about Fox’s late games running over into the 7 p.m. time slot occupied by “60 Minutes.”

“But we will continue our talks with Fox in the future. It’s something we’re willing to revisit.”

Over at WVII, the result is pretty much the same, but not for the same reasons.

“At this point, I wouldn’t expect to be on board by opening week – if we’re on board at all,” said WVII programming director Jim Reed, who added he didn’t know the current status of talks with Fox.

“To be perfectly honest, I don’t know exactly what the stumbling blocks are,” added Reed. “I know our ownership also owns an NBC station in Wausau, Wisconsin, and that might be part of it.”

Reed said he felt bad for “under-served Giants fans, especially since – according to a May sweeps report – the Bangor market has achieved only 48 percent cable penetration.”

Looks like fans from the other 52 percent will have to visit a friend’s house or go to a sports lounge.

Hiltz was equally apologetic.

“My personal feeling was that if we couldn’t get it, I would have been happy to see WVII get it… for the sake of our viewers,” Hiltz said.

The college football TV season officially gets started Sunday with the appropriately titled Kickoff Classic game between Nebraska and West Virginia on ABC (WVII) Sunday at 2 p.m.

Monday night’s syndicated Disneyland Pigskin Classic game between Ohio State and Fresno State will not be aired locally on broadcast or cable channels, but Thursday’s Arizona at Georgia Tech game will be on ESPN at 8 p.m.

Executives at Pittsfield’s new radio station, WPBC (99.5 FM), are looking for a broadcast team to do Maine Central Institute football games this fall. Station manager Chuck Foster would like to find a suitable duo as soon as possible so he can air MCI’s second game of the season

Since the station only began broadcasting this week, Foster hasn’t been able to line up an on-air MCI team in time for the team’s season opener Friday, Sept. 2.