More regional TV exposure cuts UM football’s local deal

The University of Maine football team has yet to play a single game, but already it has doubled its regional television exposure for this fall.

Maine will appear on Fox Sports Net New England twice this fall, once (Oct. 27 at William & Mary) as part of the Atlantic 10 Conference’s six-game, game-of-the-week package. The other game (Sept. 22 at Hofstra, 6 p.m.) was recently added to FSNNE’s schedule – after FSNNE picked the game up from another regional network – along with another A10 game on Sept. 29 (Massachusetts at Hofstra).

UMaine’s games will also be seen live on the Madison Square Garden network (MSG), Fox Sports Net New York and Comcast Sportsnet D.C.

While the Black Bears should benefit from the increased attention, it’s not something that’s helping officials at Bangor television station WABI (Channel 5) iron out their fall sports broadcast schedule.

“It’s hurting me a lot right now. We’ve only got two games we’re doing: Richmond at Maine on Oct. 6 [7 p.m. start] and Villanova at Maine on Oct. 20 [noon],” said WABI program director Steve Hiltz.

WABI normally airs at least three or four Maine football games every fall, but is currently limited to two for two main reasons: FSNNE’s exclusive contract to air the A10 games of the week and a UMaine schedule front-loaded with home night games.

“We had three games and were hoping to pick up the Atlantic 10’s feed for that Maine-William & Mary game too, but we had to scrap that and one of the games [Nov. 10 vs. UMass.] because there was another A10 game on at the same time [on FSNNE],” Hiltz explained.

The exclusivity clause in FSNNE’s Atlantic 10 football deal means that stations cannot air another A10 game if it directly competes with one being aired by FSNNE in that other station’s TV market. The only way a station could televise another A10 game the same day as an FSNNE A10 telecast would be if the other game started a minimum of 31/2 hours after the FSNNE telecast.

According to FSNNE program manager Shannon Taylor, their Atlantic 10 broadcasts are protected by a 31/2-hour shield. With all the FSNNE A10 games starting at noon, WABI would have to air a Maine game which starts at 3:30 p.m. or later.

Since WABI is reluctant to air many late-afternoon or night games that would pre-empt its local 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts, there is very little wiggle room left.

The only other option open to WABI is the possibility of picking up the feed for one of Maine’s away games from the home team’s market if another station is broadcasting it.

The primary beneficiary from all of this could be UMaine men’s and women’s basketball teams. With WABI having to cut the number of football telecasts, that leaves room for a couple extra telecasts of another sport (hockey or basketball).

“I don’t know what we’ll do,” said Hiltz. “Most likely it will benefit basketball as I look at the schedule right now, but we’ll have to see what happens.”

WABI is starting its fifth straight season of live UMaine sports broadcasts. Its contract calls for a minimum of 10 live telecasts, which are selected from available football, basketball and hockey games each year. There is no limit on the number of games WABI may broadcast.