The players aren`t the only ones who are feeling the pinch as the National Hockey League strike continues.
Announcers are people, too.
Apparently, Blackhawks broadcasters Pat Foley and Dale Tallon may miss a few paychecks if the current labor strife continues.
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”They will be affected, but I can`t say how much,” SportsChannel executive Kelly Sullivan said Thursday. ”Some of our announcers are paid by the team, some are paid by us.”
Tallon, who is paid by SportsChannel as well as WBBM Radio, said he`s received the last of his regular-season paychecks, but he`ll miss the postseason increments if the strike isn`t settled soon.
”I get paid on a per-game basis for the playoffs over and above my regular-season salary,” Tallon explained. ”I make a lot of money in the playoffs. Now that we were going to do home games (on pay-TV), it was going to be a pretty good chunk of money this year. It definitely impacts me and Pat. We have a chance to lose a lot of money, too.”
While hockey fans may miss the action of another Stanley Cup playoffs, SportsChannel hardly will drop a beat when it comes to programming.
”Our schedule will be impacted to a minumum degree,” said Sullivan.
”It`s our busiest time of the year. We have the White Sox starting up and the Bulls gearing up for the playoffs. For the Blackhawks` road games and other NHL playoff series, we have to pre-empt our regular schedule. We operate SportsChannel-Plus (a spillover channel provided by some-but not all-cable companies) on most nights in April and many in May.
”All this will do is put the regularly scheduled programming back into prime time on SportsChannel instead of being spilled over to SportsChannel-Plus.”
SportsChannel America, which provides the local affiliate with the bulk of Stanley Cup games, doesn`t have the same luxury.
SCA made the NHL the first major sports league to take a major reduction in TV rights fees last fall (from $17 million a year to $5.5 million for this season only), and SCA officials had planned for a strike as early as March.
”We`ve put together contingency plans,” SCA President Jeff Ruhe said Thursday, ”that cover 90 percent of April and a good portion of May. We had a lot of advance warning on this.”
But those plans don`t include buying a lot of new programming because, as Ruhe said, the strike could end as early as next week. ”We`ve got to be prepared to go either way,” he added. That`s not a problem in Chicago.
”Of all the (SportsChannel regionals), Chicago is probably the strongest in terms of having local product,” said Ruhe. ”There`s just a lot of local product that doesn`t necessitate them turning to us for a great deal of programming.”
But, Sullivan emphasized, the Hawks are an important part of SportsChannel`s normal programming. ”We will certainly miss them not being on our air,” she said. ”It`s still a blow to us because (the Hawks) are one of our primary programming products. They`re a partner of ours.”
Ruhe was ”optimistic” there would be 1992 Stanley Cup playoffs and
”we`ll get this thing worked out.” If the strike eliminates games-whether regular-season or postseason-Ruhe said his network will have to sit down with NHL officials to discuss any reduction in fees, much of which have already been paid.
”It depends on how much, if any, of the playoffs is affected,” Ruhe said. ”Obviously, the playoffs are a significant portion of our contract. We`re going to have to sit down and go through things when this is over.”
Another aspect of the strike is the Blackhawks` pay-per-view plans for its home playoff games have been put on hold.
”I feel like I`ve run a campaign for six months and they called off the election,” said Sullivan, who helped put the HawkVision package together.
”There`s already been a financial investment (by the team and SportsChannel) in HawkVision. A strike now is especially disappointing because we planned to debut these home games with the team playing so well. We were really optimistic” about the success of HawkVision, which was scheduled to start Sunday with ”bonus” coverage of the regular-season finale.
Sullivan said SportsChannel hadn`t kept tabs of potential subscribers because a talk with Minnesota North Stars officials, who introduced a similar plans last year, indicated sales don`t pick up until the day of the first game.
How will the strike affect viewership?
Ruhe: ”It`s going to leave a bad taste in a lot of fans` mouths. If this is short-lived, it might increase the awareness of the league. The longer it goes, the worse it is for everyone concerned. The longer this thing drags out is not good for SportsChannel America. It`s not good for our advertisers, the owners and the players.”
Sullivan: ”I don`t know since this league`s never had a work stoppage. It would depend on the length. Even in a short (strike), no one wins.”
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– Pay-per-view took another hit of sorts Wednesday when U.S. Rep. William Lipinski (D-Ill.) introduced his bill, entitled the ”Taxpayer`s Right to View Act of 1992,” in Congress to prohibit PPV telecasts from venues ”that receive public financial support” either directly or indirectly.
– ”This Week in Baseball” celebrates its 16th year as Mel Allen returns as host at 1:30 p.m. Sunday on WGN-Ch. 9. . . . Even though ”Major League Baseball Magazine,” like TWIB a Phoenix Communications production, was canceled by ESPN, the show received a Sports Emmy nomination for ”Outstanding Edited Series/Anthology.” . . . John Goodman, who coincidentally stars in a forthcoming movie about Babe Ruth, hosts TBS` hour-long ”The Atlanta Braves: America`s Team Returns” at 7 p.m. Sunday.
– VCR alert: Next week, starting at 9 a.m. Monday, SportsChannel will replay all 24 episodes of ”Baseball`s Greatest Games.” A must-see, if you haven`t already. . . . Intersport has two more one-hour specials coming up on SportsChannel: ”March Madness: The Finals in Minneapolis,” starring those wacky quipsters Jerry Tarkanian and Rick Pitino, at 11 p.m. Friday, and
”Augusta Green Jacket Special,” with John Daly and Ben Wright, at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.