Where does Versus go from here?

Vs has to get a nightly sports highlight show going to compete with Sportscenter. I actually think sports fans are dying for this, as Sportscenter is a tangled mess of what it used to be.
The need to highlight it as something different too. No screaming, No hyperbole. Just the highlights and analysis you want to see.

They have started with College football, but I think they need to try and get a major conference. The Pac-10 seems to be one they could get a contract with to broadcast their games. The Big 12 might be a conference who they could land a contract with too.

Getting some Baseball would be huge too. MLB already broadcasts with TBS and ESPN, but there’s a ton of baseball games on. I would think that VS could snag some games there as well.

Sportscenter is a tangled mess of what it used to be.
The need to highlight it as something different too. No screaming, No hyperbole. Just the highlights and analysis you want to see.

We’ve had to suffer years of Stuart Scott’s influence on the sports highlights. He is directly responsible for a dumbass wannabe sports highlight anchor weakly cry “…and boom goes the dynamite”.

they need to get moved up the dial to be right around espn. currently on directv espn is at 210 (-ish, they take up a block) and Versus is 600 something, you need the association, all the news sections are in a block. They’ll pick up viewers just because people are flipping around.

They currently have such a hodge podge of programming, it is difficult to tell what they want to be. Considering that they were the Outdoor Life Network when the NHL signed the deal, then changed to versus, then changed some of their programming to align with more main stream sports, then went all rodeo for a while, it has just been impossible to tell what the hell they are. If they could add more main stream sports, like maybe college hockey, more college football (they have some), soccer, etc. and dump some of the fringe crap (like rodeo), they may start getting to where they need to go. And I agree with the above, a nightly sports highlight show would be great. Plus why not add something like NHL 2-nite? One of my favorite shows before ESPN 2 dropped it.

I hate ESPN. They don’t carry hockey. They basically don’t cover hockey. Screw them.

where does versus go from here? right back to my non visible channel listings.

they show hardly any western conference teams (outside the central division and at min and at dal, the only teams not in the central division in the central time zone) at home. their production quality of the games themselves suck, you can’t see any other game information when the screen is all bugged out for programming not hockey related, and the only time they show hockey related programming is when a game is on.

i have no use for versus. i didn’t before hockey, i didn’t really during hockey (unless the avs were on) and frankly i would have liked to see this dispute last for another 6 months, to force the nhl off this channel and to force the channel out of business. its a bad channel of niche sports and doesn’t cover those sports very well.

the nhl needs to go to a network that will do them some justice, and forget about rights fees until they can get their own advertising rights house in order. i would rather hockey on a network like usa or tbs than on espn where they were a forgotten afterthought (if it makes any sense) when espn signed their nba deal or on that joke of a network in versus.

Vs. is actually following the ESPN model quite closely. Remember, ESPN used to be the network of strongman competitions, professional track and field and NFL films documentaries when it started, then only made its mark when it got rights to baseball and hockey. They also forced their way into the NFL by wanting to televise the draft, where as before nobody even considered that.

Vs. right now is in the bidding for every major sport, but they didn’t have the resources. Now, with Comcast’s backing, they can make a serious play for major sports. Once that happens, they will be moved up the dial as advertising demands increase.

But be careful what you wish for when it comes to channels. Hockey is a low-ratings sport. That’s the facts. No major network will want it without constantly trying to fuck with it to improve ratings … or flip to three hours of horse race previews. I appreciate Vs. very much during the playoffs because it’s non-stop hockey. I don’t want that to change. I don’t want more analysts who think it’s their job to convince non-hockey fans that hockey is a good sport like NBC does. I want Keith Jones and Brian Engblom, not Pierre McGwire.

If Vs. goes out and gets better programming, fine. But it will likely only come at the expense of their less-popular hockey coverage.

I don’t know…but everyone could do me a favor and start emailing Versus, asking when season 2 of “Sports Jobs” starts!

ESPNs Hockey Night. Cannot get enough of that theme song.