In this blog we predicted that this year’s tourney would be very exciting because every team has been beaten by a lower ranked or an unranked team. So far the prediction has been accurate (chest pumping time). But money has sneaked in again to the TV broadcast arena. We were watching the first round Houston-Northern Kentucky game and–like everybody else switching back and forth among the other channels. Did you notice how the actual game broadcast was about 10 minutes of playing time behind the actual game time? For example, we watched the game as it broke for commercial with 1:39 seconds remaining in the first half. So we switched to another game. This other game had the scroll at the top of the screen with the Houston-NKY game on it BUT IT SHOWED THAT THE GAME WAS ACTUALLY WELL INTO THE SECOND HALF. In other words, we thought we had been watching live action but, in reality, we were about 20 minutes behind the game. This allowed the network to air more commercials without missing any game minutes. The Federal Communications Commission had a rule that any pre-recorded broadcast had to be identified as such so you knew you were watching a recording. Even the golf broadcasts now hint when they show a replay of a spectacular golf shot. But the basketball announcers “played it straight”–no such disclosure. Watch this weekend and notice whether this practice continues. What it means to all viewers: games take much longer because networks want more ad money.
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