Pay Per View

I'd have to imagine the NFL is more successful than the NBA for at least one reason that seems silly, but shows the commercialism of the sport. For the most part, you can watch your local team over-the-air. You don't need cable TV. As long as you can get CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox, you're set. Every round of the NFL playoffs is on one of these channels (well, only two have deals with the NFL).

But the NBA? If you don't have cable, you miss a lot of games. The playoffs? You can't watch most of it without TNT. Only the finals are televised on one of the four channels. To be fair, the NBA playoffs last a long time, nearly two months, and to have prime time TV disrupted by playoffs for two months of the year, although great for exposure, it's not something the big four networks are prepared to do.

I haven't had cable in I don't know how long. A few years at least. I had cable from about 1991-1996. From then until about 2001, I didn't have cable. Then I had a year of it, then none since then. Of the fifteen years I've been in Maryland, I've had cable maybe 7 years, and the rest none. This means I rarely watch the NBA. Heck, it's not just the NBA, it's college ball too. You can hardly get that on local channels either. For some reason, NFL has managed to keep itself on free TV.

I used to think, due to the popularity of the NBA with African Americans, that this would cause an uproar. But, no, all this meant was that African Americans, like much of the public, shells out money for cable. Indeed, those who avoid cable often are highly educated folks who would prefer to read or watch DVDs or what-have-you. The average Joe is addicted to cable.

To be fair, educated folks do like specialty cable shows like The Discovery Channel, Food Network, Bravo, and so forth, even if the education level of some of these are somewhat marginal. For example, no station is prepared to dish out calculus and heavy physics. They have to aim at the armchair scientist/historian who is interested in the topics, but not so interested as to devote their attention and brainpower to it.

I know. The All-Star Game is one filled with offensive pyrotechnics. How else do you explain a half-time score like 79-59? I mean, that's almost a final score (well, circa the early 90s). But I suppose it has something more intriguing to watch than say the Pro Bowl for the NFL.

In any case, I find it odd that the NBA puts so much of its content on cable. Can't say I care for it.