Colorado Mammoth Message Board

Steve,
Can you elaborate on why the Mammoth do not have television coverage for every game? With KSE owning Altitude I would think that we'd see every home game at least. Obviously with the games on Vs. Altitude can't show those right off, but I'm more referring to the game against Edmonton at home on Feb 3rd.

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Mammoth Hooligan

Just to go over the remaining Mammoth schedule (games on Altitude mean no Nuggets or Avalanche):

3/17 @Toronto, both Nuggets & Avalanche play, no TV
3/24 @Buffalo, Altitude
3/30 Arizona, Nuggets play, Altitude 2
3/31 @Minnesota, Avalanche play, was Versus now no TV
4/12 San Jose, Altitude
4/13 @San Jose, Nuggets play, no TV

So, one could argue that there are two games that could still be on Altitude 2: 3/31 and 4/13.

Come to think of it, I bet it really comes down to whether there's a broadcast from the home team. Because when we watched the @Portland game, it was Portland's broadcast.

I am pretty sure all the home games we televised. That being said, there are only 2 away games not being shown (3 including the Minn game that got dropped from VS). As for the away games I would say alot of that has to do with feed. If Altitude can not get a feed from the local broadcast the game will not be shown. The production costs would be waaaaay to high to go to a visiting stadium and set up shop. I say count your blessings that we have what we do now. If the ratings are high TV coverage will only get better just like thus year compared to last.

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No one's taller than
the last man standing.

As with everything else, there is always other things to consider below the surface. Television is no exception.

There are several different ways for the Mammoth games to appear on television. Altitude can produce them and air them on Altitude or Altitude 2, Versus can air the games that the Mammoth produces for them, or we can take a feed from an opponent that may be producing the game to air it on Alt or Atl2.

Although owned by the same owner, Altitude is a separate entity. We contract with them to grant them our broadcast rights, they budget to produce 8 games regular season games and 2 playoff games. It is their responsiblity then to generate enough revenue to cover the costs of production. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It is a financial equation.

This may go without saying but if we choose to produce road games they are far more expensive than home games if there is no local broadcast. (see Buffalo game info below). Away games cost more because of travel and lodging for directors, producers and talent, and also because of the transmission costs among other technical charges. Usually you contract with local area contractors for production trucks, camera men, etc. so that doesn't cost any more than it would at home. Typically a home game production costs about $20,000.

Within that budget there are opportunities to create trades with other teams or networks that are producing television games that Altitude is not. IE. Portland produced the Mammoth game in Portland and we produced the Portland game in Denver. This is called a recipricol, when this situation exists we take the feed from their production and they take ours. It is a bonus for both teams because all you have to pay for is the transmission from one city to the other and clear the time on the respective networks. This allows us to add games without adding significant costs.

Clearing time on Altitude has become an issue as well this season, chances are if we are at home, one of the other two major league properties are on the road playing. So scheduling around Avs and Nuggets is always a challenge. Not every game can be shown.

We have tried to produce more road games so that our fans in town can follow the team on the road. Again we are at the mercy of the schedules, and sometimes the opposing buildings and their broadcast agreements. Take for example Toronto and Buffalo, Toronto produces all their games and we can acquire their broadcast but only on tape delay because of the Altitude schedule and Buffalo we are actually sending an Altitude crew to produce that game live for the Denver audience.

The Versus broadcasts are contingent upon the home team contracting with the league to produce the games, this is why you see different broadcast teams in each town. The Versus broadcasts for Mammoth games are always done by the Altitude crew in Denver. When we go on the road they are done by the home team production group, whomever that may be.

But the real answer to your question is not every game is shown because of two reasons, budgetary and scheduling. I guess that dictates a great deal of things but very evident in television. We have worked very diligently with Altitude to provide as extensive a broadcast schedule as possible, and I think we have done a pretty good job.

One day I hope that we can have all our games broadcast both home and away. Right now I would like all of our fans to be able to see us on the road but it doesn't always work out that way.

Your comments on Altitude television broadcasts of Mammoth games are always welcome and appreciated at programming@altitude.tv

Sorry for the very long answer to a simple question, but I try to give a little more insight into how everything works from the inside.

Thanks for the questions.

SG

Steve,
Actually thank you for the long answer as I believe it was much more appreciated. Obviously the Mammoth have to contend with the Av's and the Nuggets for air time, but I wasn't even thinking about production cost. This also explains why we had to cancel the final game of the season in order to show the playoff game last year (or the year before).
Thank you again for the answer.

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Mammoth Hooligan