Poll: Do you know what channel NBC Sports Network is?
Another conversation about NBC Sports Network developed on the ol' Twitter timeline today after the channel's ratings for the season opening Formula One race in Australia were revealed. F1 is one of NBCSN's flagship sports and a new, key acquisition, but the ratings tell an all too familiar story. Thanks to SBJ's John Ourand and Austin Karp, here are the viewership numbers from this year's race compared to last year's coverage on Speed...
2012 (Speed): 314k live viewers, 204k on replay = 518k total viewers
2013 (NBCSN): 124k live viewers, 138k on replay = 262k total viewers
The audience from last year's Australian GP on Speed was cut in half with its move to NBC Sports Network. Just 50.5% of viewers made the move from Speed to NBCSN. That's an astonishing figure.
I could understand some drop because of the switch from a motorsports channel to a general sports network and F1/motorsports fans needing more time to find it... but a 50% year-to-year drop is alarming. If that trend continues, it's a worrying sign for the overall footprint of NBC Sports Network.
The ratings brought up the age old question once again - are sports fans even aware of NBCSN's existence? Can they even find it on their program guide? How much of an awareness problem does NBCSN have more than a year after its rebranding from Versus?
So let's stop all the speculation once and all.
Do you know what channel NBC Sports Network is?
@stageleftphoto Wow, that's pretty sad! I thought people were already fearing those ratings since its not part of all Basic cable offers?
SPEED is channel 77 while NBCSN is channel 75 on my local cable company, both are part of the "Basic+" tier of channels that has like 80 total channels (basically it's the 2nd tier, but it's the tier that most people have because the 1st tier only has the local channels)
It was very easy to find, considering its constantly mentioned during regular NBC sports coverage on NBC. Not only that I'm also a big Tour de France fan and cycling in general fan, so NBC Sports is a channel I check several times a day.
Nope. The reason why? The middle tier of programming on DISH doesn't offer NBCSN. Sorry, but I'm not ponying up an extra $20/mo for (literally) the only channel I'd watch on the top tier.
Yeah I know what channel it is but my cable provider recently dropped it because it is "subscription only" now
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How difficult is it to search one's cable provider for the channel and then memorize 3 measly digits? Eeesh.
i watch almost everything on nbcsn (well, except outdoor shows). nhl, f1, indycar, mls, college sports, even cycling. i just hope they somehow manage to grab the rights to nascar. that will give them huge ratings
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To be fair, this question should be asked to the average fan, not to people like us who enjoy following sports media and knows all the ins and outs of it.
Yes I do its 1034 on CoxHD Hampton Roads and I think its pretty decent channel with with high potential but desperately needs more major sports rights
@awfulannouncing Yes..both the current channel 220) and the old one...DirecTV...they group a lot of the sports channels in the same spot
@awfulannouncing Yes, 267. Wait, 269. Yeah, 269. That's it. I think. No, maybe it is 267. Definitely 267. 75% sure.
@awfulannouncing 806 on charter in Birmingham, al. Now if they'd only carry more red wings games.
@awfulannouncing 1640 U-Verse HD I watch it more than ESPN anymore. Can't stand what @SportsCenter has become. Also, @dpshow every morn.
@awfulannouncing If it wasn't for @dpshow not only would I not know what channel it was, I wouldn't even know my cable system carried it.
@awfulannouncing its the old versus channel. It's near the ESPNs. They show hockey and the dp show right ?
I wonder what the ratings for the Crossover have been. I liked NBCSports Talk a lot better than this Crossover show. It's like Entertainment Tonight but with some sports thrown in. Crossover is awful.
NBC needs more of a reason for people to tune in. Still to many outdoor life shows and not enough original content and good live sports.
I admit that I have it on my Direct TV favorite Channel list for instant access...I can't tell you what the channel number is though
34 here lol...and NBC Sports has the one up on SPEED last year, they're showing all races live, while FOX/SPEED put 4 races on tape delay so they could fill their Sunday afternoon time slot(s) in the summer, which is a disgrace to F1
People will know the channel once the English Premiere League starts in August when the new TV deal kicks in.
