Thursday, December 08, 2011

The BTN Apology

As pointed out by a number of our readers, the BTN has an apology on their site, though you have to search for it. 

If you go to About Us and then Contact Us, one of the drop-down choices is about the Purdue/Western Michigan game. When you select that, you get the following mea culpa:

"We sincerely apologize for our technical difficulties during tonight's Purdue-Western Carolina game. We experienced a transmission failure that prevented us from being able to carry the Purdue game. We recognize that it is completely unacceptable and we will do everything necessary to prevent this from happening again."

I attempted to send a note regarding Hall's attitude through this, including the BS address, etc., but as another reader pointed out, it won't let you complete it. Nicely done, BTN. 

24 comments:

Markag said...

Last year when the BTN stopped broadcasting a the Purdue football game (I think they were playing Wisconsin) with about 4 minutes still left to play, I contacted them to share my opion. I got a response basically saying they cut coverage because the game was not exciting (I believe the actuall wording was "out of reach for Purdue") and there were other games on that fans would enjoy more. I asked what was the point of having alternate channels if the same game was being played on all of them. I received no further response from BTN.

Anonymous said...

The technical difficulties don't bother me that much. It's rare, but those things happen. It would have been nice to feel like BTN was actually working to fix the problem, but I suppose that's being greedy. What really pissed me off was that there wasn't even a crew on site in West Lafayette to call the game. That is such a cheap-ass, shitty move by a network that brought in hundreds of millions of dollars last year. It's inexcusable.

J Money said...

That's exactly right, Hank... if you have a team on site then technical issues can be overcome. But they chose to roll the dice and it burned them.

A contact at BTN told me that they know "it's something Purdue fans will never forget," which I actually see as a dig. But yeah, we won't forget it and I don't mind that.

Espn8theocho said...

I actually left them 3 messages from the contact us page. I'm sure I won't hear back from them but I let them know my thoughts anyway. Could they have done a little research and posted a legitimate link to the radio station? Could they have had the score in the ticker? Could they have done anything at all to make it look like they really cared? Quote from H&R post. "Is the per diem too high in West Lafayette?" Made me chuckle anyhow.

Espn8theocho said...

Another thing before I quit ranting. You have to search for that apology. If you click on the Purdue tab under teams, their apology is no where to be found. I was excited when I got off of work today that they had the replay of the game on BTN. Only when I tuned into the channel, it was the Purdue-Ohio State football game. I would rather listen to the terrible broadcasters from the beginning of the season then watch Purdue losing to Iowa in the Journey commercials and the Ohio state Michigan rivalry on Icons. *deep breath

CaryNW87 said...

We beat Western Carolina by 5. We have bigger issues than the B1G network.

Let it go.

BoilerRick said...

BTN cost me the remote. My wife and daughter wanted to watch X Factor and that wasn't happening with the Boilers on. Once they switched to icon (and not even a Purude icon) I lost

Espn8theocho said...

I agree about the issues the bball team has, but I pay a lot of money for a sports package that has the BTN on it. I also subscribe here and there to watch un-aired games. This is a business mistake. Not a personal attack on anyone. If you are at Purdue you are around the school it's easy to overlook. But as a consumer and alumni currently living in the South, I am very disappointed.

NotMattPainter said...

Why are you guys blocking me on Twitter? Where's the love?

NotMattPainter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
J Money said...

Hey Cary, is it cool that we post an opinion on our Purdue opinion site about an issue that infuriated thousands of Purdue fans?

Cool, thanks!

J Money said...

FakeMattPainter -- we're not blocking you to my knowledge, but we also don't approve of your account. You're profane and unfunny. Plus, a parody of a guy like Matt Painter doesn't really work.

Hey, you asked.

jbrunner said...

CaryNW87- Take a deep breath and save the Danny Hope treatment for a bad coach such as...I don't know...Danny Hope.

CaryNW87 said...

J -

Absolutely. Let's discuss it some more. It's fascinating:

"BTN sucks."

"Yeah, and they didn't even apologize."

"Yes, they did, it's posted on their site."

"Hey I was just there and read the apology, but they don't give me anyplace to bitch some more."

"You can bitch some more right here."

"Thanks. BTN sucks, they should apologize."

"I just googled 'BTN' and all I could find is their lousy site."

"And I googled 'apology' and BTN didn't come up once!"

"Yeah, they screwed up big time. Where can I complain?"

"We've all been complaining here. You can join in if you want..."

"Okay. BTN sucks. They should apologize."



Riveting.

CaryNW87 said...

jbrunner

I mentioned the coach?

Espn8theocho said...

There is a difference between complaining and constructive (albeit brutal) criticism. There was a host of things that could have been done to allow some sort of alternate following of the game. The least of which could have been a ticker with time/score. I sent BTN a list. I'm still awaiting an appreciative email.

Daniel Kirkdorffer said...

I sent multiple comments through their Contact Us form, and got multiple replies that all read the same:

We sincerely apologize, especially to Purdue fans, for our technical difficulties in the Purdue-Western Carolina game last night. We experienced a transmission failure that prevented us from being able to televise the game. We are doing everything necessary to prevent this from ever happening again.

Over the past two years, we have developed a way using new technology to produce many Olympic sports events from our control room in Chicago. It has proved to be a fantastic way to cost-efficiently increase the number of televised games and reduce the number of potential streaming games that would likely otherwise only be available via BTN.com. In light of this success, we have used this method to produce a limited number of non-conference basketball games against lesser opponents and increase our overall number of televised men’s basketball games in 2011-12.

We have reinvested that cost savings elsewhere to provide greater resources for more high-profile events such as conference basketball games and to hire talent such as Keith Jackson for Big Ten Icons and Gus Johnson.

From a production quality standpoint, we have been very pleased with these control room events. These events are professionally shot, announced, produced and directed and have nearly all of the same capabilities as a standard event and the overall quality is approximately the same.

As with any new technology, there are potential unexpected issues. Last night, we experienced a major on-air technical difficulty for the first time after having produced many events in this fashion. It couldn’t have come at a more unfortunate time. Again, we sincerely apologize and are committed to getting it right for every future production.

Sincerely,
Big Ten Network

Purdue Matt said...

The BTN deserves all the flack they can handle for this debacle. And make no mistake, it was a debacle. They don't send a crew to WL, don't have audio, don't have video, and even don't have a gamecast. Instead they show a Shembechler ICONS show and your studio host makes a snide remark at halftime that their incompetence is doing Purdue fans a favor. No, doing your job with professionalism wouldn't even be a favor, it is expected. Bush league all the way around.

NotMattPainter said...

Didn't say you guys had to follow me.

CaryNW87 said...

In the mean time...

- Ross has been suspended

- Nord was interviewed for a HC job

- Purdue might be back on Kiel's radar

- Burke gave Hope a positive review

- Lewis Jackson has back spasms


Just sayin'.

boilerdowd said...

Ross has been suspended from what? Hope says he can still play in the bowl if he gets a few things done.

We addressed Nord's situation on Monday.

Kiel still doesn't list Purdue in his top-5.

Burke's review was lip service...there's no news there.

LewJack is a tough SOB...always has been.

It sounds like you don't like what we're doing on the site- if that's the case, don't visit...your life might be more enjoyable.

J Money said...

Cary --

Dude, how about YOU let it go? We talked about the BTN mess in the game write-up, which is more than warranted, whether you like it or not.

Then I posted about the BTN's apology, which I felt was the right thing to do since they apologized and I had ripped them so badly the night before.

And that was it. TWO posts where it was even mentioned. So lighten up, Francis.

Sorry you don't approve.

boilerdowd said...

Whether or not he approves, every other Purdue fan I've talked to is still pretty pissed about it.

Daniel Kirkdorffer said...

And surely we're all capable of multiple thoughts and concerns at once.