17 Blue Jays games will be radio only

(Globe & Mail): "Citing declining sales, the CBC has pulled out as a carrier of Toronto Blue Jays telecasts.

• Scott Moore, the head of CBC Sports, said yesterday a drop in revenue, coupled with the cost of TV rights, knocked the Jays out of the box. Another factor is the

• CBC's inability, as a broadcaster, to supplement ad revenue with
• revenue from cable companies.

Cable channels, such as TSN and Rogers Sportsnet, are paid by cable distributors for carrying their channels. Broadcasters are not....

Federal broadcasting regulations permit cable channels to charge distributors for carriage. That

• enables sports channels to overpay for rights and make up the difference with revenue paid by the cable companies.

Even in good times, Moore said, it is difficult to get top ad revenue for Jays telecasts when three networks — Sportsnet and TSN in addition to the CBC — are competing for the same dollar. And in this economic climate, advertisers have retrenched....

• The Jays were demanding the same fee, about $150,000 a game, from all networks. Combined with production costs of about $50,000, the total expenditure approaches $200,000."...

(Blue Jays interim CEO Paul) Beeston said 145 of the Jays' 162 games will be televised, 125 on Sportsnet, which is owned by Jays proprietor Rogers Communications, and 20 on TSN."...

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