Ah well. Guess I get to save that $2 a month (or whatever) for awhile longer.

"Rogers are nowhere near bringing a dedicated TV channel to Canadian TV"

Tell me about it.  Their current "TV" offering delivers way too much radio.

Rogers' has a great chance to raise interest in the game, and in turn the Jays here, but apparently have very little interest in pursuing the opportunity.  It's very disappointing.

Yes.  This will be remembered the next time the club talks about how it is difficult to compete in the long-term with the Red Sox (the Yankees are, of course, in a whole other category).

Off Topic.. didn't know where else to post this:

Heh:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/the-worst-contract-in-baseball/

Cast your vote today!

Is the MLB Network not available from Rogers?  There are a lot of classic games that the MLB network plays in the offseason and I have had a chance to rewatch games from the 1989 ALCS against Oakland as well as the some of the 1992 and 1993 World Series runs (They have actually aired the whole series, it is just hard to time it through an entire weekend.  On Saturday, they are replaying a game from the 1985 ALCS when the Jays played KC.

Is the MLB Network not available from Rogers?

No, it isn't. And, it's a shame, because from everything I've heard it's been a successful venture and makes for good viewing.

Rogers is not, and never has been, a broadcaster. They don't know anything about it, have never done it successfully, and there's no reason to expect them to be good at it. There's no real indication that they have any actual interest in broadcasting. They like to own things, and make deals with them...

Rogers happens to own a number of broadcast properties. Which is unfortunate if you care about broadcasting in this country. These aren't the people to make it work.

And they also own a baseball team, don't they?

No MLB Network and ESPN. Can we please get rid of this Canadian Content roadblock? Let the viewers decide what they want to watch once you give them the option. I'm sick of all the non-stop hockey talk and would like to watch some baseball programs at night.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that it's hard for them to give the Blue Jay product away to local radio broadcasters, resulting in the virtual collapse of the once-extensive Jays' network of game broadcast stations. Or that the TV audience in the last decade has shrunk considerably. But no, it's probably just that they're too dumb or too greedy or maybe just too mean, or something else like that. No doubt there'll be lots of companies willing to step up and buy the broadcast rights from Rogers given how sterling an investment it is.

Also off topic, BP has a list of the best GMs (w/at lest 3 years on the job) of the 00s:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=9970

JP Riccardi ranks 7th on the BEST list.

The Jays rank as the 5th BEST run team during the 00s (including Ash's years).

The measure is PER—Payroll Efficiency Rating which takes into account how much a team spent to win and the team's local market.

The #1's GM: Billy Beane. Team: OAK. Not really a surprise there given the measure. Interesting article.

I saw that, christaylor.  I thought it was very interesting, although I think the metric needs some work.

Rogers is not, and never has been, a broadcaster. They don't know anything about it, have never done it successfully, and there's no reason to expect them to be good at it. There's no real indication that they have any actual interest in broadcasting. They like to own things, and make deals with them...

Right. But wouldn't they just be paying for content that was already broadcast on the original MLB network? And as far as Canadian content goes, if  Rogers gives me 24 hour coverage of the Big Ten conference...

Rogers/Jays behaviour as seeing the Jays as a national brand has been confusing. On one hand, making 140 broadcasts available to over 20 million people is significant. On the other, they wouldn't lower the cost of broadcasting rights to CBC (which is accessible to pretty much all Canadians), take no opportunities to capitalize on national fan support in Seattle and Minnesota, and know about hotpockets of baseball in Canada (Okotoks, Winnipeg, etc) without forming meaningful partnerships with these baseball communities. Beeston was crying poor when GM dropped its sponsorship with the Jays but it's very hard to feel sorry for them when they are given a great opportunity and decide to lay off the 60 people who might actually do something about it.