FIRST on TV
 

Which would you rather see FIRST on?

i voted for ESPN.


wouldn't it be cool for them to say"for more log onto first.espn.com" :D :cool: :D

first.espn.com ....that sounds really cool

Disney: Younger viewers, greater chance of interest. Right?

that may be true, but ESPN has more viewers and you want to get out to all auidences...not just children

like those big time corporate sponsors. what 234 needs right now!!!!

ABC reaches more people than any of the others, with more diversity in the viewing audience. I don't watch espn that much, and when i do, its just glimpsing at soccer results. ABC and ABC Family reaches pretty much the entire world. It just seems smarter to me
~Bobb
Team 804

I voted for ABC.. you have to remember: How much of the core ESPN audience would watch a FIRST event when they could be watching BattleBots, or hockey, or football, or rugby, or so on..

ABC gets the whole family involved, and that is a good thing in the end.. Every TV station, with the possible exception of CBS, has a target audience of 18-24.. ABC targets programming for everyone, I believe the accurate range was something like 8-48 or something like that, I'm rounding.. Not many corporate bigwigs are in the 18-24 age range..

I'm being analytical again.. Bad me, bad..

ABC.....
 

I voted for ABC.....if u think about it.....ABC is HUGE. Plus you dont have to have cable television to get it so more people would have the chance to see it.

:)

ABC
 

I think that FIRST should be shown on ABC because every one with a TV gets it. I know for a fact that not to many people get NASA TV and people would get pissed if they went with ESPN. I wouldn't mind so much if it went to Disney, because I get the Disney Chanel, but many don't. So if FIRST goes anywhere, I say it should go to ABC.

The reason ESPN, ABC, and Disney Channel were the choices is because all three of them are all together in one company....

PBS...
 

You forgot PBS... The British version of Robot Wars was on PBS before any of the majors picked up on the robotics as a spectator sport. What about the web casts? They're not intened solely for FIRST people and the potential audience may not be as big as the networks, but they're global. While the major networks are tempting, don't forget that they are after market share (and advertising $$$). It makes crazy things happen in the college sports that are televised so dream, but be careful what you wish for.
(Hey.. will there be action figures of FIRST robots??? How about MENTOR action figures??? Cool!!!)


Steve Alaniz (MENTOR)


"... Why do they call it "prime time" when it's so second rate?" - Ted Forth

Unfortunately, ABC and ESPN and the Disney Channel would first have to want to broadcast FIRST. In this case, the networks are in control. I personally just hope a network picks up FIRST.

Matt

Re: ABC.....
 

I forgot about that. I guess channels like CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC, PBS, and UPN would be a better target for a FIRST broadcast.

same company
 

we do realize that disney operates 3 of those 4 channels right?

personally i'd be glad to see the competition broadcast on any channel, hasnt it been a few years since it has been? being on the news is great, but id like to see coverage like espn2's in '94

It used to be on ESPN
 

I voted for ABC for the simple reason that virtually everyone in the US and many in Canada can receive it. You don't need any of these 'optional at $40/month extra cost' services like cable or satellite dish to receive ABC.

It turns out that ESPN used to broadcast Nationals but has apparently lost interest. They had an hour broadcast in '96 to '98 and maybe some earlier years, but for whatever reason, these broadcasts stopped. The broadcasts were aired months after the competition, but it was really cool to see them if you were there. I suspect that maybe most of those who watched it were people who were there, which severely limits the audience size.

FIRST on TV
 

I think that the best station would be ABC. It is a free station available to all. If we had a choice, a PBS station would be another good choice too. But we do not, so I guess any station is good.



TEAM 88 MOE :)

Broadcast preferred over Cable
 

I agree with Moe. *DEFINITELY* ABC, if not a PBS channel (which surprisingly was not offered as an option).

Curiously, ABC was the ONLY open broadcast channel given in the survey. The rest are cable channels.

Showing the competitions on a broadcast station would give FIRST by far the widest potential exposure.

People are commenting on which cable channel more of <this> demographic watches. It's easy to forget a LOT of people still do not HAVE cable or satellite TV due to lack of availability, housing or community zoning rules against dishes, or the outrageous cost many monopoly providers charge. Many can't receive anything BUT broadcast TV.

For instance, *I* don't have either cable or a dish here. I only receive broadcast TV, but would definitely watch a FIRST competition if offered "on the REAL air".

It doesn't matter to me which broadcast station airs it, but ABC was the only survey choice. I would think PBS would be a natural match if the Disney empire doesn't want dibs on it.

- Keith
--
Keith McClary, Advisor
Ann Arbor MI Huron High Team 830 "Rat Pack"

The reason why all the channels that were listed were Disney woned because the Nat's happen AT Disney World! Duh! In no mind would anyother competeing station air something that is Disney, especially if you can get it on for little cost on ABC (their in a slump right now...). ESPN would be good, but ABC is more realistic and has a wider audience.

JosephM from Team 384 wrote:
> The reason why all the channels that were listed were Disney [owned is] because the Nat's happen AT Disney World! Duh!

<chuckle> Yea, I knew that! That's why I said "they'd have first FIRST dibs..." <grin>

However, if they DON'T want to broadcast it for SOME odd reason (gee, for the life of me I can't imagine why NOT after everything they spend putting us up in their facility), I still think PBS would be a natural.

IIRC, I thought PBS ran a mention of FIRST at least once before on something like Newton's Apple, Sci Am Frontiers, or the like, but I'm not sure. Anyone know about that?

BTW... Is FIRST media data contractually "wholly owned by Disney"? If not, has anyone in FIRST management talked to PBS lately about showing FIRST activities? Competing broadcast channels I can understand, but unless the Disney contract forbids it, I don't see why we shouldn't ALSO get at least SOME recognition on PBS from a show like Sci Am Frontiers.

- Keith
--
Keith McClary, Advisor
Ann Arbor MI Huron High Team 830 "Rat Pack"

Disney
 

The contractual question you asked was a good one. Yes Disney Jealously guards ANYTHING that goes on on it's grounds. PBS followed three teams last year and had to get special permission from Disney to film on Disney grounds. Including their tented parking lot.
PBS plans to release the film sometime in March, right in the middle of this year's competition. SET YOUR VCRs!



Best Wishes

Steve Alaniz



"Hey Sal, here's a restuarant that features a comic strip motif." - Ted Forth
"Forget it, I already feel like my life is a comic strip." - Sally Forth

NASA TV
 

So no one thinks that anyone gets NASA...

I DO....and I have cable TV....adelphia, we have two way cable modems at well...

But who cares when a regional competition is cut off half way for more pictures of the planet. We want ESPN or ABC!

FIRST is a sport but also a lerning experience
 

I Voted for ESPN because FIRST is the sport of engineering. But it would also be good on ABC so that more than the few people who know about it could learn about it. And it would be good on Disney because then the younger audience could grasp at the fun of FIRST.

I think that having it on ABC might not be the best choice. Even though most people would be able to watch it then, ABC could make it look tacky. I think ESPN would do the best at bringing out the exiting sports side of FIRST.

Don't have cable TV
 

I have a cable modem, but don't thinks it's worth the money (or the time) to have cable TV, so I chose ABC.

I'd like it to be on an educational channel like PBS or Discovery or whatever. ABC is generally good but, as has already been mentioned, would probably make it seem tacky. ESPN would seem sporty but would probably do it up all macho (a' la BattleBots), and that's kind of tacky as well. The Disney Channel would be a ridiculous nightmare for FIRST coverage; the tackiness level of Disney far exceeds both ESPN and ABC combined (at least neither of these show cartoons). If we're trying to reach as wide an audience as possible, however, ABC is probably the best bet, but I'd be happy if anybody picks it up at all.

I agree that PBS would probably do the best show, and I also agree that more people would see it on ABC. Wouldn't it be great to be featured on both?

I said Disney becausse it would be funny to watch and see those silly zoog cartoon characters talking about multipliers, zones, bully bots and engineering.

ABC or ESPN, because thay are boath so big, people would actually see us in action, and we would get more support.

But why cant we bee like the Olympics, a little on every channel

I voted for Disney because I don't get Nasa TV or Espn.

Made the paper, but snubbed by TV again
 

Well, after almost NINE MONTHS of working on them, I FINALLY got the Ann Arbor News (MI) to notice us!

On 2/6/02, the AA News ran a FULL PAGE, "Connections Section" (local happenings) PAGE ONE article the three local teams (rookie NASA/Pfizer/MDI/ACTI/Ann Arbor Huron HS 830, GM Powertrain/Willow Run HS 66, and Visteon/Ypsilanti HS 470).

During the CDI contest, we (830) had TWO "dog and pony" shows for them, where we finally got a photographer out. The first reporter we had didn't have the political connections to help us the first time around. BUT, she DID match me up with Marianne Rzepka, the Connections Editor.

With that personal connection, Marianne took notice of us. She was GREAT, and VERY thorough in her research. We talked numerous times, and she took the time to look up the game.pdf for this year, and talk with ALL of my references to the other teams in the area.

Her article talked both about FIRST and the CDI contest. They even included the FIRST definition in a bold "bubble", and THREE huge Team 830 build and demo photos in the article including one with our HP/Drivers/Bot, and a closeup of a driver with our team shirt on.

I now see that the online version of the article is already aged out and is gone. If we can get AANews permission, we'll try to put it on our website (once the public area is up and running... we only have the team's private area running now).
(Someone, please tell me who I should send a copy of the article to at FIRST for inclusion into the media kit.)

HINT: Whenever possible ENCOURAGE MEDIA PERSONNEL AND PHOTOGRAPHERS TO DRIVE YOUR ROBOT. Letting media people "behind the stick" gets THEM excited, and MUCH more motivated to work with you.

Well, IMO we're not even THAT far along yet...
We're still fighting to get the media to even NOTICE us.

Example: What really got to me was how we were snubbed by the Detroit area TV stations on the day of the Novi MI Remote Kickoff.

It was held at the Novi Expo Center. Blair Bowman, a REALLY great guy, is the owner of the center. He was cool enough to DONATE the use of one of the center's larger areas to us (AND set up a new FIRST Scholarship in his name as well!) I saw a TV truck from the local affiliate there, and thought: "Cool... It is about time they noticed FIRST!"

That afternoon, the stations ran "teasers" to "not miss the news as big things happened at the Novi Expo Center today"! I was excited. As I wasn't going to be around that evening, I set my VCR to catch it.

When I reviewed the tape, they even teased throughout the news broadcast itself, but still didn't say what was happening.

Then, at the very end of the broadcast, they had several MINUTES of RICHARD SIMMONS hopping around, and not us! (WHAT???) He apparently had his roadshow there that day, and had a few overweight people dancing around to music in one of the smaller areas separate from us. I had faintly heard the music from the common restroom area, and poked my head in to see a small aerobics class going on, but hadn't noticed him.

Now the Simmons event was NOTHING like what WE had going on! We had over 1000 people present !!! What got me was that even though the TV crew was RIGHT THERE, we had LOTS of activity, AND the OWNER of the facility was behind it, the TV stations STILL never even bothered to MENTION the kickoff or the FIRST contest at ALL on the air! :mad: Apparently, Simmons hopping around in a classroom was MUCH MORE newsworthy ITO of the station!!!

Moral: We all REALLY need some bigger PR campaigns working on the local media to convince them that this is an IMPORTANT, Newsworthy activity! This has got to be a concerted effort on all of our parts to educate our local areas. IMHO, we could really use the assistance of a political PR specialist firm or two here to start turning society's priorities around.

One win, one loss... Not too bad... :)

- Keith McClary, Advisor, Ann Arbor Huron HS Team 830 "Rat Pack"

Newspapers
 

Team 116 made the Washington Post and the Fairfax Journal.

Washington Post article

Fairfax Journal article

Unfortunately, these links don't include the photos of our team that were included with the original articles.

SO!

i voted for abc because it broadcasts everything and everyone watches it

Wow... way to dredge up a really old thread. Last post was February 02.

Zoog???? Anyway I would think that maybe discover, TLC, or The Science channel would pick it up.

I don't think Di$ney is going to show ANYTHING since Nats wearn't at Epcot. (Wich would have been the only reason to ever go to DZ World)

I chose ABC since thay are a antenna station and can be reached anywhere.

My personal prefrance would be FOX or NBC. (The war reallykilled ABC and CNN)

FOX Is the BEST!!!!!!!!!! :D

The spelling bee, Chess Championships, and Magic: The Gathering World Tourney are shown on ESPN, but we don't classify them as sports.

hockey is also show on ESPN...and I don't classify it as a sport...(right dj?). haha ;)

FYI All,
ABC, ESPN, and Disney are all the same corporation. They also own a number of radio stations and some theaters too.

You are absolutely right, but each network focuses toward a different age group with ABC focusing to the more general audience. Disney obviously focuses toward the wee ones and ESPN focuses toward the sports fans of any age.

Lets modify this thread and take it another direction:

Which type of network would FIRST fit with best?

1. The general basic channel that focuses on all age groups?

2. The channel that focuses on the young audience?

3. The channel that focuses on the sports enthusiast?

4. other

Why not cater to all of them? How about many shows that will cater to each taste. ESPN could have the competition aspect prominent in the shows, Disney Channel could have a more personal aspect to it, and ABC could have one where it's a mixture of robot building, competition, and learning.

Very early in this thread, I remember it being mentioned that PBS would be a good medium for stuff about FIRST. I think that still applies. They definitely cater to people of all ages, though they are not heavily into "sports" in the normal sense.

Where PBS tends to be different from all commercial media outlets, is that they don't worry about every show being something that will appeal to millions in order to make money. If they did need a mass market for every show, they wouldn't have shows on, say, competitive ballroom dancing, which I suspect would have a fairly small following. Individual PBS stations should be quite receptive to airing shows on FIRST, especially if the show was produced by someone else, like FIRST itself. Most of the stations are very willing to air non-controversial productions which they don't have to pay money for.

PBS does sound like it would be good. Of the ones in the poll ABC because it has shows that would work to show FIRST like the Wide world or Sports. Also in the new modification
1. The general basic channel that focuses on all age groups?
Would be the best.

What you really want to do is get an audience that cries for more. You are more likely to get that with an ESPN special or Discovery maybe even History channel. But I will tell you right now, they want it for free or as close as they can get it. We (as an international group) must get better attendance at events. We have to beat the bushes and get as many people as possible to competitions. Networks view us as special interest groups so we must compete with dog shows, outdoors shows, antique shows, etc., just to get an audience. Once you have an audience you still must get sponsors who see a value in the audience demographics that you attract.
I see a huge potential in the regional events and post season being able to attract more non-FIRST fans. It may mean that these events would have side attractions to get more audience. Things like a parts flea market (aka Ham fest, computer show) or a showplace for non competition robots or science fair. Ultimately, a sponsor could be attracted to the crowds who attend the competition. Think what it would have been like if we had filled the Reliant Center to the rafters.

Personally, I think that TechTV would be a great carrier for televised FIRST events. Look at what else they show - TechnoGames and Robot Wars are somewhat like FIRST, and they have covered FIRST before on their news show (TechLive). The only problem is that the channel isn't wide reaching yet. Still, it's a great fit.

Techtv not wide reaching? Haven't you heard of the Screen Savers effect? Whenever they show a site on the Screen Savers it is almost like a DNS attack.

Disney=Bill Nye (Bill Nye the Science Guy is a Disney/ABC Show)
Bill Nye=Battle Bots
Battle Bots=Evil Evil Evil (Don't make Dean cry!)

And since they've all been clearly linked together except NASA TV, maybe that's the way to go. Although, I have to admit, I've never watched NASA TV! (how do you get that anyway?)

Right now this channel is only available on Digital Cable or Satellite companies (for the most part) and many people don't even have that. Until Tech TV grows, it wont be suitable for getting FIRST message out to the public

NASA TV on the web
 

For more information on NASA TV, go here:
- http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

You can get schedules there. If you don't have cable, you can always download RealPlayer and watch it via the web.

- Keith