annoyedI have a large number of DishNetwork channels. I have a large number of DishNetwork channels because I want to watch all of the indoor volleyball the powers-that-be deign to broadcast.
Here's the thing. They don't deign very much.
The men's volleyball season is in full swing (pun unavoidable).
Let's see what we've got to watch? If we use the DishNetwork online
programming guide and search for things with "volleyball" in the
title airing between Monday 01/29 and Sunday 02/11, we come back
with one game: Pacific vs. BYU from 1999 (on BYUTV). If, instead,
we search by sport "VOLLEYBALL" rather than the word
"volleyball", we get one listing... U.C. Irvine vs. BYU presumably
from this season (also, on BYUTV). We also get a bunch of airings
of a single USC vs. UCLA game on a channel that is not available
in my area. (Let's avoid for the moment, the fact that searching
for the word "volleyball" does not turn up the events which have
"volleyball" in the title if those events are classified as sport
"VOLLEYBALL".)
Now, let's shift gears. Let's search for "poker". The first
thing we notice is that poker is not listed as a sport. We cannot
search for it as a sport. In fact, no poker events come up even
when you search for sport "OTHER". Fine. But, if you
search for events with "poker" in the title (and filter out the few
Food Network shows about
throwing a poker party) you have 163 choices between Monday 01/29
and Sunday 02/11.
I assert, without proof, that 163:1 (or even 163:2) does not fairly represent the demographics. I can watch a little poker on TV. But, do I need to see the 2004 World Series of Poker again? No. And, if a poker game were on opposite a volleyball game, I'd never know there was poker on the air (except in that abstract way like how I know that even though I shoulda been asleep long ago, someone's gonna see this post before sunrise).
Edit: Not proof, but evidence... there are 7434 hits for "volleyball" on YouTube. There are 10,441 hits for "poker" (of course "pokemon" seems to match "poker", too). This suggests a ratio of closer to 4:3 (or at least it would if one could get volleyball anywhere else).
