No Packers on FOX UP....

[MetalUpYourAss1973]

FOX UP is choosing to broadcast the Lions' game over the Packers' game for the first time that I can remember. Now I know the Lions deserve praise this year and will win the division for the first time since Jesus was a child, HOWEVER, FOX UP is supposed to be a Packers' station as they broadcast various shows relating to the team as well as "Family Night" during training camp. There should be no reason to SNUB the Packers because of this. I miss the days when we had FOX-11 from Green Bay and FOX-33 from Traverse City in order to handle both teams locally.

[ftballfan]

This might be the first time this has happened since WMQF was the FOX affiliate (or maybe the first couple of years of WLUC-DT2 being FOX before the grandfather clause allowing WLUK to be seen on cable expired)

[Taco]

Very interesting. However, the Lions are a Michigan team and we are in Michigan, albeit the western UP is a long ways from Detroit and closer to Green Bay.

[MetalUpYourAss1973]

I just don't remember a time that you couldn't watch the Packers around here due to there not being a viewable station around here to do so, and I've been following them to some degree since 1986. I just hope it doesn't become a situation now where FOX UP is going to pick and choose which team they want to follow rather than just defaulting to the Packers like they should and have always done.

I remember the short life of WMQF-19 too. They showed Lions games and half the time they couldn't get the network feed of the game to work. They had NO local presence whatsoever.

[Taco]

It makes sense to have the Packers air in the western UP. Though I am kinda surprised that team DMA's allow this. I would be curious if NFL TV blacks out Packers games if they are considered to be the "local team" in that market.

[rugratsonline]

I remember the short life of WMQF-19 too. They showed Lions games and half the time they couldn't get the network feed of the game to work. They had NO local presence whatsoever.

Which was typical of stations owned by Equity Media Holdings, in which everything ran out of Little Rock and transmitted to the transmitters via satellite, with not even a local sales office. The company went bankrupt in 2009, with many of its stations sold off. One enduring legacy was Retro TV, which is still in operation today under the ownership of Get After It Media (formerly Luken Communications, which acquired Retro TV and some of Equity's LPTVs).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equity_Media_Holdings

[MasterB]

I know Western UP is Packer country that is surprising that they aired the Lions game over the Packers, I know if I lived in the Western UP I'd be happy that they aired the Lions game over the Packers. This year seems that the local CBS WWMT & WXMI Fox17 haven't aired all that many Bear games as they always seem to air them if the Lions were on a bye or played in primetime or if one of them was on CBS or Fox at the same time.

I'm happy that the Detroit Lions finally won the NFC North been 30 years the last time that the Lions won a division title one year before Fox got the NFC package.

[Jason Kragt]

I can remember an almost opposite situation happened quite a while ago. I think it was back when TV-6 Marquette was CBS and CBS carried the NFC games. The Lions game was running long and the game was going to be decided in the last couple of minutes... but it was time for the Packers game to start! WLUC switched to the Packers before the Lions ended. There were lots of downstate Lions fans at Michigan Tech that were pretty upset.