Sorenson Guam, be fair to the CNMI

It was already frustrating for me watching TV over the holidays and the straw that broke the camel’s back was to see the ABC network being delayed two weeks before broadcasting certain shows and sports events in the CNMI but that was not the case in Guam. FYI Sorenson, most viewers in the CNMI associate Channel 7 with MCV that truly lives up to their slogan of being “unbeatable” when it comes to sports. But since Sorenson has taken over the broadcasting of ABC, which is being broadcasted from Power 99, Sorenson has taken full advantage of the ability to lower cost by degrading the quality of services being delivered to the CNMI. What is even more confusing is Sorenson broadcasts on Monday a one-week-and-a-day delay of some sports and two weeks on other programming—it’s ridiculous in this age of technology. Sorenson needs to know that your customers deserve better even if there is very little we can do about it due to the existing networking contracts. But I will be seeking the assistance of the FCC if nothing is done to correct this unfair treatment of viewers on the same network.

I think it is truly horrific that Sorenson is broadcasting things two weeks old and having two days of college sports in the CNMI—yes we are forced to watch college sports on Saturday and Sunday in the CNMI and we get the Sunday replay of sports on Mondays when everyone is at work! These are replays that could certainly be shown on Sunday a week later. I am a real pro-sports fan, which is a large portion of the viewers of channel 7 in the CNMI. I’m sure that I can speak for many of the other sports fans when I say we do not want to see two-week-old games, especially on a Monday! I’m sure many of your viewers would like to see some signs of normality in the broadcasting of professional sports on Sunday, even if it is a week delayed as it really isn’t Sunday for many of us sports fans if there are no pro-sports on TV!

We are also missing many live sports in the CNMI that are being shown in Guam, which is obviously not fair and maybe even wrong given it is the same network channel; I just wonder if this is an FCC violation. But just to share a good example: the CNMI did not get the great Georgia/Michigan State game live because only ABC had the rights, which made MCV helpless to broadcast this game, so why was it broadcasted in Guam and not in the CNMI? If the people in the CNMI are not doing the job then Sorenson should get someone who can—give me a call if you need someone in the CNMI to get the job done right. But if Sorenson is shaving the quality of services to the CNMI to save on cost it is not fair to your viewers that live in the same geographic region receiving the same broadcast. The CNMI should be receiving the same quality of services in the same time frame as Guam.

I was really surprised to learn that it was Sorenson behind this mess because I know they can do better than offer two-week-old broadcasting. I wonder what will their rival networks on the mainland say and do about this kind of broadcasting to U. S. viewers if they get a hold of this story? I had to write this letter, especially for the real sports fans, because someone needed to present this case in the court of public opinion, given the conditions. I truly believe the viewers in the CNMI are literally being screwed to a large degree and it really needs to be corrected. So please be fair to the CNMI and make the programming equal to Guam on the Sorenson network.