CSNbbs

Just wanted to follow up on a thread I posted over the summer when I mentioned how Empire was slowly going down the tubes. Well it's over. They will be showing reruns of crap until March 7th and then switch to being the NFL Network. 30 employees were let go. Empire (being on the dish) was really the only source for UB exposure outside of local Buffalo media. They were always good for showing a couple UB football games and basketball games each year. They would also have many UB features on the Empire Sports Report as well as UB coaches shows that reviewed game highlights.. In their heyday,,,,Empire would actually produce some of the events. In the last two years though, they only produced Sabres hockey games (plus the UB/NIU playoff game at Alumni). They also picked up the feed for UB games when someone else would produce it.
As an Out of town UB fan, they will definitely be missed. They were another outlet for MAC sports that's now gone. How many times will Fox Sportsnet show Buffalo games? I'm guessing not many. Definitely not football.

<a href='http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050120/1038271.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050...120/1038271.asp</a>

=>I remember going over to a friend house last year who had DirectTV to watch the UB-NIU first round MAC game televised on Empire Sports Network.

Weren't there crooks in charge of that network, cooking the books and shuffling money in weird ways between Empire, the Sabres, and the cable company they owned?

Damned shame. Empire had a lot of programming that will not get on the air now... and I'm not just talking the MAC. They did quite a bit of minor league hockey, baseball and soccer, and I think some MAAC games.

I'm surprised someone didn't step in and grab 'em... such as Tom Golisano (doesn't he own the Sabres now; what will *they* do?) or Frank DuRoss (who owns the Providence Bruins and the Rochester Rhinos, which he is trying to move into MLS).

It's a sad day. It makes me hate Time Warner even more for pulling Empire off of basic cable in Rochester and Syracuse, while they get YES, FSNY, and MSG. I hate NYC hegemony.