Courtesy St. Louis Post Dispatch

(October 30, 2009) We're living in an instant-gratification, video on-demand digital world in which consumers can pick from thousands of viewing options at the simple click of a button. Those with the proper equipment even can freeze the frame, rewind, then jump back to live TV on a whim.

But if you live in the St. Louis area and don't have the NFL's pay-package that shows all the Sunday afternoon games, the Fox network's antiquated policy of the way it handles blowout games sent you back to a bygone era last weekend, a time when there were just a handful of network-dictated viewing options.

The throwback uniforms are supposed to be on the players this season, but Fox put the throwback on local viewers as they returned to a period that predated DVRs, home computers, microwaves, push-button telephones and even VCRs.

FLEXING ITS MUSCLES

First, Fox flexed its muscles by removing the originally scheduled Atlanta-Dallas NFL game Sunday from the schedule in favor of the Chicago-Cincinnati contest. Although Cowboys-Falcons was the network's feature game nationally, the thinking evidently was that there's more interest here in the Bears.

That's debatable. But what isn't debatable is that local viewers were scalded when that game quickly deteriorated into a mongrel and Fox was unable to switch to a competitive contest.

Cincinnati led 31-3 at the half, leading viewers to expect a switch after intermission to the Cowboys and Falcons, who were involved in a 10-point game, or unbeaten New Orleans trailing at Miami.

But all those fans could do was develop a slow burn, as the rout increased to 38-3 then 45-3 as Fox forced KTVI to stay put.

Even Bengals-Bears play-by-play announcer Sam Rosen didn't try to hide things.

"This game got so lefthanded so fast,'' he said in the fourth quarter.

But Fox kept Channel 2 viewers on board to the end, a 45-10 massacre. The reason — money.

Fox typically puts the wheels in place to switch out of its lead game in each time block, the one going to the biggest audience, in case it's a blowout. In network jargon, it's called "flexing'' to a better contest.

But it doesn't do that with secondary contests because of cost. And Dallas-Atlanta was the "flex'' game in that time block.

"Technically we weren't capable to make the switch from the Bears game,'' Fox Sports vice president and spokesman Dan Bell said. "We were just technically capable to make the switch from the Atlanta-Dallas game in the event that was lopsided.''

But that wasn't the end of the folly for local viewers.

MORE MESS

When the blowout mercifully concluded, another aggravating situation occurred.

New Orleans was in the process of rallying from a 21-point deficit and was about to take the lead. But instead of being sent to that, local eyeballs were switched to the all-but-wrapped-up Dallas game. Viewers joined just in time to see the Cowboys kick a field goal that put them ahead 37-21 with about 2 minutes left.

Then Fox stayed put, showing the thrilling kneel-downs by Dallas' Tony Romo, before finally joining the best action of the day — the late stages of New Orleans' big comeback, although most of the coming back was done.

Again, that's how the "flex'' system works — it feeds off the main game.

The previous week, when the Patriots were on their way to a 59-0 rout of the Titans, CBS switched most of the audience — including St. Louis — to the close Jets-Bills game.

The result — a 14.2 rating locally for the final 75 minutes of that telecast. Compare that to the 11.2 figure the Bengals-Bears drew in St. Louis for their final 75 minutes. And the rating decreased for each 15-minute block in that period.

That's a 21-percent difference between the last 75 minutes of those games, and even more telling is that NFC games on Fox traditionally do much better in this market than AFC on CBS.

In this era, when the networks have billion-dollar contracts with the NFL and each tenth of a ratings point can affect the bottom line, fans expect at least a minimal amount of common sense. After all, fans who buy the satellite package can switch from game to game and while those who don't buy it don't deserve to see everything, they should at least have something better than this 1960s-esque setup. It needs to be retired with the 8-tracks and bouffant hairdos.

At least the network had the technology and budget to air the Bengals-Bears game in color.

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