Is it just me or is ESPN making BASS suck?  I posted a topic early about how Bassmaster mag has changed and now that Insider is here, alot of the tips and whatnot are being published there, whereas BM mag is going towards more newsy type stuff.  NOW, I bring up bassmaster.com this morning and I see that unless I either (A) subscribe to ESPN's broadband service or ( have paid for the "new level" of membership offered through BASSInsider, I won't be able see the live weigh-ins on saturday or sunday.  Wow, what people won't do to get that extra dollar.

By the way, the topic name was supposed to be "BASS Insider (aka ESPN/"the man") strikes again" hahaha. that got messed up i reckon

they're getting too big.  Getting a very corporate personality.

This topic was brought up on another message board I visit from time to time.  I was thinking about upgrading to the Insider so I could watch those videos and they advertise they have extensive lake maps for lakes big and small all over the country.  I am glad I didn't.

A guy on the other board joined and apparently the movies are about 30 seconds to a minute long and the extensive lake maps aren't so extensive.  He wrote a letter to ESPN and they refunded him in full.  

I still enjoy getting Bassmaster Mag and Bass Times every month.  Aren't they about a $1 an issue if you are a member?  That's a pretty fair price IMO.

Yeah man, definitely a fair price.  I really don't know what the solution is to all this.  The problem is that all large corporations care about is making money....not providing a service.  It doesn't matter what they say, all that it really comes down to is making money, and as much of it as possible.  I hate that.  It's no longer about providing a good service to the customer.  I mean, they do have to provide something, or customers won't buy it (b/c of competition, ideally), but no one else is really established like ESPN is in the services they provide....plus, they own BASS, so no one else can give coverage of the events, etc.  In the end, ESPN wins.

I'm in on the strike.  I am already sitting out the BASS Opens for the way they are running things.

ESPN only wins if everyone follows.

It's the viewers and tournament fishermen that will ultimately decide whether or not ESPN wins.

I'm just getting into fishing tournaments I'm planning on fishing the BFL as a co-angler next year.

I'm also planning on fishing as many local tournys as I can.

I've looked into fishing the B.A.S.S. , but they only have one or two tournaments close to my home state.

So for me the choice is simple fish the BFL.  

haha......i had no idea that the rest of the topic name would not show up ("....strikes again!").  But how appropriate anyway! haha

I like BASS and like the mag.I've been a member for a while.I guess I just wanted it to remain what it had been in years past,an organization for the "regular" guy.I liked the "country boy" BASS.Not so crazy about the "Big City" BASS.

Yeah man, they're gettin uppity on us.

We will eventually see the FLW as the premier tour events. BASS will eventually be dropped by ESPN and then whats left will be sold to the FLW tour. ESPN is all about money and theres a lot more involved in our sport than money, when they figure this out its going to be too late.

I agree, ESPN is going in the wrong direction for me or at least going about it in the wrong way. I'm a life member and have been for almost 20 years so they could care less about me. It's like they have a bunch of corporate "SUITS" making decisions and they don't give a hoot about the small guys or even their own competetors! Look at what happened with the co-anglers! That was just plain stupic IMHO. I made the mistake of joining the "Insider" group and it won't happen again. You basically get all the same info in BassMaster Mag and Bass Times with the exception of their miserly videos. What  a joke! I hope the PAA gets it's act together and combats these changes so ESPN sells out and goes  back to the TV portion of things. I need to figure out how to contact them and drop the Insider when I have time.

what did ESPN do w/ the co-anglers? i didn't know about that.

I think G man is referring to the weigh in for this season where they get weight from their pros. A co angler can go without catching a single fish and win an event this year.