Why we left - the background . . .
We frankly would have liked to stay at 247. Our last three years OUInsider experienced explosive growth, (tops in the industry), and we were happy where we were. but our 247 affiliate agreement was expiring January 1.
We began discussing our renewal with CBS/Viacom in October, it was obvious to us then that the direction of the company was going to change under the ownership of Viacom.
CBS/Viacom wanted us to jump through hoops to remain an affiliate, under 'revised' terms; and frankly we didn’t fit their business plan, (they do not want to have any publishers owning a 247 site, and we were one of only a handful of 247 sites out of 105 that were publisher owned).
On the other hand Rivals pursued us hard and wanted our team to replace ‘Scoop’ when their contract expired May 1.
Why we didn't announce our move . . .
We wanted to, but our contract stated that we could not say anything before 11 pm Sunday. (I believe that Scoop was under similar restrictions).
What about our subscribers who had paid?
This was a question that we all had to address. From our end, Rivals agreed to honor all remaining time on 247 subs. This would insure that no OUInsider customer would lose anything.
How long will the transition process take?
We hope we can have everyone who chooses to follow us over in 30 days. Past that date we'll still reach out to those who haven't made it.
Technically, Brandon and Parker are in charge now, but after 25 years as Publisher I still have more than a casual interest in OUInsider and our long time customers.
I'll still be around -- but taking a less active role under the direction of Brandon and Parker.
Brian Bishop
former OUInsider Publisher 1998 - 2023
We frankly would have liked to stay at 247. Our last three years OUInsider experienced explosive growth, (tops in the industry), and we were happy where we were. but our 247 affiliate agreement was expiring January 1.
We began discussing our renewal with CBS/Viacom in October, it was obvious to us then that the direction of the company was going to change under the ownership of Viacom.
CBS/Viacom wanted us to jump through hoops to remain an affiliate, under 'revised' terms; and frankly we didn’t fit their business plan, (they do not want to have any publishers owning a 247 site, and we were one of only a handful of 247 sites out of 105 that were publisher owned).
On the other hand Rivals pursued us hard and wanted our team to replace ‘Scoop’ when their contract expired May 1.
Why we didn't announce our move . . .
We wanted to, but our contract stated that we could not say anything before 11 pm Sunday. (I believe that Scoop was under similar restrictions).
What about our subscribers who had paid?
This was a question that we all had to address. From our end, Rivals agreed to honor all remaining time on 247 subs. This would insure that no OUInsider customer would lose anything.
How long will the transition process take?
We hope we can have everyone who chooses to follow us over in 30 days. Past that date we'll still reach out to those who haven't made it.
Technically, Brandon and Parker are in charge now, but after 25 years as Publisher I still have more than a casual interest in OUInsider and our long time customers.
I'll still be around -- but taking a less active role under the direction of Brandon and Parker.
Brian Bishop
former OUInsider Publisher 1998 - 2023
