CBS Drops The Ball On Billy Walters Sports Betting Piece

CBS has dropped the ball in its upcoming segment this Sunday on "60 Minutes" about professional sports bettor Billy Walters.

The network has decided to air the piece at the worst possible time.

That's because the people who would be most interested in watching a segment on sports betting--sports fans--will be watching the NFL playoffs at that time.

"60 Minutes" airs from 7-8 p.m. Sunday on the East Coast of the USA, the time zone where most of the nation's population is.

This Sunday's NFL playoff game between the New England Patriots and the New York Jets is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. on rival network FOX.

That means that even if the Walters piece airs last on Sunday's edition of "60 Minutes," it will likely air head-to-head against the end of the Pats-Jets clash, which should run at least three and a half hours.

So those most interested in viewing the piece will be the least likely to do so.

Yes, "60 Minutes" will then air three hours later for the West Coast, and there won't be any competition from the NFL then, but the damage will have been done--more than half of the USA resides in the Eastern Time Zone and many will have missed the segment.

What's most surprising about this whole mess is not that it's happening, but that it actually happened before and CBS didn't learn its lesson and is now repeating its mistake.

In January of 2001, "60 Minutes" aired a segment on Internet bookie Jay Cohen and his illegal company, World Sports Exchange (www.wsex.com).

On the East Coast, that piece also ran against an NFL playoff game, resulting in most sports fans in the East never seeing the segment.

By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
tomsomach@yahoo.com