The network would carry the season opener between the Brewers and the Oakland Athletics—part of a slate of 67 baseball contests—as well as a Bucks game two days later; in addition, the network trumpeted that it lined up 40 Wisconsin Badgers hockey and basketball games (football telecasts were not an immediate possibility due to a then-pending Supreme Court case and the team being on probation for the 1984 season[5]), 10 Marquette University athletic events (primarily basketball), and National Hockey League coverage.
[11][12] Some systems, such as Group W Cable in La Crosse[5] (which ultimately changed its mind[13]) and Teltron in Wausau and Stevens Point, did not add Sportsvue typically because the costs were too expensive or their systems required technical rebuilding to have the channel capacity needed to add the new service; Teltron had capacity for just two premium channels, space already taken up by HBO and Cinemax.
As time went on, low uptake rates prompted additional cable providers that had been considering carriage of Sportsvue to hold off, like Warner Amex in Neenah.
[18] In other areas, such as Eau Claire (served by Wisconsin CATV and with split allegiances with the closer rival Minnesota Twins) interest was lower than the cable company needed to see to make money on the necessary investment; a Wisconsin CATV official warned that due to the number of subscribers Sportsvue needed to break even, "we don't know if that channel is going to make it".
On February 2, Sportsvue announced that it would cease operations after that night's Bucks game against the Portland Trail Blazers, citing the low subscriber count.
[23] The channel had lost $2 million in its 10 months of operation;[24] Bucks owner Fitzgerald said the team had "taken a bath" on its investment in cable sports.
[26] In the wake of the closure of Sportsvue, Bucks management said that the team would have to take a "hard look at the future"[23] and Fitzgerald noted that other cities were already showing interest in buying the franchise.
[28] Brewers owner Bud Selig blamed larger-market teams and the 'territory invasion' hastened by superstations for the failure of Sportsvue.