Sports Blackout Craziness

[Greenwood Luke]

Out of curiosity, what is keeping you with Dish at this point? Obviously, you're a sports fan, and enjoy watching your home teams in baseball and hockey, and Dish refuses to carry the network(s) that have most of the games. You mentioned having been a customer for over two years, so you're probably out of contract and could cancel tomorrow with no penalty. Is it that cable and fios aren't available in your area, and you don't have the correct line of site to switch to Directv? In your situation, if I had any other option, I'd be gone.

I have two EHDs with probably a couple of hundred of hours of programming that I don't want to lose. I've yet to hear of anyone offering Conversion Services for Dish EHD's over to other formats. I finally hit the end of contract in early March. If it weren't for the EHD's I'd be gone then.

Luke in Greenwood Lake, NY

 

[HanoverPretzel]

I had to watch the whole Bruins-Caps game including OT then also watch the Bruins-Caps post game wrap up while missing over 15 mins of the 1st period before they switched over to the Blackhawks game. NBC sports can kiss my @ss.​

As a Caps fan, I also wish they had switched over to the Blackhawks game. Just kidding, I would have been infuriated, but I wasn't really happy seeing the Caps lose like 10 seconds into overtime either. Holtby had been playing such an incredible game to that point...

Anyhow, more directly to the topic at hand, I've always wondered why, when there are nationally televised games back to back, be they NHL playoff games, NFL regular season games, or whatever, they can't simply delay the start of the second game until the first game is over. I know it would be a slight inconvenience for the fans who are physically at the arena or stadium the second game is being played in, but I don't think it'd be so bad given that modern sports facilities all have giant television screens (The Ravens, for example, have two 30x100 foot screens, one in each endzone) in them now, and they could simply put the feed of the end of the first game up on the big screen to keep the fans in the stands entertained until it is over and time to drop the puck (or kickoff the football or whatever) of the game they're there to see live. Plus, so many more fans watch on television than the number of fans actually in the stands, that one would think television concerns would be considered more pressing than a slight inconvenience for the people attending live (Who'd only experience a small delay and could be entertained with the first game on the big screen).

That isn't really anything Dish can do anything about. Just an idea for the leagues or for the networks themselves.

 

[GoalieEd]

....l.Who'd only experience a small delay and could be entertained with the first game on the big screen).

That isn't really anything Dish can do anything about. Just an idea for the leagues or for the networks themselves.

Problem with that is a NHL playoff game could go for hours longer.. I remember a flyers game in the 90's taking about 4 extra periods to resolve.

 

[Mr Tony]

I had to watch the whole Bruins-Caps game including OT then also watch the Bruins-Caps post game wrap up while missing over 15 mins of the 1st period before they switched over to the Blackhawks game. NBC sports can kiss my @ss.​

Blame Dish for not having the NBC Sports Alt feed active. DIrectv does and I have yet to miss any of a late game yet
Alt feed starts on time
Main feed joins in whenever

 

[HanoverPretzel]

Problem with that is a NHL playoff game could go for hours longer.. I remember a flyers game in the 90's taking about 4 extra periods to resolve.

Personally, I'd prefer to just keep the regular season format of a 5 minute 4 on 4 sudden death OT immediately following the third period, and then going to a shootout. Just do the same thing in the playoffs. I know, I know, I just heard a collective howl of hockey traditionalists around the world reading this post. But a 5 or 6 hour hockey game where they just keep tacking on full 20 minute overtime periods isn't really my idea of a good time. And I really like hockey. I just like my hockey in under 3 hour chunks. At some point, if things are still tied, make the rules favor getting a resolution to things and letting the fans turn off their television sets.

I'm surprised the players union hasn't started raising a fuss about some of these playoff games that go to a 5th period yet. I've seen players on the bench keeled over and sucking wind unable to catch a breath. At some point, someone's going to pass out or have a heart attack or something.

 

[HanoverPretzel]

your a hockey fan yet you wanna see game end in shootout? are you deranged?

Nah, just not the type of guy who goes around with the crowd on stuff. I make up my own mind. And I've always liked shootouts- I find them exciting, and a good way to provide a resolution and avoid ties (which I hate), without taking up several extra hours of my time watching people not scoring.

Don't get me wrong, a lot of the drama of hockey is all about how people almost score or get prevented from scoring, but that's only dramatic for me to a point. I don't like watching a 0-0 tie stretch into hour #5, you know?

I recognize my opinion is different from most hockey fans and that's alright by me. It takes all kinds.

 

[socalsteve]

For the second night in a row, the Angels game is not being shown by Dish in the L.A. area. I called last night, but they were clueless. At least they were ready for the calls tonight. The CSR explained that "games had been added to the package after it was negotiated." She had no idea why *D and cable were able to renegotiate the package. She also had no clue how many more games they wouldn't be carrying. I told her I would switch to Direct if it happened more, and she offered to send me to the "loyalty desk." Since they can't give me baseball either, I declined. Anyone have any clue how many games Dish is going to screw me out of?

 

[Tampa8]

I know it's not the answer you want, but I'm guessing it's what you are expecting. You need to switch to Direct TV if getting every game is most important to you. That is how Dish is with sports in general. Direct is always the best way to get the most games, and in HD. You can be mad, just keep in mind many of us would rather have the channels in HD that Dish has that Direct does not, that number is around 18 channels. And I happen to like Dish equipment better along with Superstations etc.. That's why I say you have to decide if you don't care about any of those things compared to losing some games. I don't blame anyone who mostly wants to see their teams who want to switch to Direct. It would be great if Direct TV has all the channels in HD and some of the things Dish offers, it would be great if Dish had the sports Direct has. Neither does.

 

[socalsteve]

I know it's not the answer you want, but I'm guessing it's what you are expecting. You need to switch to Direct TV if getting every game is most important to you. That is how Dish is with sports in general. Direct is always the best way to get the most games, and in HD. You can be mad, just keep in mind many of us would rather have the channels in HD that Dish has that Direct does not, that number is around 18 channels. And I happen to like Dish equipment better along with Superstations etc.. That's why I say you have to decide if you don't care about any of those things compared to losing some games. I don't blame anyone who mostly wants to see their teams who want to switch to Direct.

Yeah, it's just not been a problem before. As far as I know, Dish has had every game that was available on Fox Sports. I was even patient with them when other outlets had the Fox Sports channels in HD and Dish didn't. I suspect this is some kind of pi$$ing match between Dish and Fox and guys like me are getting caught in the crossfire, if you will.

 

[Tampa8]

Yep, and that's the problem the viewer gets caught in the middle...

 

[HanoverPretzel]

For the second night in a row, the Angels game is not being shown by Dish in the L.A. area. I called last night, but they were clueless. At least they were ready for the calls tonight. The CSR explained that "games had been added to the package after it was negotiated." She had no idea why *D and cable were able to renegotiate the package. She also had no clue how many more games they wouldn't be carrying. I told her I would switch to Direct if it happened more, and she offered to send me to the "loyalty desk." Since they can't give me baseball either, I declined. Anyone have any clue how many games Dish is going to screw me out of?

I'm not sure, but I've heard of this happening before in other areas. Last year, there was an issue with a midwestern team (Maybe the Twins?). The story was that previously the regional sports network that carried them showed fewer games (the other ones being on an over the air channel or untelevised, I guess), and when they significantly expanded the number of games they carried, they asked Dish, Directv, and the cable companies to pay them a little more per subscriber because of the extra content. Dish declined and then blacked out the extra games. I don't know if that's what's going on in LA right now or not.

Personally, in your situation, if I were out of contract, I'd immediately call my local cable company or Directv and sign up with them, and discontinue my service with Dish. I pay for television in large part so I have the option of watching my favorite teams. It's bad enough living in sort of a secondary market for some of those teams where certain games that are regionally televised on local OTA stations, may not be chosen for my local OTA stations. But if Dish started monkeying around and blocking out games on my regional sports networks, or took either of the two RSNs I have off the air, or the local OTA stations that cover football games, I'd be done with them as soon as I could afford to get out of my contract. And I'd be here on the forum and on the phone with them complaining constantly until then.

I mean, to me, if you're a sports fan and you pay your bill, you should get your local teams' games. None of these BS contract disputes. Usually it's a dispute over pennies a subscriber, or at least less than a $1.00 a month. We pay a lot more than that for our television packages! Dish could easily eat the cost if they wanted to. If Dish wants to feud with someone, please go feud with FOX News or the Oprah Channel or something else I don't care about.

I mean, at minimum, they should be offering "make goods" to people effected by this stuff. Why not give free MLB Extra Innings to everyone who's local baseball teams' games aren't on the air due to a dispute with a regional sports network? Not as good as watching your local team play, but at least people would get a lot of baseball to make up for it a little bit, and it'd show Dish was acting in good faith with it's customers and not just being cheap.

 

[socalsteve]

I don't think Dish has Extra Innings, does it? I'd take it if they did.

They did give me three months of free movie channels when I complained last night, but more than free Skinnymax, I WANT MY ANGELS!

 

[Mr Tony]

so the game isnt available at all? Not even in "Dish approved SD"

Last year, there was an issue with a midwestern team (Maybe the Twins?). The story was that previously the regional sports network that carried them showed fewer games (the other ones being on an over the air channel or untelevised, I guess), and when they significantly expanded the number of games they carried, they asked Dish, Directv, and the cable companies to pay them a little more per subscriber because of the extra content.

correct but that one was really weird. Here in Minneapolis there were 25 games that in Mpls were on My29 (the OTA My station) but outside of Minneapolis it was simulcasted on FSN North. Last year FS North took those games (they produced them to begin with) so we no longer have OTA Twins games unless its Fox GOTW. Directv picked them up. Comcast picked them up. Dish waited for a week or so.

 

[GaryPen]

Judging by the many posts on the subject over the years, Dish seems to enforce a different set of blackout rules than DirecTV, Comcast, Fios, Uverse, etc.

Many people report being able to watch games on from those carriers that are blacked out on Dish in the same area. I don't know if a reason was ever found.

I do seem to remember some talk about tiered zones for various teams' broadcast areas, with larger areas costing more. Of course, Dish would choose the cheapest possible one, if that were the case, meaning smaller broadcast areas within a larger blackout zones.