A 25 year personal history rant

[Trouthead]

Started with C-band in 1981. All was fine, networks, HBO, and lots of free channels. VC-Is, then VC-II, then new receiverss, and by the time it was all done and analog C-band was no longer viable I had spent maybe $3000.00 on hardware. Net worth last summer maybe $100.00 .

Tried Voom for HD and DISH for MLB (baseball), then Voom went belly up, so I went to DISH for my major provider of HD. Still had C-band for networks (love those East Cost feeds), but had DISH for everthing else. Then networks fade away from C-band so I make the complete switch to DISH for HD and everything else.

Now I read that DIRECT will be the MLB exclusive. No baseball package on DISH. So now I need DIRECT and DISH both, as DIRECT does not have my locals.

Billions of dollars spent on Satellites, and hardware, and we end up with a fractured system because of free enterprise. Although it is not exactly free enterprise nor a free market.

I can't get HD networks cause the cheapskate stations in Wyoming are not broadcasting in digital. I can't get east coast feeds cause I need to support my local crapy stations (by law). I won't get MLB unless I switch to DIRECT, because Dish and Direct are in some sort of one sided bidding war.

Does anyone else think this whole system is crazy. Murdock on one side (maybe) and Charlie on the other. One comes out of the muckraking yellow press, the other out of C-band, which was an interesting bunch of "enterprising capitalists".

No HD network for me. No MLB. No east coast feeds, and I have to pay for the privlidge.

This all sucks. All I want to do is pay to watch TV. All TV not just local SD but east coast HD. Not just ESPN baseball, but all the REDSOX games. Satellite radio and cell phones are no better so don't get me started on that.

Any thoughts on the mess we have created with this system.

 

[mdonnelly]

25 years @ 12 months per year = 300 months

$3000 / 300 months = $10/month (not bad, most us us spend more), and you can still sell for $100.

And you'll still get lots of baseball on ESPN 1&2 in HD, TBS, FOX, WGN, and also on your RSN. How much baseball can you watch anyway?

 

[Trouthead]

It is not the money, but I should make it clear, that was my hardware cost not programing. My package presently is about $110.00 a month without the MLB csot of $150.00. It is the hassle of different dishes, different providers, and a pain in the neck system of who gets to broadcast what.

Now for baseball. HOW MUCH CAN YOU WATCH??

Almost every single game if you are a real baseball fan. It is not just "BASEBALL" it is REDSOX. Hundreds of thousands of REDSOX fans in New England watch most every game. I don't want to watch KC or the Giants of the Dodgers. I want to watch and have been watching the REDSOX.


And while I am at it. If I was a NFL fan, I'd be SOL with DISH. I'd have to get DIRECT.

Maybe they do need to merge.

 

[tdti1]

If you still have the big dish you should get a 4dtv and if you want a HDD 200 for a few HD channels, you can slave a dvb receiver to the 4dtv easy and get many free channels that may interest you, also you can wait a few months and there should be some very nice dvb HD receivers coming out for a good price.

If the dish is C-band only it would be best to upgrade to c/ku, you may still need two systems to have everything but the big dish should save you money on programming and if you like picture quality you will love the master feeds.

 

[Trouthead]

Big Dish is gone, and I am hooked up to DISH with a 811 for HDTV. Works just fine, but I keep reading that the MLB Extra Innings package will only be available on Direct.

No HD nets to protect the local stations. No NESN (all I want to watch is the Red Sox) to protect who knows , I guess the rest of baseball teams.

High end technology launched into orbit by satellite, and we end up with money grubbing greed dictating what I can BUY to watch.

It is a hell of a system.

 

[dodge]

25 years and going

Trouthead you cannot get hd dns from directv????
I beleive if you are in an area where you cannot get any or all of your HD ota, Dish Directv or C-Band 4dtv should give you locals from another city in hd until the damn po-dunk locals get their ass in gear and get hd full going. I also beleive if one provider can give you extra innings all providers including cable Dish Directv and 4dtv should have the right to sell it to you. This exclusive contract things with one provider is Bullsh!t!!! I am pissed that Dish does not have Sunday Ticket... If all 3 providers were able to sell it, the price would be 50 bux a season rather than 200...

I fee your pain

 

[FavreJL04]

That's why the leagues go exclusive....to suck all the money out of the consumer as they can. That's exactly why the Sunday Ticket costs near 300 bucks....400 if you include the Superfan for HD....and the NFL only plays up to 14 games a week that are available on ST. It would be interesting to see the cost per game of NFL ST versus NHL CI.

 

[Trouthead]

I get local Network Affliates (CBS,ABC,NBC,FOX) from DISH. NONE are in HD because the stations have not gone digital. This is Wyoming with 500,000 people in the whole state.

Direct does not have locals in my area, and I lost any grandfathering I had, (and it was a good one) when I gave up on C- BAND. I can get (very very poorly) local stations over the air (I have the left over antenna from VOOM still hooked up), and even though the computer analysis says I can get local OTA it does not take into accout the topography that puts me behind a large hill. Maybe with a 100 ft mast I could get a good signal, but really I am not going to do that.

At this point I can live with NON-HD local, but to rabid REDSOX fans not being able to wathc the games is unacceptable.

NESN is the station that broadcast them in the New England area. I'd settle for NESN, (I have it) BUT IT BLACKS OUT THE BASEBALL GAMES outside of New England.

MLB is at blame here. Letting me pay for NESN would work. Doubtfull I'll be jumping in the PU and driving to Boston for a friday night game. But the only way they give me is Extra Innings from Direct. MY guess is the cost wil go up.

This is all really bad Bull***t, designed for money grubbing. It is not the free enterprise system at work, it is a regulated industry like cellphones with government protected monopolies. It sucks.

I am not really a cheapskate. I have the DISH Americas Everthing Package, with local and NESN, just to get the pre and post game shows. The system makes it hard to get what one wants with any ease.

 

[stogie5150]

FWIW I feel the same way about the Center Ice package....If I could only watch Maple Leaf games I'd be good...but I have to buy the whole package for which I have little use...I told my wife this year is the last....I hope to supplement the loss of hockey with some stuff from FTA....although I understand there isn't much out there....

Too much money for too little entertainment. I agree totally.:up

 

[ItsMyLife]

Baseball is a corrupt sport on both sides... owners and players. No economic sanity with half the teams unable to compete on a yearly basis.

I'd suggest finding something better to do with your time than spend it supporting a greedy league that doesn't care one iota about it's fans.

 

[cybok0]

Can't you use E* for your locals only and D* for everything else, should be about the same price as D* with locals.

 

[Trouthead]

Hey ItsMyLife,

It is my life, and I like baseball. No justification needed. I like the Red Sox and have been a fan since 1965.

cybok0,

I just might do what you suggest, or some variation of it depending upon pricing. I have had as many as three satelitte providers at one point, so doing two will be a possability.

 

[MyDogHasFleas]

Thinking out of the box here... if you have decent broadband Internet access, you can see all the MLB games over the Internet for $15/month or I think $50/year (maybe $75). See mlb.com.

I am a Red Sox fan too but not as crazed as you, I don't feel the need to see ALL the games, but I did want to watch them down the stretch (until they failed miserably against the Yankees in that series... sorry to bring up a sore point...).

Anyway, I got a subscription from mlb.com and watched the games on my computer. Video quality wasn't as good as SD but was surprisingly not terrible either. Sometimes I'd get dropouts but not very often.

They do black out the nationally televised games even if they are not nationally televised to YOU which is a pain. I'm talking regional Fox Sports coverage here.

 

[Trouthead]

I can see the writing on the wall. Direct TV will be making an appearance at my house for the minimum programing I can purchase. With a 57 inch HDTV sitting in the living room I just can't bring myself to watch in the computer room on a 17 incher. Not to mention the wife acceptance factor of me sitting in the computer room watching the ball game.

Need to find out if Extra Innings will be broadcast in HD. Lets see if Direct is really going to be the HD leader.

Still this is an absurd system. Not very user friendly and still can't get it the way I would like.