Ion Network and Baseball

[tv_buzz_chick]

Hey all! New poster but a long-time reader of the forum.

Can someone PLEASE explain to me why the ION network out of Daytona and Melbourne have any right at all to carry Tampa Bay Rays games in the Orlando area?

I have MLB Extra Innings for a reason. I live in Longwood and am subject to all the Rays games being blacked out and shown sporatically on ION. They don't have every game and their quality is the worst I have ever seen. The color is totally washed out and the color scale is WAY off. Okay, they are supposedly a tv station, have they ever heard of checking their wave-form vectorscope?

And why is Tampa blacked out on MLB Extra Innings? Since when is Orlando a "local viewing" area when we are only seeing maybe 2 games a week on horrible Ion. So where are the other 4 or 5 games a week we can't see since Ion doesn't broadcast every game?

I called Brighthouse and they can't tell me anything.

Either make it available to paying customers of MLB Extra Innings or make it exclusive on Ion and actually care about the broadcast quality, or don't show them at all because it looks like cable access. Ion claims to be in HD. Not in Central Florida it isn't.

Am I the only one who is highly irritated at this?

 

[stevenl]

People watch rays games?

But to answer the question I am not sure. I think Orlando would be considerd "Local" for ray games because the next closet team is Miami... It also sucks during NFL time because we have so many teams Miami, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville and Orlando is full of fans from all three so its tough if your a fan of either to find a game in Orlando..

 

[Mr Tony]

Orlando is considered Rays territory so you are blacked out of all games on EI...period

The RSN's have the games (Sunshine Network and FSN Florida) but looking at the Rays site, here is their OTA group of stations that carry the Ion games..wonder if that is their "local" market too...remember...MLB EI is an out of market plan. You wont get any of your "home" team games in it.

I've seen the OTA games via satellite and while they aren't the best picture, its better than what you describe

 

[tv_buzz_chick]

I actually have MLB EI because I am a life-long Boston fan. I think it's rediculous that they (Boston) can play in our supposed "local market" and are blacked out. Ion only carries certain games and the rest are out in the ether somewhere because of the blackout.

 

[iceturkee]

sorry, back to the original post........you wouldn't have this problem if you had directv. i get dray games and in hd too.

being able to watch the marlins was one of the main reasons i cancelled my cable sub early in 2007. sorry, but don't expect to watch any tampa or florida games on bhn anytime soon.

they went through the entire orlando magic season and never negotiated adding fsn florida. no need to refresh what the quibbling point is....i'm sure steven will be happy to fill you in!

 

[stevenl]

Yes Sucks the magic decided to alienate 950k of their potential viewers.

BHN Has been Negotiating with FSN since lord knows when and still are. The fact of the matter is though unless they come down in price, or agree to be on a higher tier then BHN will not add them. Negotiations are two way streets, its not one sides fault nor another's. When they find the common ground then an agreement will be reached..

Look at Local6 and BHN. Both side agreed to some concessions and an agreement was made. I don't see FSN conceded to anything to get on BHN's service. Because BHN is more valuable to FSN then the other way around. Local6 saw that, FSN should to.

 

[1980ws]

I left BHN after 4 years of waiting for FSN. I enjoy baseball and am thrilled at being able to see Rays & Marlins games. ION is much better on D* than cable. I can't understand now why I waited so long to switch.

 

[Mr Tony]

welcome 1980ws to Satelliteguys

 

[Peter Parker]

It is not really the ION Network carrying the game. it is that that ownership group bought the local rights to some games. Personally I think that it is a good idea for a team--especially a struggling team like the rays---to put some games on OTA to try to recruit new fans.

but then you get issues like whether you can receive those stations and the quality of their broadcasts.

 

[Mr Tony]

I have MLB Extra Innings for a reason. I live in Longwood and am subject to all the Rays games being blacked out and shown sporatically on ION. They don't have every game and their quality is the worst I have ever seen. The color is totally washed out and the color scale is WAY off. Okay, they are supposedly a tv station, have they ever heard of checking their wave-form vectorscope?

it must be something at that station. I'm watching the Rays/O's game right now on WBIF (RTN Panama City via the big C-Band dish) and the picture looks just as good as the feed coming from WXPX and they both look pretty good. Picture isnt washed out at all

 

[byron]

I remember back before WOPX/Pax/ION came about, when the WAYQ/WAYK (26/56) combo was still broadcasting together on those stations back in the mid 90s, and the transmitter quality on 56 hasn't improved much at all over the years since those times.

The feeds they provide to satellite are much better, obviously coming from a decent master control that is otherwise setup fine for output until it hits that OTA transmitter of theirs. Occasionally, I can pull in their DT signal OTA and it's not as bad as the analog transmission. Of course they're not going to do anything to fix any of that, since the analog switches off for good in less than 12 months.

Byron

 

[jahlight]

OMG I am blacked out from watching the RAYS in HD on ESPN but I cannot get the game in hd locally. I live in Tampa. BHN SUCKS!! Makes no sense!!

 

[stevenl]

Sorry its not BHNS fault. Blame the "Local Carrier Agreements" the Teams have with their home area.

 

[iceturkee]

OMG I am blacked out from watching the RAYS in HD on ESPN but I cannot get the game in hd locally. I live in Tampa. BHN SUCKS!! Makes no sense!!

but you have fsn florida while bhn central florida doesn't.

 

[Lkr]

But we can all just agree BHN sucks

 

[josem3]

But we can all just agree BHN sucks

Now, you know why I swiched to Dish. I'm no gonna miss my Marlins and Magics games. If BHN and FSN can not reach an agreement, I'm no gonna wait for them. The life is too short!

 

[stevenl]

At least you say its FSN and BHNs fault.... That I can agree.

 

[Scroll]

People watch rays games?

But to answer the question I am not sure. I think Orlando would be considerd "Local" for ray games because the next closet team is Miami... It also sucks during NFL time because we have so many teams Miami, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville and Orlando is full of fans from all three so its tough if your a fan of either to find a game in Orlando..

I've never been a big fan of protected markets period. I'm sure there's a lot of CA residents who run into this same problem. If the teams suck only the die hard sports fan will be watching anyway.

Sports franchises haven't been about the fans for years. In fact after like 5 years my number on the Bucs season ticket waiting list finally came up. And it couldn't have come at a worst time, both financially and with their recent treatment of both Sims & Garcia and wasting time looking for rookie QBs - again - instead of shoring up the areas that are failing.

 

[kurros]

OMG I am blacked out from watching the RAYS in HD on ESPN but I cannot get the game in hd locally. I live in Tampa. BHN SUCKS!! Makes no sense!!

You realize that BHN airs the FSN and ION HD games on 618/619, don't you? (It shows up as BHN Sports 1 and 2, they dont update the EPG for games). I watched the games in HD just fine.

 

[reeeedo]

BHN / WXPX / Rays Baseball / Digital Signal

I have BHN in St. Pete.

Any way for my HDTV's internal tuner to receive WXPX's digital and / or HD signal via the BHN cable (no box)???

I have "auto-programmed" the input for BHN's coax input and receive an interesting mix of analog, digital and HDTV stations - just not WXPX-ION.

Thanks!