MLB Network campaign against DishNet

[hckynut]

Really unhappy with the lack of Twins HD content the first week of the season on Dish. Currently, the guide shows the HD feed missing for Tuesday, Thursday (also, no SD!), Friday, Sunday and Monday.* Terrible start to the season. I've been with Dish since 2003, but am seriously considering abandoning ship. A brief survey of Cardinals and White Sox games doesn't paint a much prettier picture.

Does this situation typically improve once the NBA regular season ends (and MLB doesn't have to compete for RSN bandwidth with basketball)? I remember being upset about the lack of Twins HD early on last year and wrote an e-mail to customer service (no response). But I seem to recall the problem only being an infrequent inconvenience by mid-summer. Anybody remember a similar scenario from last year, or are my memories just faulty? Thanks in advance.



*Sunday's game is available on WGN (Sox broadcast); Monday's is on ESPN, but will surely be blacked out there in the Minnesota market.

FYI... Twins in HD

According to the schedule provided by FOX, the games on FOXN available in HD are on the 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th

DISH has the following scheduled on FOXN in HD - 7th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th

It looks like you're missing the 6th, 9th, 11th, 21st and 25th... Yeah, the bulk of the games are in the first week of the season, but...

Considering it's the final week of the NHL season (although the Wild are out of it) -- and the NBA is still going on for the next week (and the T'wolves are also out of it) -- there's a premium on HD capacity while the three seasons overlap.

Personally, I'd rather watch all the end of season races to the playoffs and THEN worry about whether or not my MLB team is available. Just like in the fall when it's the start of NHL and NBA -- but the playoff races for MLB are heating up, the season(s) nearing its conclusion takes precedence over those in their infancy.

 

[smaug07]

Funny, DirecTV has not only the close to the NBA and NHL seasons in HD (and nearly every game is in HD), but also all of the MLB games on the EI package at the same time. So how can bandwidth be an issue? If you are a true sports fan, whether it is just your local teams, or out of market teams, DirecTV is vastly superior to Dish and the other providers (the only exception to the local teams scenario may be in Philadelphia and San Diego, but this may change in the future). Dish may have an edge in a few things over D*, but certainly not sports or HD programming. I've had DirecTV for over 10 years and have been satisfied from day one. I have reliable service (it only goes out in the most extreme thunderstorms), enjoy all of my sports programming; my wife enjoys her movies with the premium channels, and I get a nice variety and amount of HD programming. I haven't heard one thing over the years that would convince me that Dish is a better choice. They may be initially cheaper, but I'd rather pay a bit more and know that I will get what I am looking for.

 

[TigerpounceTN]

Funny, DirecTV has not only the close to the NBA and NHL seasons in HD (and nearly every game is in HD), but also all of the MLB games on the EI package at the same time. So how can bandwidth be an issue? If you are a true sports fan, whether it is just your local teams, or out of market teams, DirecTV is vastly superior to Dish and the other providers (the only exception to the local teams scenario may be in Philadelphia and San Diego, but this may change in the future). Dish may have an edge in a few things over D*, but certainly not sports or HD programming. I've had DirecTV for over 10 years and have been satisfied from day one. I have reliable service (it only goes out in the most extreme thunderstorms), enjoy all of my sports programming; my wife enjoys her movies with the premium channels, and I get a nice variety and amount of HD programming. I haven't heard one thing over the years that would convince me that Dish is a better choice. They may be initially cheaper, but I'd rather pay a bit more and know that I will get what I am looking for.

DirecTV doesn't have my RSN as a full time channel, ESPNU HD or Comcast Sports Southeast in SD or HD. All of those things are true of Dish as well. I'm better served by cable.

 

[Mr Tony]

Simply put charlie is cheap,

we can agree on that

If I was in charge WFN, Logo, Centric, and MAVTV would be the first four to go,

Isn't MAVTV owned by Mark Cuban?

 

[Mr Tony]

Considering it's the final week of the NHL season (although the Wild are out of it) -- and the NBA is still going on for the next week (and the T'wolves are also out of it) -- there's a premium on HD capacity while the three seasons overlap.

The Timberpuppies have been out of it since Christmas

 

[gatekeeper]

Dish should add MLB NETWORK.What they should do is perhaps add it to the multi-sport package.I realize not everyone wants to pay for sports.This way it would add a more attractive look to the multi-sport package.You would have MLB in the spring/summer and have NFL REDZONE in the fall/winter.It would make alot of sense too since they just add ESPNCLASSIC to the lineup.

 

[CubsWin]

Dish should add MLB NETWORK.What they should do is perhaps add it to the multi-sport package.I realize not everyone wants to pay for sports.This way it would add a more attractive look to the multi-sport package.You would have MLB in the spring/summer and have NFL REDZONE in the fall/winter.It would make alot of sense too since they just add ESPNCLASSIC to the lineup.

That would surely get me to subscribe to the multi-sport package, but I believe the problem is that MLB won't allow MLB Network to only be included in a sports package. They require it to be in a basic package.

 

[db2]

IIRC, the situation improved dramatically last year once the NBA and NHL regular seasons ended last year.....

True but more games will be missed this year since more RSN games overall will be produced in HD.

 

[howie14]

I'm a big Dodger fan, but I'm not going to have a aneurysm because I don't get to see every game, or every game in HD.

I agree, to a point. I don't mind DISH having part time HDRSNs or occasionally missing an HD broadcast. I do mind the selectivity of which RSNs they are going to contract for in HD and the fact that this year I'll see none of my RSNs 315 or so HD broadcasts.

Dish isn't a big sports company, movies yes, but not sports. They never have been and it hasn't ever been a secret. If someone signs up for Dish and wants sports then it's their own fault, no one elses.

I admit that it is true that DISH isn't a sports leader. I don't recall, however, an ad campaign in which DISH said, "Come to DISH...WE HATE SPORTS!"

Financial decisions to carry or not to carry ST or EI are all perfectly legit. A decision to pass on my local HD RSN when the others all carry it, not so much.

Still there are, for me, other reasons to stick with DISH so I'll continue to fight the letter/email battle I've been fighting for two years and hope that additional capacity in the future may change things.

 

[mrexperience]

FYI... Twins in HD

According to the schedule provided by FOX, the games on FOXN available in HD are on the 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th

DISH has the following scheduled on FOXN in HD - 7th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th

It looks like you're missing the 6th, 9th, 11th, 21st and 25th... Yeah, the bulk of the games are in the first week of the season, but...

Considering it's the final week of the NHL season (although the Wild are out of it) -- and the NBA is still going on for the next week (and the T'wolves are also out of it) -- there's a premium on HD capacity while the three seasons overlap.

Personally, I'd rather watch all the end of season races to the playoffs and THEN worry about whether or not my MLB team is available. Just like in the fall when it's the start of NHL and NBA -- but the playoff races for MLB are heating up, the season(s) nearing its conclusion takes precedence over those in their infancy.

I can understand giving preference to the NHL and NBA this time of year since the playoff chase is heating up, given the current state of bandwidth allocation. Still, missing two games a week for the first 3 weeks of the season that I'm ostensibly paying for (6,9,11,18,21,25) hurts. The problem I have is with the way this part-time RSN HD coverage is implmented: patchwork, sporadic coverage. A better solution would be for dish to reallocate some bandwidth during this 3-sport overlap time of the year in order to meet the demand. Maybe knock down a HDPPV channel or three temporarily? Saving bandwidth by doing RSNs part time is a decent idea, provided that the most important content (i.e. games) are always shown in HD. I'm just not happy with the spotty coverage right now. If the major damage is limited to the first week or two of the season I can probably live with it, though I am tempted to jump ship (and would not even be considering it otherwise).

Hckynut, where did you find the FOXN HD programming lineup for Dish? I was looking around online yesterday for a list of Twins games that would be shown in HD, but couldn't locate this info. I had to rely on the guide in my receiver (and that is frequently not-up-to-date beyond a couple days in the future). Thanks in advance.

 

[hckynut]

check your inbox

 

[dishcomm]

With ESPN/ESPN2/WGN/TBS/RSN I get my fix, plenty of baseball to be seen. If you do need your out of market team I can see why MBL EI would be a fit for those!

Though I am debating, seeing how MLB TV is through playon for 99.00 for the season to see how it looks

I am in my second season of MLB.tv....For the full season price of $110 it's worth it.

 

[dishcomm]

So if you paid for a Tigers ticket down by the dugout, and they come up to you and say.. sorry you can't sit here, you have to sit on the top row in the upper deck, would you be OK with that?

I'm assuming no. If none of the carriers carry it then fine. But if direct tv and comcast has it in HD, then DISH should have it also.

Wow!!!!...
"Dish should have it."

and across the street you'll have the other guys saying "don't you dare use up my bandwidth for sports programming. I want the (favorite niche channel) in HD before you get your sports in HD".
Round and round we go.
The hierarchy should be whichever national programming gets the highest ratings should be HD first. Then national sports programing( gets good ratings) then the most popular inteterst channels( Discovery, HGTV...stuff like that)
The lowest on the totem pole are niche channels that have few viewers.
Eventually just about everyone will be in HD bliss. All will have to be patient.
Now asking "why that channel first and not what I want?"...
Just wait ,dammit.

 

[dishcomm]

The Braves played the White Sox at Turner Field last night on SportSouth in HD, but it was only SD on Dish, and it looks to be the same thing today on FSN South.

Perhaps because it was a preseaosn game it was not shot in HD?
Did you check the SS standard and Hi def to see if the video looked the same?

 

[dishcomm]

Roll your eyes all you want, but this is a big issue for many including myself.

Why is it a "big issue"..
You know that the capacity to view HD has sprinted far ahead in the capacity to show HD..This have been the case for quite some time.
1080p is available on limted basis. Yet I get customers on occasion who insist they should have all channels in 1080p....Not happening yet. Very expensive.
I think if everyone just calmed down and gave the technology a chance to catch up with itself, we'd all be in good shape.
Threatening to change providers over the absense of one channel is not smart.
JMHO...
Relax, Crack a beer and watch the game. HD is coming. Eventually.

 

[david_jr]

I am specifically talking about subs to the sports packs. For example, ST would be less expensive to sub to if more providers carried ST. So, ST subs would pay less for ST.

Have to disagree with you there Dodger. In the sports world the price of admission goes only one way, up. If more people subscribed, they'd see it as increased demand and would not lower the price. We live in an age when teams are building smaller stadiums to do just that, increase demand and drive up the price.

 

[goaliebob99]

Good Job Dish!

I have to admit that dish did a good job this week in the Chicago market picking up all of the games. But..............(theirs a big one in there) I still want my RSN full time and I'm not backing down on that one. I would actually like to see ALL RSN's in Full HD all the time!

 

[crimpshrine]

I have to admit that dish did a good job this week in the Chicago market picking up all of the games. But..............(theirs a big one in there) I still want my RSN full time and I'm not backing down on that one. I would actually like to see ALL RSN's in Full HD all the time!

Amen, brother!

 

[Mr Tony]

Have to disagree with you there Dodger. In the sports world the price of admission goes only one way, up. If more people subscribed, they'd see it as increased demand and would not lower the price. We live in an age when teams are building smaller stadiums to do just that, increase demand and drive up the price.

I think he means if more providers can carry it, not subscribers in general

I mean here is a good example....NFL ST
I forget how much it is on D* but I know its high...they have a monopoly

In Canada dang near everyone carries it (including both DTH providers) and the pricing is way less. In some cases more than half