NBC Sports Chicago Upcoming Renewal

[Tampa8]

I signed up for a free Hulu TV try... looks pretty clunky right now, but I'm sure it's because I'm not used to where everything is located, etc...

I called into Dish.. at first they denied having any kind of dispute with Sports Chicago. Several minutes later (15) they finally found the outage... offered me $3 off because of the dispute. I declined, and got the offer for a "new customer" price for a 2 year price lock. I declined to think about that.

My choices now are, stick with Dish in hopes they come to an agreement and subscribe to Hulu TV during this time.. if I did this, I'd get the price lock for new customers, which would technically off-set the price for Hulu, but... I kind of don't want to get into a new contract because we are getting a new fiber service, Metronet, in the area.. should be live in my neighborhood next summer. Metronet has all the channels I want, but... I dunno.

2) Go to Mediacom... they have all the channels I want, at the moment, but they've had numerous disputes as well. They don't have contracts, so that would be good... and I could bundle with internet for a good price overall.

I'll give Dish another week while I test Hulu...

Keep in mind you may or may not get the new customer deal when you call back. There are plenty of instances of not getting the same offer when calling back with different people making the decision. But I understand you not rushing to do that because of the following.....
That RSN is losing a major sports team and that does not bode well if they are asking for more or even the same amount from DISH. In addition DISH will be asked to carry yet another RSN for the Cubs. Depending I am not confident DISH will do that. They may decide on one or the other or not both. This is more the fault of the decision to take away a major sports team and create another RSN. It's very close to why they do not carry the Boston NBC RSN that only carries the Celtics. They want too much when the only real programming is the less than 82 games especially if the team isn't winning much.

 

[zippyfrog]

That RSN is losing a major sports team and that does not bode well if they are asking for more or even the same amount from DISH. In addition DISH will be asked to carry yet another RSN for the Cubs. Depending I am not confident DISH will do that. They may decide on one or the other or not both. This is more the fault of the decision to take away a major sports team and create another RSN. It's very close to why they do not carry the Boston NBC RSN that only carries the Celtics. They want too much when the only real programming is the less than 82 games especially if the team isn't winning much.

I am a Cubs fan, but to me, there is more value in NBC Sports Chicago as they are going to be having all 87 Bulls game (82 regular season, 5 preseason), about 75 Blackhawks games, and potentially 155 regular season White Sox games plus spring training. They also have first round playoff rights for the Hawks and Bulls. Plus NBC Sports Chicago has college football, college basketball (Loyola games), plus NWSL rights, so they show quite a few Red Stars games. Then they show the White Sox minor league baseball team on days the Sox don't have live games. And they have the Bears pre/post game coverage and quite a few original shows. NBC Sports Chicago has so much to offer. Marquee will show maybe 180 Cubs games (spring training and regular season combined), and just a week ago the Cubs re-emphasized it is a Cubs only channel.

So for me I would say NBC Sports Chicago is the better deal. But I also would say if it costs more with the Cubs gone, I can see that because they are picking up more live games of Bulls/Blackhawks/White Sox that WGN used to broadcast than they lose from the Cubs.

I hope Dish comes to a deal for NBC Sports Chicago. That is the one channel I do watch a lot. I am ok right now because the Bulls regular season hasn't started yet, but once the NBA regular season begins, I will then be looking at potentially adding a 2 week trial of YouTube TV and see how this plays out. Dish has been so great over my decade of having them - this has been the only major issue I have had.

 

[Riverpilot]

The streaming of the Blackhawks worked out well. Picture was crisp, etc... but boy is Hulu clunky on the Apple Tv. I pretty much hate the Apple remote, so maybe a real remote would help.

If I could find another way to get Sports Chicago that was much cheaper, I'd prefer it. Right now I'm leaning towards going to Mediacom. No contract plus much cheaper overall, and the channels I want. But the hardware is way behind compared to Dish.

Be so much easier if Dish got the channel back. As for the new Cubs channel? Yeah... I hope Dish gets it, but if they get that and not Sports Chicago, that really wouldn't make any sense at all. If Dish wants to get rid of, or narrow down sports channels, I'd like them to just come out and say it. Hey, we're not renewing sports channels anymore... so make your choice. Stick with us or move on.

 

[dare2be]

I'm betting Dish is trying to make sports optional...think flex pack addons for all packages.

 

[Riverpilot]

Come on Dish... let's get moving on this.
Hulu TV was ok. The way I have my system set up it's kind of a pain in the butt to stream things through Apple TV, but... I've got a free month of You Tube TV to try, then the decision will have to be made.

The way I see things right now, next week is the start of the NBA. If Dish doesn't bring this channel back by the beginning of November, I don't see them bringing it back.

 

[zippyfrog]

I've got a free trial of YouTube TV just for NBC Sports Chicago as well. The biggest struggle for streaming for me is the data caps and the delay. For the Bulls/Raptors game - granted it was preseason - I got the final notification on my phone about 45 seconds before the stream finished on YouTube TV. So it was behind. When I would watch the game on Dish, I would get the notification some 10-15 seconds after the game finished.

 

[zippyfrog]

I don't know why I found this funny, but the official NBC Sports Chicago twitter account got a reply from the official Dish Answers twitter account

Conversation #28402346

 

[Riverpilot]

Still nothing on this. Basketball season underway, hockey season underway... Things aren't looking good for this channel or the RSN.

Youtube tv is pretty much the same as hulu. I don't see paying $50 a month for this and staying with Dish.

 

[zippyfrog]

Still nothing on this. Basketball season underway, hockey season underway... Things aren't looking good for this channel or the RSN.

I agree with this. I am waiting for the next domino to fall - the other NBC Sports RSN's contract expiring. Currently I am on my 2 week trial of YouTube tv, and I had a friend give me a prepaid Visa card a while back and I used that for YouTube TV. So I am going to ride it until January 2020 with YouTube TV and keeping Dish. In a couple of weeks I'll have Dish for 10 years, and it is by far the best TV service I have had. In my 10 years, losing NBC Sports Chicago has been my only real issue with Dish. (minor issue was not having the RSN's in HD but that has long been fixed) The service has been great and I am happy with my experience and channel selection. But losing NBC Sports Chicago is a tough pill to swallow. I hope they come to an agreement by the end of 2019 or for me 2020 will include looking at other options.

 

[The Fat Man]

I agree with this. I am waiting for the next domino to fall - the other NBC Sports RSN's contract expiring. Currently I am on my 2 week trial of YouTube tv, and I had a friend give me a prepaid Visa card a while back and I used that for YouTube TV. So I am going to ride it until January 2020 with YouTube TV and keeping Dish. In a couple of weeks I'll have Dish for 10 years, and it is by far the best TV service I have had. In my 10 years, losing NBC Sports Chicago has been my only real issue with Dish. (minor issue was not having the RSN's in HD but that has long been fixed) The service has been great and I am happy with my experience and channel selection. But losing NBC Sports Chicago is a tough pill to swallow. I hope they come to an agreement by the end of 2019 or for me 2020 will include looking at other options.

It's a single channel. They dropped NBC Sports Boston when it was CSN New England, before the last carriage agreement was signed. Since then, they renewed all the others and kept NBC Sports Boston off Dish.

 

[bjf]

Riverpilot, I HATE AppleTV remotes too. How can they so damn stupid with these tiny little remotes.

I also hate current touchpad remote as it's so hard to get your finger to slide across with accuracy.
Especially when you are using the touchpad to type on the on screen keypad to login etc.

A couple things.

I use a tablet pen with the rubber nub and that helps a bit.

Also, AppleTV has an older remote that is silver metal.
It's got the arrow buttons on a ring like an old ipod.
menus and play/pause. It's only IR not RF.
But it's easier to use for some things.

I also got a rubber slip cover at best buy or the apple store for the current touchpad remote and that helps.

lastly, i believe those universal remotes from harmony at bestbuy stores might work for AppleTV I have tried it.

Just wish Apple would get it together on the remote and give us a big one with skip and scan buttons like satellite tv DVR's.

BTW, I should have added that the old AppleTV silver metal remote is still for sale new at Apple stores the sell Apple TV. That's where I found mine.

It's heavier than the new touchpad model and is slippery and cold metal but it helps in some things. But being IR you must point it at the sensor on the ATV box. Amazon might sell it too.
It has a lithium battery inside you have to change. Not rechargeable.

Hope that helps.

bjf

 

[Riverpilot]

Yeah, that's a good thought. Seems that pretty much any cheap remote would work, according to reviews. I'll grab a RCA for $10 and see what happens. That Apple TV remote is just pathetic.. lol

Not sure about anyone else, but to me streaming TV isn't quite there yet. Close, but...
Shame that Dish has the best hardware, but without the programming.. :shrugs: I'm going to the local Mediacom store next week to check out what the picture etc... looks like. It seems that several channels are still in SD instead of HD, which really stinks.

Of course, with the blackhawks looking pretty bad, and the Bulls maybe a playoff team... :sigh:

 

[Bobby]

I use my Harmony remote, mainly, when using my AppleTV 4K. It is just more simple to use.

 

[Riverpilot]

Been over a month without Sports Chicago, zero word from Dish other than the canned response seen on-line.
If going by what Charlie has said about people only leaving in the first month, after that most don't.... seems like this channel is gone for good.

Streaming TV really isn't my thing right now. Youtube TV free month is still active for a few more weeks. After that, decision time.

 

[zippyfrog]

I agree - the longer it goes, the less of a chance of it coming back. I actually thought with Chicago being a larger market that had many teams on the single RSN that Dish would have re-negotiated. From what I have seen, the only two that did not renew with NBC Sports Chicago are Dish and some other smaller provider. Can't remember the name of the provider. Every other provider thought it was a fair deal. So I find it hard to believe Dish will come to a deal with them.

The only thing I could possibly see happening now is that Dish does come to an agreement with Sinclair, Altitude, and Comcast for their RSN's in January - when the price changes occur. And at that point, you have to add the RSN's if you want it. But it seems like the RSN's don't want to be added a-la-carte.

But somehow Dish made it work where we can remove locals or add them, so it is semi a-la-carte. So maybe they will come up with something to appease the RSN's.

 

[zippyfrog]

The other small provider is USA Communications. So it looks like Dish and USA Communications are the only two that dropped NBC Sports Chicago on Oct.1.

Home - USA Communications

 

[The Fat Man]

Not necessarily dropped. More like didn't come to an agreement with the new ownership.

 

[zippyfrog]

The slate on NBC Sports Chicago channel 429 has changed. It is more harsh than the previous message - stating the facts that we already know and that the RSN model is broken - and urges NBC Sports Chicago to work with Dish to make a fair deal for all.

 

[HopperTim3]

Final post here.... I can't wait any longer to watch the Bulls and Blackhawks. Dish Networks latest message, as referenced in the above post, is that the RSN system is broken..... its harsh and clearly shows me there is no hope of getting the RSN's back on Dish. Also, the Cubs Marquee network has no hope of being carried by Dish. So, I called Comcast and am having Xfinity installed tomorrow. I know Xfinity doesn't have a deal in place for Marquee yet, but I'm sure they will get it done....unlike Dish who appears to be out of the Regional Sports Network business. As a bonus, I will get HBO FREE!!! for the next 3 months... lol Also, I don't have much bad to say about Dish Network.... The Hopper 3 is outstanding with the ability to record 16 shows at once. I like the Dishanywhere app and the ability to stream my home tv feed anywhere---something that Xfinity doesn't really allow. So if Dish could have resolved the regional sports thing....I would have stayed. In the end, I think Dish is more focused on their Cell phone product than TV anyway. Oh well.... Wish you all the best.

 

[Jim5506]

If your Xfinity box has component outputs, buy a SlingBox HD off of eBay and it can inject your Xfinity output into the internet wnere you can watch it over IP.

If the Xfinity box only does HDMI you can use the SlingBox 500 which accepts HDMI input.

The nicest thing about the SlingBox IMHO is that it mimics the remote of your cable/satellite box on screen so you can perform all functions available remotely even resets and check switches.

You are essentially controlling the full box from wherever you are.