Regional Sports Networks SD only in Hawaii

[DishHawaiiPaul]

I recently moved from the Bay Area to Honolulu as my wife was born and raised here on the islands. It may sound silly but I wanted to make sure I could have my bay area sports, and found out that both Directv and Dish offered CSN Bay Area which airs the GS Warriors and SF Giants.

So I did my research, AND Dish appeared to offer the best value as I was told CSN was offered in HD. After Dish was installed however, I immediately noticed that the regional sports channels --which included CSN Bay Area-- were SD only. So I called, and the agent thought something wrong because Dish offered regional sports networks in HD, so she sent out a tech, who immediately told me that because of the satellites, Dish in Hawaii only got SD for those channels.

I called Directv, and asked around at local bars, and learned that Directv offered these channels in HD.

So I guess I was grateful to have the games available, and because the warriors have played on national tv so often it didn't hurt as much, but now that the baseball season is about to start, I am stuck with SD because Dish offers the MLB package, but due to lame MLB restrictions, all the SF Giants games are blacked out because Hawaii is considered a home network of the SF Giants. I even got a spring training game aired on MLB network blacked out. Lame.

If I would have known beforehand that Directv was the only who offered the HD option, I would have paid more for the service. I am happy everything else that Dish has to offer, but I am stuck in a commitment and feel like I was mislead to begin with.

Again may sound silly, but the only thing I watch in HD, is sports because I am forced to with Dish. When I called them again, the agent gave me some other canned BS response.

I would appreciate any feedback on whether I can get out of this contract.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Deadlocked]

I think you could probable have etf waivered since you were given wrong info by an employee or at least Trimmed down. Also Direct probably will offer a gift car to offset the etf if you memtion you're switching from Dish


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[AZ.]

I recently moved from the Bay Area to Honolulu as my wife was born and raised here on the islands. It may sound silly but I wanted to make sure I could have my bay area sports, and found out that both Directv and Dish offered CSN Bay Area which airs the GS Warriors and SF Giants.


Ag

Dude, that aint silly......I pay through the nose for sports, but its such a simple pleasure!... Nothing like sitting on my deck in winter enjoying a hockey or football game on a warm sunny day!
How would streaming MLB TV work out there?

 

[dare2be]

Some have reported success with threats of getting the State Attorney General involved.

 

[ttomni6]

Yes, our "local" RSN's in Hawaii are all SD only. I was excited to see that there are a number of DISH RSN's that are now in HD (btw - when mainland DISH subscribers got live games in HD - Hawaii never did).
At any rate, now that several mainland RSN's are HD full time, Hawaii is also receiving them HD if we're on multi sport and HD package.
I've been an NHL Center Ice subscriber for 3 years and never had a game in HD even though DISH Gamefinder showed many broadcasts were HD. As a result I was able to "negotiate" better deals on the package because of this.
So YOU can ask to speak with a loyalty rep and ask specifically for what would make your situation acceptable. For example, tell them you want an $xx credit on your bill for x number of months.
Dishhawaiipaul Send me a pm and I'll tell you what I was able to get.

 

[ttomni6]

Just want to add that any of the RSN's that DISH just made HD are also HD in the NHL Center Ice package. However, our "local" California RSN' are still SD only. Which means if our "local" teams are also on national broadcasts in HD, we are blacked out on the national cast and can only watch our "local" SD feeds.

 

[ttomni6]

One addition - some of the national channels have different blackout rules.

For example, today is the last day of the NHL season. Our Hawaii RSN's are the California RSN's. Anaheim Ducks are considered "out of market " on our RSN's so those games were available on NHL Center Ice.

Today, the Ducks/Capitals game is on NHLN -BUT- NHLN thinks we should see the game on our local RSN. TimeWarner cable and DirecTV get the game but we on DISH are blacked out on both the RSN and NHLN. The game is not being shown on NHL Center Ice.

 

[zippyfrog]

CSN Bay Area and CSN California HD channels are both on the ConUS Transponders on the 129 satellite. I feel like I have read on this forum somewhere that Hawaii isn't in the ConUS area for those transponders, which would explain why you don't see them in HD. But the SD channels are on 110 and 119, which Hawaii can see. So it sounds like that tech that visited you was 100% correct. Do you receive Fox Sports West in HD? Fox Sports West HD is on the 110 satellite.

 

[ttomni6]

Fox sports west became available in HD here at the same time reports said that RSN's were available full time. Until then, we never had HD for any RSN's.
Now we get several RSN's in HD from around the country (w/multi sport) but not the RSN's that we are considered as "local".

 

[zippyfrog]

Got it - so I am guessing the ones you receive in HD (via multi-sport pack) are Fox Detroit, Fox Southeast, Prime Sports, Root Rocky Mountain, Fox Southwest, Fox West, Sun Sports, Root Northwest, Root Pittsburgh, Sports Time Ohio, MASN, and NESN. Those are the 10 RSN's that are in HD on the 110 satellite. All the other HD channels come from the 129 satellite. As I look at that, it makes me wonder why they wouldn't put the rest of the RSN's Hawaii gets on the 110 satellite, and move some that aren't in Hawaii, such as NESN and MASN, onto the 129 satellite.

 

[ttomni6]

Interestingly enough, if I now look at our guide for "my HD Channels ", we no longer receive any other RSN's in HD except for fox sports west. This is pretty much what we deal with in Hawaii. For example, last week on NHL Center Ice we had several games available in HD - whereas we NEVER had ANY games in HD.
Last night with a pretty much full schedule, we only had one game in HD.

 

[styxfix]

Got it - so I am guessing the ones you receive in HD (via multi-sport pack) are Fox Detroit, Fox Southeast, Prime Sports, Root Rocky Mountain, Fox Southwest, Fox West, Sun Sports, Root Northwest, Root Pittsburgh, Sports Time Ohio, MASN, and NESN. Those are the 10 RSN's that are in HD on the 110 satellite. All the other HD channels come from the 129 satellite. As I look at that, it makes me wonder why they wouldn't put the rest of the RSN's Hawaii gets on the 110 satellite, and move some that aren't in Hawaii, such as NESN and MASN, onto the 129 satellite.

If that was the problem...it seems like a pretty easy fix for DISH to do for the subs in HI.