Regional sports networks

[osumike]

I guess I'd really like an answer from DIRT on this one, but maybe someone else knows. Why is it that Dish blacks out certain baseball games that DirecTV will show, on the same channel?? Examples: I am a Detroit Tigers fan. I used to live in NW Ohio, about an hour south of Detroit. I subscribed to Fox Detroit, which carries all the games. When I was a Dish subscriber, EVERY game on that channel was blacked out. I switched to DirecTV, and on the same channel, Fox Detroit, they would show every game. WHY?

So now I live in Wisconsin, cancelled direct, and signed up with Dish again. I have Fox Detroit here also, but again, EVERY game is "not available in my viewing area." WHY?

If I were a DirecTV customer here in Wisconsin, with Fox Detroit, would I be able to get the games here from them? If so, I'm cancelling dish asap.

DIRT???

 

[osu1991]

As much as we pay. I am becoming fed up with part time rsns. Was blacked out of the Cards game on MLB the other night because it was on Fox Mid West or whatever the Cards RSN is, of course dish was only showing the HD feed for the other team which I was blacked out on so had to try and watch the crappy sd feed.

Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[osumike]

Oh I'm getting blacked out of the SD channel also... Pretty ridiculous. I just don't get why one provider will show every game and the other won't show any. If it's about money just say so!

 

[MattG@DISH]

Have you checked this link to see if the game is on another channel?

http://www.mydish.com/gamefinder/

 

[osumike]

Yes.

 

[osumike]

Tonight it's actually on ESPN so I can watch it, but any other(all) time, it's blacked out.

 

[MattG@DISH]

In the future please use the game finder to find a game. Please let us know if it is not available and we can look into this further.

 

[satnewb]

I'm assuming your RSN is tied to your locals market. I'm in the Detroit suburbs and I have no issues. My guess is you get some Wisconsin locals, and as such, you get Wisconsin RSN's. Probably get to watch a lot of Brewer's games. Perhaps you need to "move"......

 

[MattG@DISH]

I do not see that FSN Detroit covers Wisconsin anywhere. You will be blacked out as this is not your regional sport network.

http://www.mydish.com/support/rsn-maps?WT.svl=contentarea

 

[kenny9966]

As much as we pay. I am becoming fed up with part time rsns. Was blacked out of the Cards game on MLB the other night because it was on Fox Mid West or whatever the Cards RSN is, of course dish was only showing the HD feed for the other team which I was blacked out on so had to try and watch the crappy sd feed.

Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

Yes this happens FREQUENTLY! MY Work has the Multi sports pack and had the HD version of the game on 418 Fox Sports Midwest HD. I came home to finish watching the game (I dont sub to the MSP, but Cardinals is part of my RSN) and i only got an SD version of it! No HD offered yet they were broadcasting it in HD! Go Pokes!

 

[satnewb]

I also show out of market RSN's in "My HD channels" in the guide. I can't tune to any of them, not that I would expect it anyways. I'm sure if you "moved" back to your Ohio address or my neighbors house you would get the Tigers.

BTW the game is now on ESPN and FSD HD.

 

[kenny9966]

Hey MattG is there a reason why this happens? If i sub'd to MSP i would of had the Cardinals game in HD (CH. 418 Foxsports Midwest) but since i dont (I have AEP i pay enough) i only got an SD version of it on some random Alt channel. This happens alot and it makes no sense to me. Same zipcode as work and we are in the Cardinals regional network.

 

[satnewb]

Your employer is probably on a commercial account. That's a whole different ballgame, so to speak.

 

[kenny9966]

Your employer is probably on a commercial account. That's a whole different ballgame, so to speak.

Yes it is a commercial account sir. Not sure why that matters though because all they sub to is the MSP. Everything is blacked out EXCEPT our 3 regional Baseball teams.(Royals, Rangers & Birdies).

 

[osu1991]

Hey MattG is there a reason why this happens? If i sub'd to MSP i would of had the Cardinals game in HD (CH. 418 Foxsports Midwest) but since i dont (I have AEP i pay enough) i only got an SD version of it on some random Alt channel. This happens alot and it makes no sense to me. Same zipcode as work and we are in the Cardinals regional network.

It comes down to Dish not showing all versions of the RSN's in HD instead remapping them to the ALT's and/or possibly not having all zipcodes entered in their RSN maps database correctly all the time. FSMidWest wasn't in HD on the ALT the other night, they were only showing the other teams network feed in HD on the ALT's, so we got screwed and only got the SD. I'm sure if I had MultiSport then the actual FSMidwest HD channel probably would have been unlocked.

This is not the first time it's happened and I know it won't be the last, but considering what we pay for sports and sports is 95% of the reason I pay for all the crap on tv, it needs to get corrected if Dish is going to keep dragging their ass clearing up space on WA with the mpeg2 SD channels and receivers.

 

[MattG@DISH]

The majority of professional spots are blacked out while outside of the teams market, even with the Multi Sport Pack

 

[kenny9966]

Right Matt and im OK with that but me and OSU1991(Tulsa?) are having the same problem with not getting one of our Regionals in HD (Live game) over 25% of the time because we dont sub to the MSP. We only get an SD verison of it on a random Alt Channel.

 

[osu1991]

Kenny and I shouldn't have been blacked out. We are in the Cards region. This was DISH not providing the HD feed on the HD ALT channel. This was Sat or Sun for the Cards/Brewers game. It was on MLBnet and we were blacked out on MLB because we are in the Cards market and it was on FSN Midwest, yet Dish didn't provide the FSN Midwest on an HD Alt channel. Dish only provided the Brewers feed on an HD ALT channel and we were blacked out of that one and had to settle for the SD Alt feed of FSN Midwest.

 

[dare2be]

No one is addressing the original question. How can one provider black out a team in a certain area while another shows it in the same area? Most of us were led to believe that the local market is determined by the league or team, yet if different providers have different blackout regions for the same team, it sounds like blackouts are also determined by contracts between the MVPD and the channel owners.

 

[osu1991]

No one is addressing the original question. How can one provider black out a team in a certain area while another shows it in the same area? Most of us were led to believe that the local market is determined by the league or team, yet if different providers have different blackout regions for the same team, it sounds like blackouts are also determined by contracts between the MVPD and the channel owners.

They are. There is an extra cost involved in areas that have overlapping teams, so each provider can be different in those overlapping areas