Versus Removed Sept 1 from DirecTV
- Thread starter Mariah2014
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Again, if cable channel A wants to pay $80 million for the rights and only has 100,000,000 viewers with access to the channel, the NHL is going to take that over cable channel B who wants to pay $40 million for the rights to the games with 150,000,000 viewers with access to the channel.
It is about the money. Highest bidder wins. Sure they want more viewers, but money prevails.
They have already commented that it is a long way off before the start of hockey season as well.
Also, NHL on Vs is a taste of all teams. A little of this team, a little of that team. Vs only has a few of my team's games a year (The Lightning), while I see most of them on Sun Sports. This will impact die hard hockey fans, but then again die hards usually have CI.
I'm sure DirecTV will work this out with Vs. They aren't just going to not carry Versus in the long run. But this is the kind of crap that is the reason I generally have two providers. DirecTV and FIOS. No one provider has it all.
Bingo -- this is a big reason for why the contract went from ESPN (with a much larger viewing audience) to Versus.
The problem is that with CI you're still going to miss that game because Versus has exclusive broadcast rights in the US for the games that they cover.
Of course, if you're a real die-hard hockey fan you have Canadian sat as well, so you can pick up the Versus games on TSN or TSN2 instead.
But...
Although, there isn't any useful programming on Versus other than the Sports Soup show and some college football.
Although, there isn't any useful programming on Versus other than the Sports Soup show and some college football.
Bottom line is this... if keeping Versus was going to drive up the cost per subscriber so much that they decided not to do the deal, then I would expect our bills will be lowered by that much each month now that we don't have it - OR - I would expect that we would get a new channel to take it's place, like ESPNU or a premium HD channel. I'm not holding my breath.
So I just called into D* support and voiced my anger. Their idea for compensation, $5 off the next 3 months. I said, really, I don't care about compensation, I just want you to understand sports programming is the reason why I'm with D*.
Now with all this nonsense, I MAY have to consider subbing to CABLEVISION to get VS back. I explained this to them, clearly stating that I wouldn't drop D* because I like it too much and their response: "Would you like Sunday Ticket this season" ?
Comical, but it just goes to show how in the dark VS is, not enough people care.
Now with all this nonsense, I MAY have to consider subbing to CABLEVISION to get VS back. I explained this to them, clearly stating that I wouldn't drop D* because I like it too much and their response: "Would you like Sunday Ticket this season" ?
Comical, but it just goes to show how in the dark VS is, not enough people care.
Things are going to get ugly 100 miles to my west in Austin if Versus isn't up by 9/12 for the Horns game at Wyoming.
If Versus isn't back up by next summer for the Tour de France, I will drop it and go to Dish. I know that DirecTV is "fighting for me," but I want my Versus back.
If Versus isn't back up by next summer for the Tour de France, I will drop it and go to Dish. I know that DirecTV is "fighting for me," but I want my Versus back.
There are actually people out there that don't realize or don't care what channel their game is on. They just want to see their hockey game and don't pay attention to branding. Whether it is on Versus, Sun Sports, ESPN, they don't care, they just find it and watch their game. If hockey season were to begin and DirecTV doesn't have this resolved, people will start caring when they cannot find they game and then discover it is on a channel that DirecTV no longer carries.
We at this site are the junkies. We pay attention to the fact that we get this channel or don't get that one. We pay attention to what is in HD and what is not. Many (probably most) don't really care or pay attention to a lot of this stuff the way we do. DirecTV knows they can do this right now, but they also know that they won't get away with it very long when hockey starts up again.
The people I was referring to were the people at D*. It's almost like they forgot the time where they were the sole provider of OLN\VS and people came running to D* for it.
Just wanted to clarify here because I watched this very closely - but ESPN chose not to renew the contract with NHL. It was not the NHL's choice as ESPN no longer wanted to include NHL programming in their lineup. The NHL scrambled for a national provider, which came in the form of OLN. In addition, they then later signed with NBC for Sunday games for free. Given the choice, the NHL would have stayed with ESPN if ESPN wanted them.
NHL isn't a good choice of analogy here because they are consistently desperate for increased viewership and while I agree that money talks - with the NHL, they want/need as much exposure as they can get. I mean, they're not charging NBC to broadcast those games on Sunday later in the season at all. That speaks volumes.
I think he just wants to become the equal of harshness and vampz when it come to E* subscribers who like to come over to D* forums and bash D* relentlessly.
I don't bash D* in D* forums...
uncrules statement is a lie...
For the record, I think I made one snide comment about ST all year if even that...
Thank you.
You are only partially right. ESPN had a contract that they were paying for the rights to the NHL for the 04-05 season, with an option for 05-06. After the lockout cancelled the 04-05 season, ESPN declined it's option for 05-06, but submitted an offer similar to the NBC deal. They did not offer upfront money, and wanted a revenue-sharing deal. The NHL got an offer from Comcast, owners of the Flyers. Thus, OLN/Versus became the US cable rights holders for the NHL. ESPN DID submit an offer, but the league went for the money. Thus the current situation. Part of what went on with the NHLPA this weekend has to do with this. The PA wants to go back to ESPN, because the players want more exposure. There were other reasons, but the PA wants a leader that will fight the league more than Kelley did. He was too close to the Board of Governors, in some people's opinion. The Versus deal is a very polarizing issue at the NHL.
VS will only carry a few Red Wings games as well and I like you prefer my local RSN FSN Detroit.
fwiw, I could never afford to have more than one provider, I pay PLENTY to D* already.
Ok, you're right. You bash the heck out of D* in the War Zone, but not the D* forums. I apologize for that. Of course nobody bashes nobody in the War Zone these days. It's pretty dead over there.
Thanks, an the very least I make it a point to not disrupt the topics in the main thread areas...
As for the warzone...Oh well....don't expect much to happen there anytime soon other than an occasional pro-D* love-fest.
This is true but once the playoffs start it will be a different story. The Conference Finals & Stanley Cup Finals are exclusively on Versus & NBC in the US. What's the point in investing in Center Ice for a whole season only to miss out on the most important games of the year? Hopefully they will make the CBC's feed for these games available on Center Ice but in the past Center Ice has ended at the conclusion of the second round. Someone needs to figure this out asap or they will have a whole bunch of unhappy NHL fans come May & June.
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