Well most teams don't have stupid tv deals in place where a bazillion people can't watch their home team play. They actually get to watch their team on tv with no extra fee. Streaming KGW games is pretty much pointless. Anyone out of town can just get league pass. I don't see how this helps much at all. Maybe in 2010 but I won't be paying anything to stream Blazer games.
Bandwidth is nearly free, and the advertisers pay for it many times over. Before KP came here, the majority of games were broadcast on TV statewide for free. Last year I think we got 5 or 6 down here in Beautiful Central Oregon, whatever was on espn, tnt... No wonder there are so few fans left here. The least they can do for fans is let them watch a crummy internet stream for free.
Yep. If the $80 charge that was floating around it true, I will gladly pay that to the Blazers. Sounds like some tension between the Blazers and Comcast regarding the TV contract. Will Comcast blink? Why not make this available right now? Seems like a negotiating tactic, but I like it.
Bandwidth for a high quality stream multiplied a couple of hundred thousand times over is not "nearly free" add in licensing fees that the NBA is going to charge the Blazers to broadcast the streams and the affiliate broadcast rights that comcast is going to want to levy and it all adds up. As for the good ol' days of 13" black and white, analog TV, that model is mostly done in all sports broadcasting; almost every team has an exclusive cable deal with a provider or two or some sort of league broadcast package (NFL Sunday Ticket, MLBs paid streaming games, and NBA League Pass) ... you might as well be complaining about no more horses and buggies in downtown Bend.
Why would you pay for duplication of the internet streamed games we already have on many, many sites?
The same reason I actually pay for downloaded songs 1) I can afford it, 2) it's not theft of services, and 3) most internet streams on Justin.tv and the like suck balls.
Because everytime I've watched on ustream or justin.tv, the picture quality has been complete garbage. Also, this announcement just tipped the scales for me in regards to re-buying a PS3. Now I don't have to get any type of TV service as I can stream the games on the PS3.
For how much we have to pay for season tickets, we season ticket holders should be getting the stream for free... that AINT gunna happen.
Uhm, legal vs. illegal? My bet is that the NBA will be serving notice to the freebie providers to shut them down or risk copyright violation lawsuits.
A few things about this post. 1) I remember "BlazerVision". That was not free. We didn't even get to see some playoff games w/out paying for them. (The Minny series comes to mind). 2) FSN isn't "free", and that is who the Blazers were on for roughly 6 years or so. Sure, they allow all carriers to pick them up at minimal cost, but still, it was not a "broadcast" scenario. 3) The Sacto Kings have their own deal with Comcast on CSNB. Funny enough, CSNB is on DirecTV as a regional network, as it should be. Comcast is trying to get DirecTV to pay an ESPN price for CSNW. Why, I have no idea, but Portland is right now the epicenter of the Comcast/satellite competition. I say this because Comcast is also running half-page color ads in the Oregonian bragging about having OSU on Versus, while charging DirecTV a ridiculous amount to stay on the air. Comcast seems to be going for a monopoly at this point considering their proposed purchase of broadcast network NBC. I expect a Bell-type lawsuit shortly, and Comcast will likely be fractured if they pull off the NBC deal.
Have you emailed Larry Miller about this? Seems like a valid bargaining chip for the fans who are season ticket holders.
