You obviously are oblivious to the negotiations and have no recall on what was going on at the time. You make my point completely as you paid little attention to the team at the time. If you had been paying attention and cared about them at all back then instead of just being a bandwagon jumper like you are now, then you wouldn't be bitching right now.
Says the guy who joined this month. The issue isn't for people that have the choice to get Comcast, but choose not to. That's their choice. The victims are the Blazer fans that live within the blackout zone that Comcast DOESN'T serve. It's a huge area, btw. Of course, since you've followed this situation so closely, you understand that issue completely.
So many bandwagon fans that weren't around at the time the contract was being negotiated. If they'd watched the games back then instead of watching something else or doing something else, then this contract never would have happened. Comcast didn't want anything to do with the Blazers, either, as it lost money for them. Nobody watched the games. They were the JailBlazers...could barely win 20 games in a season, fans didn't show up to the games, nobody showed them on TV at bars. To make it worthwhile for Comcast, the Blazers had to make it worth their effort for the future. The present was a huge gamble and a losing proposition for Comcast. The only way to do that was with an "exclusive" contract in hopes that the Blazers might turn things around and fans would start watching again. Fans are already disappearing again. There's about a third less interest this year than there was last year. The "pulse" on the street, at games, etc., is that there is very little interest with the Blazers. People are already throwing their hands up in the air with Brandon Roy's contract and bone-on-bone knees with zero hope in sight. The arrow is pointing down with the Blazers right now, not up. You could say that Comcast now doesn't have anything to "hope" for, but looking from their point of view, it would be best to wait and see what happens with Greg Oden. Like the Blazers, Comcast has too much invested with the "hope" that Oden will become a player in the league.
Absolutely. But as MickZagger pointed out, there are other ways to receive the games. Each individual company has the right to negotiate separately with Comcast, and many companies have done so and those homes have access to the games. People here have no idea what the bigger picture is, including Mr. Canzano. Here it is in a nutshell. I'll just go over the basic skeleton of the situation: Rupert Murdoch owns DirectTV. He also owns all Fox channels. He tried to buy out Dish Network about 7 years ago and the U.S. Congress forbade him from doing so as too few companies (like the owners of Comcast) have too much control. You take that idea and you consider the reasons what the motives are when DirectTV and DishNetwork negotiate things. Currently, there are several cities around the U.S. (Los Angeles, Cincinnati, etc....major cities) who lost their baseball television rights to watch their own teams (the Angels, the REDS, etc..) right during the middle of the pennant chase in the middle of September. Rupert Murdoch and Fox stopped broadcasting games. By doing so, he was attempting to get teams to not use their local cable companies who had Fox broadcasting like Portland has FoxNorthwest and the Mariners and switch to his DirectTV, which had the MLB baseball package. It's pandering, it's maneuvering, it's high-stakes competition and Rupert Murdoch wants more control. A similar thing is going on between Dish Network and some local channels, like people experienced here in Portland with ABC, Channel 2 for a while (at least a year, I think). Dish Network is the last medium, other than the internet, that isn't owned by some mega-media Giant like Disney, Murdock, Viacom, the BBC, Gannett, etc. This "little" squabble of Comcast negotiating their rights to Blazer games for the next few years with DirectTV and DishNetwork is more complicated than people think. Comcast isn't playing hardball. DirectTV and Rupert Murdoch do not want to negotiate a deal. They want to try to make Comcast into "the enemy" and Comcast wants people to switch from DirectTV to Comcast. That's why several small local cable companies have been able to successfully negotiate with Comcast, but DirectTV has not. DirectTV doesn't want to. Comcast doesn't see any of the smaller cable companies as a threat so the negotiations are easier to complete. DishNetwork and Comcast just haven't been able to come up with the right contract because DishNetwork is the little guy in this, yet they are big when you look at how few people bring this up to their attention compared to their overall clients. It's just not important enough to them based on their clients' feedback. Again, none of this ever would have happened if 97% of the Blazer fans hadn't abandoned them during the tail-end of the Jail-Blazer days and the early post-Bob Whitsitt era. Fan appreciation dictated this contract, and fans have to live with it. They reap what they sowed.
No. I just go with whoever is offering the best deal at the time, whether it's Comcast, DirecTV, FIOS, or DishNetwork. Right now it's FIOS (as far as who is the best of the non-internet feeds). But, none of those are as good as HD feeds over the internet, as you've been smart enough to figure out. Also, I'm a supporter of www.savetheinternet.com . Earl Blumenauer is one of the leading Senators working in a bi-partisan campaign to limit mega-media giants like those I've mentioned from taking over the internet and limiting the last bastion of free speech. This Comcast/Blazer thing isn't even the tip of the iceberg of the dangers going on that all here should be aware about if they care anything at all about free speech and fair play. And, isn't that what those who want the Blazers being telecast on Dish and DirecTV concerned about....fair play? "Net Neutrality" is the subject of the Bills that Blumenauer and others are fighting for. Check out these videos, they will scare you to death: http://www.savetheinternet.com/videos
While FIOS by Verizon is the best right now, here' what else you get with your FIOS... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NrFJ0N5hQc
I have a choice. I just refuse to switch. Comcast is HORRIBLE. I still reserve the right to complain about it though.
There's gold! GOLD I TELL YOU!!! UNDER THE....satellite dish in my back yard. I buried my old gold coins there.
So what is your theory as to the cable companies' motives, other than the obvious? How are they increasing their profit by not making a deal? (The obvious is that Comcast is trying to charge them far more than they paid before Comcast got the contract.)
Comcast's motive is to get people to switch from whatever they are using to Comcast in order to watch the Blazer games. However, they also have to negotiate with Fox for the right's to show their channels (local sports, and other channels), so they can't negotiate poorly or in bad faith, as it could come back to bite them on the other negotiations. Comcast, thus, is negotiating fairly. They aren't going to give it away, and they already lost revenue the first couple of years that they had the contract, and could continue to lose money on it as Roy's loss mounts up, Oden continues to be AWOL, Cho continues to do nothing, etc. DirecTV's motive is to negotiate a deal based on using their strength of multiple channels that they own (the Fox channels, etc.). When DirecTV starts to "bend" a little and let go of some of the "exclusive" NFL package that they negotiated, then your complaints can be warranted about Comcast. DirecTV is the expert in holding out from other companies their "exclusive" rights to sporting events. If there's anyone to mistrust in the negotiating area, it's DirecTV. The NFL had to step in just to get the concession of letting other cable companies have "NFL Redzone" and "NFL Network".
Don't listen to anything that Kingspoint is saying. Almost all if there is any facts are completely wrong. Comcast would lose if Dish or Directv wanted to push this and go before a arbitrator but they don't have anything to win and there is a slight chance Comcast could win. The amount of money Comcast is asking for is way more then any other regional sportsnet. They also want to be included in a higher tier then the rest of the sportsnets which would cost Dish and Directv way more then CSNW is worth. Comcast must negotiate in good faith at a reasonable fair price which has to be similar to what Dish and Directv are paying for other similar sportsnets. They are asking far more then any other Sportsnets even other Comcast sportsnets that are already carried. Even Paul Allen owned cable company hasn't reached a agreement with Comcast. I'm sure PA would do it in a heart beat if it was even close to a fair deal. I have gone over all the details to this negotiation on the forum before and am not going to go in to details again but trust me this is almost 100% Comcast fault and if this was a bigger market and was hurting Dish or Directv's business they would already be before a arbitrator.
