Subscribe Feed (RSS)Tonight is another one of those Trail Blazer games unavailable to me on my home television because it’s shown on Comcast Sports Net. Now let’s make this clear right away: I would love to have CSN. I’m going to be doing a very fun post, post-game show after some Blazer games this season on that network. Plus, I hear they carry Roller Derby — the old stuff with the Bay Area Bombers, Charlie O’Connell, Joanie Weston and hey, I grew up watching that stuff.
But I don’t have Comcast Sports Net available to me. At all. Where I live, I don’t have cable available to me. Period. And like some of those people in Seattle Ryan White wrote about today, I don’t have any options.
The entire area where I live is made up of satellite customers — either Directv or Dish. It’s our only option. And like those fans in Seattle who are blacked out on Portland games simply because they are now considered the Blazers’ “territory,” I think it’s unfair we are prohibited from watching Portland games.
It’s one thing if you’re just stubbornly refusing to get cable. I mean, come on — what’s the point of having television if you don’t have at least some of the many programming options out there? But in this case — and in the situation so many people around the state of Oregon are in — there is no cable option of being able to watch Blazer games.
See, what really pecks me off is that I pay for the NBA League Pass service, too. I’ve purchased it every season since its inception. Yet, Blazer games are STILL blacked out, because the games are being “telecast” locally. And this is where the frustrating part comes in — Nobody seems to understand that even though the games are shown in Portland, a great many of us have NO CHANCE to see them. But when you pay the extra dough for the League Pass, they should be. And as near as I can tell, that’s not Comcast’s fault. It’s not the Blazers’ fault. It’s the fault of a league blackout policy that’s outdated.
That’s why I believe that the league needs to revamp that blackout policy. What harm would it do to tweak it a little so that people who can prove they are not serviced by a cable company that carries CSN, can receive the games by NBA League Pass? All they would have to do is provide proof from a cable company in the manner of a form letter saying, “We don’t provide service in that area.” The league is getting a significant amount of money from me each season for the package of games, yet the games I want to see the most aren’t available.
Isn’t it the goal of the league and its teams to allow as many people as possible to receive the games? Isn’t that what their advertisers want? And in this specific instance, by allowing fans to see these games, it doesn’t hurt the cable companies or the satellite companies.
Please, NBA — could someone take the time to look at this situation? If you cannot receive the games any other way but League Pass, and pay for League Pass, what’s the harm in allowing you to receive the games?
Tags: blackout policy, Comcast, Dwight Jaynes, NBA League Pass, Trail Blazers
I totally agree.
What’s the point of having a Television if you don’t have cable?
1) That’s an extra $1,000 a year in my pocket and not the public minded citizens who run Comcast. That’s 14,784 over ten years with a modest return after taxes and inflation.
2) I enjoy listening to games on the radio, because I can do other things while listening to the local homer announcers scream like they’re passing a kidney stone when Brandon Roy makes two free throws or Sergio makes it down at least half the floor without a turnover. Go ahead and try to use a jigsaw while watching TV. While reading is probably safer, it still isn’t practical while the TV is on.
Anyone expecting a monopoly like Comcast to care in this situation is naive, deluded, or on some serious medication. It’s not going to happen.
John….I understand your point, but Comcast is hardly a monopoly by any traditional definition. Directv and Dish Network are clear competitors to Comcast.
Comcast Sports NW has the Blazer cable rights and want to extract money from the satellite competitors. The satellite companies have little interest in paying the price Comcast wants since it has little other programming other than the Blazers.
Pretty simple when you get to it…..
You should send this to Puppet Master Stern…
Have DirecTV? Please write Ellen Filipiak, Sr. Vice President Customer Care at DirecTV at
http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPageIFnorail.jsp?assetId=P4960016#h:695.838
and let her know you want Comcast Sportsnet on your channel listing NOW! Thanks!
While I could call up Comcast and get CSN, I refuse not to because of this situation. It saves me $ and like John said earlier, listening to games on the radio allows me to multi-task.
I put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Comcast for being so stubborn about this and on the Blazers for going along with the deal in the first place. Did they not think about the repercussions before they signed the contract?
What I dont understand is why I see other comcrap sports networks on directv. How were they able to get a deal made?!? Perhaps its not so much comcrap as it is comcrap sports NW that is to blame. They apparently are trying to play hardball with the sat. providers, because it is obvious that the sat. providers have signed on other comcrap sports networks. And if NW has little programming outside the Blazers(and the U of O), consider the fact that there is a comcrap sports west which is the home of the Kings and the Monarchs. Think that is much of a draw for anyone outside of Sacramento?
check out
justin.tv
PTBF’s posting smells like a Comcrap shill
I completely understand DirecTV’s position. Why would they pay big money to CSNW for a network that’s not *nearly* as valuable to them as the other regional sports networks? They’ve got TWO teams on their CSNW. There’s just zero chance that CSW was quoting in the same ballpark as the wizards at CSNW.
The fantastic upside is I have DirecTV and this sucks.
I’m sitting here watching the game on CSN and the picture quality is so crappy I don’t blame DirecTV or anyone else for not wanting to pay for it. The signal is so compressed that the wide shots are blurry as hell. I watched a Ducks game early in the season on CSN and the production was pure amateur hour. When the clock went below :10 it went to :9, no zero. There is no way I would pay extra for this channel, Blazers or no Blazers!
what blows my mind is that the league pass games just shows the local broadcast of the games anyway. So what is it hurting to show the same local broadcast to you via league pass as you would see if you were watching it on your local station?
You hit the nail on the head when you said it is an antiquated policy. The NBA seriously needs to take a long, hard look at that and makes the necessary changes.
I disagree Dwight.
The Blazers are at fault. The Comcast deal was going to be a great deal for everybody…remember? Or at least that’s what the team said. They signed off on it knowing full well what they were doing. With all the Lawyers, Capologists and Vulcans on Mr. Allen’s staff, do you presume to tell me Dwight that they didn’t see this coming?