One more facet to the proposed Blazers’ webcasts
After talking to several people at the exhibition game last night, it became apparent to me that a lot of them believe Portland’s decision to air its games on its web site this season may give the team leverage to help settle the Comcast-satellite TV disputes.
Make no mistake, Portland’s Comcast Sportsnet Northwest is but a small piece in the major war between Comcast and Directv. The customers of Directv saw Versus disappear from their channel guide a few weeks ago as part of this war, with its hockey and college football gone with it.
But the idea is that Comcast’s Trail Blazer exclusivity is gone if the games are also available on your computer. That, theory, makes Comcast more likely to negotiate a deal.
It’s still not a full solution to the problem, though. I don’t think gathering the family around a computer screen is anything close to cuddling up in front of that 52-inch plasma screen on your television.
At this point, I’ve given up trying to predict what’s going to happen in this negotiation. We have no choice but to sit back and see what’s going to happen next — innocent pawns in this major corporate battle.
NBA, Trail Blazers | Dwight Jaynes | October 7, 2009
Comcast Sportsnet, Directv, Dwight Jaynes, Portland Trail Blazers, Versus
I sure hope it’s enough leverage … but I fear that it’s not. You’re right on about the Blazers just being a piece of the greater Comcast/Directv battle, but I suspect it is a very important piece. While there is fault to go around, clearly Comcast deserves the largest share. Directv (and other carriers) carry a LOT of regional sports stations … and you know they want to carry all of them … at a REASONABLE price! But if they over-pay for one (like CSNNW), it sets a bad precedence for all of the others. Of course, the Blazers also share some blame – as they have allowed this to go on for way too long … at the expense of their own customers … including those who cannot even get Comcast service (if anyone was crazy enough to want it!) and season ticket holders (their best customers!) who go to every home game but cannot watch 90% of the road games … crazy!!! Broker a deal, Blazers … do right for your customers!
My Laptop plays really nice with my 42″ plasma when connected via an HDMI cable.
I do the same thing to watch courtside!
Yeah, what AK_NOPO says. My 42 inch has a VGA hookup and a line in input so I can run a cable from the headphone output on my laptop to the TV. Works great for that Netflix play it instantly feature and if I miss a show on TV and want to catch it on Hulu.
According to the L.A. Times, “Philadelphia-based cable giant Comcast Corp. has had some flirtations with General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal about acquiring a chunk of the entertainment giant, perhaps as much as half.” Comcast is a major bully, trying to monopolize even more of the public’s access to information and entertainment. They have a record of restricting Internet content according to their whims, so don’t look for them to roll over when it comes to the Trailblazers, a relatively small portion of their potential business.
When heartless raptors like Comcast consolidate their power to dictate when and where we can see sports, it’ll be a case of “pay through the nose or don’t watch at all.” Take five minutes today to write a little note to your congressional representative, asking him or her to do something to stop predatory companies like Comcast from fixing the game.
Yes, I know- you’ll have to use the googles on the internets to find the email contact pages, but it’s not hard. Just type in Jeff Merkley or Ron Wyden (for Oregonians), or Maria Cantwell or Patty Murray (for Washingtonians). Those of you who know your congressperson in the House of Representatives get a gold star for civics! Rah rah rah.
Does anybody have any clue as to what kinda deal the Blazers have with Comcast? Are they locked into some intractable long term deal with them? I never understood why Blazers did this deal with Comcast to begin with. Comcast’s greedy, proprietary cable deals were not some big secrete when the Blazers set up this deal. It seems the Blazers could have, should have, can they not do it now? This kinda channel deal with Fox Sports Network or some other more user friendly company. A network as opposed to a cable delivery company.
Well if your computer is like mine it has an HDMI output so I can watch the computer games on TV. If you have a home network wireless set up ethernet out on your computer and say XBOX 360. Then you can run your live TV thru XBOX’s and your computers Media Center software and watch it on your big screen as well. Go to xbox website they have the free download software that allows you to so this. At least I can. My computer is an HD lap top so I can only imagine what some of you guys have in desk top setups anymore. All I am saying is there are ways to run live TV thru your computer onto the HD TV. Not ideal still. But it will work.
It is really no different then NFL Sunday Ticket only being available on Direct TV. Atleast that deal will be ending in a season or so since the NFL has seen the light and the money.
CSN is a Comcast station and Comcast deserves to be paid for it being shown on other carriers. As a Comcast customer I shouldn’t have to subsidize dish or directtv users to see it, and right now that is exactly what dish/direct want. Here is a solution, add CSN to a sports only tier and charge more.
Limelight — the Blazers did their deal with Comcast Sportsnet because it paid them HUGE money… way more than they were getting from any other place. It’s why they’re still with them — and maybe always will be, if they keep paying.
Figures. If that’s the case then the Blazers should quit blaming Comcast and pretending they feel the pain of those fans left out of the loop. I guess it’s like they say. In all things follow the money!
In the near future, TV will become seconhand to live web streaming. Most programming and events will run through your computer. Technology is heading this way and in a hurry.
My suggestion to all of you is when purchasing that big tv that you make sure it has a PC input
There will be a day not so long from now where the main way we will just be going to the Blazers website for all the games
I have a Roku that connected to my TV via HDMI and costs $99. There is an MLB channel ( haven’t watched it ). I would love to see a NBA channel with premium subscriptions. It would level the playing field. Of course this type of thing is why Comcast and others are talking about monthly bandwidth utilization caps on broadband Internet connections ( though they are currently very high ).
I’m no techie expert, but wouldn’t it be pretty easy to run a cable from a laptop to a plasma tv, essentially using it as a monitor? With plasmas, the plugs are all pretty accessible, too….maybe a USB would be the easiest one….