Posts Tagged ‘Dish Network’

No Comcast? You may be able to see Trail Blazer games this season after all

October 6th, 2009 by Dwight Jaynes | 23 Comments | Filed in NBA, Trail Blazers

I have learned today from two sources that telecasts of  Portland Trail Blazer games may finally be accessible to a much wider audience this season, even though there’s no word of any sort of immediate resolution in the battle between Comcast and the satellite TV companies.

During the offseason, the NBA apparently decided that teams could make live telecasts of their games available on their web sites, but left it up to individual teams to decide whether to do it. And what I’ve heard is that the Trail Blazers have already decided to stream all their games live this season on their web site.

I’m not sure how that impacts the relationship between Comcast Sportsnet and the Trail Blazers, but  it’s well known that the Trail Blazers have been frustrated that their games have not been available to a wider audience than just those with cable TV connections. Comcast has been negotiating with Directv and Dish Network for more than two years, trying to reach an agreement that would allow Comcast Sportsnet Northwest to be available via satellite. But no deal has been made and such a deal does not seem imminent.

There were several web sites last season that pirated the signal of Trail Blazer telecasts and aired them on the Internet. The NBA has attempted to halt that piracy with varying degrees of success.

Major League Baseball has opened up a solid revenue stream by making its games available for a price on the Internet. All MLB games throughout the season and in the postseason are available — for a price – on the web.

No word yet on what the NBA or the Blazers will set as the cost  of watching the games, whether they’d be available on a per-game basis or only on a season basis.

The Trail Blazers Tuesday refused comment on this story.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Tags: , , , , ,