That's the big takeaway for me, too. What really stands out to me is that the average person is far more loyal to their provider than I had imagined. For me personally, I've had UVerse, Comcast, Phonoscope, Time Warner, Mediacom and Dish at various places I've lived... and honestly, I've never had one I thought was appreciably better or worse than any other. Some offered better introductory specials at a given time, but after 6 months or so, they all ended up fairly comparable in price. As far as customer service, they were all pretty much luck of the draw on who I called or ran into at the store. Some helpful, some idiots. But it's clear through this saga and the others around the country that most people don't have that view. It seems like the average person is pretty loyal to his provider, probably more so than RSN founders thought a few years ago. To me, the biggest game changer is increased streaming. The diehards have avenues like Ball Streams, or illegal European sites, or Slingbox, or ways to get around the MLBTV/NBATV blackout restrictions. They can still see the games, especially with web speeds getting faster and faster. Are there huge amounts of people streaming? Not massive, but the importance (imo) is that these are the diehards that the teams/RSN founders were counting on to leverage providers the hardest. I think many of them would still want the channel, all things being equal... but when they consider the hassle of a switch, get a big discount offered by their original provider AND try out the streaming... they find it's tolerable. There's just not the sense of desperation that the teams were counting on, and we're seeing that play out everywhere, not just in Houston.
I'm not sure it's as much a loyalty as it is value of the sports. I think most people probably view sports in the light of "if it's on, I'll tune in". If the game isn't on, most people really don't care that much. The hardcore fans probably switch, but the vast majority just fine something else to do or watch. This is stretching a bit, but ESPN Phone is a similar example. ESPN was sure that people loved their sports so much that they would change providers to have a sports-centered phone. But at the end of the day, while people love sports, they don't care *that* much and the whole thing was a massive failure. In both cases, I don't think it's as much a loyalty to your phone or cable provider as it is people just not caring that much to go through the trouble to switch.
Spoiler Fact is we don't know 100% yet, but the smart money is on them not picking it up. Dish has said over and over they aren't interested at any price point. There is still the possibility that they could but as the Direct TV rep testified at the hearing, they are focusing on college sports and less on pro sports. If they don't see a huge set of complaints or a bunch of people jumping to other providers then I don't think they will cave. I was with DISH until Wednesday. I was not taking the chance on them. I swapped to Direct and I am completely happy.
As streaming and standalone (cord cutters) services is the future... it seems like the only reason to really have a pay TV subscription to cable or satellite will be to have access to live sports. (and even then, WatchESPN could offer standalone service depending on how HBO does with theirs).
Sucks losing CSN. It was the best Rockets support from a TV station I have ever seen. FSN was a joke. UPN was a joke. I don't care if other people can get CSN or not, I could, so I was happy.
The fact that other people could not get it led to it not being economically viable. For that reason, you should have been begging the, to work out carriage agreements.
Or they were like me and cancelled cable altogether. Once you stop there really is no impetus to get it back. I'm actually looking forward to the day I move away from Houston, so I can just pay for a non-blacked out League Pass and get higher quality streams of the Rockets.
The biggest drawback for Dish signing up is if they are offered a discount below the Comcast rate, the rate for Comcast drops. The Comcast carriage agreement is the only reason this all works.
VPN service + streaming from MLB.com or NBA.com. Kill the cable companies. If it weren't for Longhorns football I'd have cut the cord some time ago.
That is a really good point. However, the new network will have decreased costs. It is possible that there is some price point out there where the decrease in the Comcast rate and the additional revenue from having Dish still works with the decreased costs. What that price point would be...I have no idea. With the restructuring, the entire dynamic will change though.
I assumed the decreased costs and very little buy in were the reasons they bought it. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9cHpNyD4tZA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Was your contract up or did you break your contract? Did they have to schedule a visit to come get their dish?
I've been with Comcast for 5 years. I've been wanting to switch to a cheaper option for a while but my hands have been tied by the CSN mess. People tell me if I threaten to switch I can get a discount, but I'm not willing to threaten unless I'm prepared to follow through. One way or the other I'm getting cheaper cable once this is settled.
My contract was up. I have been with them for about 10 years and out of contract since the end of year 2. It was actually pretty easy to cancel with them. They are not coming to get my dish, they are sending a box for the parts that they want returned. I have to send receivers, remotes and the LNB off the dish itself. If you can easily reach your dish they want you to get this part back, but if your dish is mounted where you can't get to it, they won't require you to get it. I took both of my dishes down so I have the part they want. The rest of the dish they don't need and can be disposed of or left on the side of your house. As long as you send it in within 30 days there is no issue, after 30 days they charge the original credit card used to secure your contract. The box they send has a paid shipping label on it so it won't cost anything to return it to them.
