um... you called in to get the discount. The statement is accurate for the majority of the population that hasn't called to recieve a discount. The point is - Dish/ATT/et al did not broadly discount the market as FSN lost broadcast rights and the provider was no longer obligated to pay the fee of the RSN. People's blind hate of everything comcast seems to be blurring their understanding of how a free market system is supposed to work.
Customers are paying for FSN, which the providers are still carrying. Why should they not charge for FSN when they still carry FSN?
When I signed up with Dish I signed up to get FSSW, not the Astros/Rockets specifically. It was never marketed to me as I was paying a subscription fee to get them, but rather I would get that channel and they happened to be on it. Currently I pay my fees and I still get FSSW. Dish (nor any other provider) did not make the decision to remove the games from FSN, that falls squarely on the teams, So the CSNH commercial saying it was the providers that took away the teams is false. FSN is not going to be removed from their package or moved to another tier until the current contract is up. The carriers have a binding contract with FSN. Until that contract is up they are still on the hook to pay for carriage of the channel, regardless of what CSN wants to try and have you believe.
The flip side to your argument is the your provider entered into an agreement with FSSW with the stipulation that they paid the fees based upon the network carrying the Astros and Rockets. Once FSSW lost the broadcast rights, the carrier no longer had to pay the fees. Your contract or monthly rate for your services - regardless of your desire for the channels or specific programming - were predicated on these fee's. Once these were no longer obligations - the providers are profitting off you unless you (jim romeism) bang your monkey.
Out of curiosity, where are you getting the notion that just because fssw lost the Rockets and Astros that this removes the carriers' contractual obligations to carry the channel and pay the fee? I am not arguing with you as much as I am curious, because if that is actually true, I have never heard it verified before. However, something tells me that just because the channel lost the teams rights does not alter the contractual obligations between Fox and the carriers.
Tad Brown indicated this in his radio interview yesterday morning (or whatever morning that was) I had actually been working under the assumption that a portion of this problem was that carriers did not want to pay for two RSN's. Personally, I found Tad's comments to be very enlightening, but I am sure there are plenty that will have found them to be mis-direction. Given that the negotiations aren't open to the public - both beliefs have equal validity, because no one really knows. It's all speculation at this point.
studogg, Come on, it's silly to think that anyone other than Cumcash or the Astros/Rockets. I heard DTV and Uverse offered to give all fans free handies if CSN would just budge from their $3.40 price, but CSN wanted everyone to have blue balls. If you don't agree, you're an ******* apologist of Cumcash!!!
The truth is I was made this offer but, upon observing the physcial appearance of the "service specialist" from Uverse, I passed and opted for the "Free Cinemax after 10:35 p.m. Every Evening Package."
unfortunately I have to spread reputation or something of the like. hahaha - epic posts from you and RM95
Free market? Dafuq? We're talking about teams that are subsidized with sweetheart arena/stadium deals by the public here. Take your "free market" drivel somewhere else.
Captain Hyperbole strikes again, you got me. I hate anyone who ever said anything nice about ComCast, no matter the fact that I live outside of Houston and can't even switch to someone that carries the Astros(regardless of what Jim Crane says. And also regardless of the fact that I defended some of your arguments on page <100 where Batman went off the deep end). That quote may be the best description of the arguments. I tend to lean away from believing a group that has continually put out inaccurate (at best) propaganda commercials, and has a mouthpiece that doesn't have a clue what he is talking about most of the time. I'm looking at you Jim Crane...
<object id="otvPlayer" width="400" height="268"><param name="movie" value="http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/static/flash/embeddedPlayer/swf/otvEmLoader.swf?version=fw1000&station=ktrk§ion=&mediaId=9051896&parentId=9051946&cdnRoot=http://cdn.abclocal.go.com&webRoot=http://abclocal.go.com&configPath=/util/&site=" ></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><param name="allowNetworking" value="all"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed id="otvPlayer" width="400" height="268" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allownetworking="all" allowfullscreen="true" src="http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/static/flash/embeddedPlayer/swf/otvEmLoader.swf?version=fw1000&station=ktrk§ion=&mediaId=9051896&parentId=9051946&cdnRoot=http://cdn.abclocal.go.com&webRoot=http://abclocal.go.com&configPath=/util/&site="></embed></object> "Hardball off the field: Astros, Rockets, Dynamo still not on TV, unless you have Comcast" ..... "It's terrible for the fans. We really want to get these games on TV and we're very concerned about. We work on it every day. It's not good. And we feel it'll get worked out relatively soon," Crane said. ... Crane says he switched to Comcast, too, even though he's optimistic about a deal. "There's been communication today, there was last night. We're still trying to cut a deal that works for the Astros, the Rockets, and Comcast long-term," said Crane. In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Comcast SportsNet Houston told us, "We continue to work day and night until this is resolved, but fans should recognize that they hold more power than they realize. We urge all fans to call their television providers and demand the network. At the least, fans should demand a reduction in their monthly bills as many are paying the same amount as last year, except now they are not getting to watch the Astros, Rockets and Dynamo." We did reach out to representatives from DirecTV, Dish Network, and AT&T for their comments on the negotiations, but only DirecTV responded, saying in part, "We too want to enable any Astros fans to have CSN Houston. If the Astros and Comcast will agree to make the channel available only to those customers who want to pay for it or make it more reasonable for all of our customers, we can have an agreement completed very soon."
It won't happen just by the math. 2.8 million cable/sat customers, 40% are Comcast. So that's 1.68 million non-Comcast customers. Comcast is asking $3.4 per customer. That's 5.71 million dollars. The ratings now are 22,000 people per game. Multiply that times 60%, assuming the same percentage non-Comcast customers would watch the games, and that's 35,000 more non-Comcast customers. In order for those 35,000 customers, even if they all wanted to pay, to generate 5.71 million dollars they'd each have to pay $163 per month. Comcast would lose a crap load of money based on what they paid for the rights if providers could charge $5-10 for everyone that actually wanted the channel.
No offense taken. Couldn't resist calling someone Captain hyperbole though Its been a long week of testing. I'm probably a little on edge.
I just had enough of it. 2 weeks ago I put my Dish on pause(not under contract anymore), instead of canceling it, for 6 mos. Signed with Comcast (an agreement for 6 months). Just because I want to see the Rockets, Astros and the Dynamo plays, I just got tired of watching them online and G ot tired of b****in about it and going nowhere with it plus it's the only way I can satisfy myself and put my mind to ease, at least for now. DON'T like Comcast at all, DVR is so outdated and best they have is not even available at the area I'm live in. I don't like it but if Dish picks up CSN Houston, I'm dropping Comcast in a hurry no doubt but for now I have no choice.
I like using the word 'hyperbaric', but it's extremely hard to work into normal everyday conversation. On a completely unrelated note - THANK EVERYONE INVOLVED IN THE ADVENT OF THE ROX GAMES ON VLC. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU However, I just have not yet had much chance to play with it, or do much else other than catch the second half or so of a couple of games since I got it working. So, the question I have is, does this give us any kind of 'dvr' functionality at all? In other words, if I see a particularly good play (such as the long Lin 3 at the end of the shot clock last night, that was pretty sweet), normally I would rewind and watch that a couple of times, just to try to see everything that was going on. But I have not been willing to go pressing buttons on the VLC player, for fear of somehow interrupting or killing the stream.. So, does this let us either use the player like a DVR, or is there some way to record from the stream for playback later? The quality is amazing, and I urge everyone who can to stop bothering with comcast and just watch the games this way. They want to push us to being pirates, and into finding alternate ways of acquiring what we want, bypassing their money-making venture altogether? Fine, they are slitting their own throats out of greed, and they can rot for all I care.
Please expound on VLC. (For reasons I cannot figure out, my First Row stream has quit working; it just won't hook up with the server. I use a proxy, and ad blockers but I did back when I used to watch it before) Being a pirate is just being a capitalist. You skirt all the rules and proprieties you can to maximize your profits (viewing satisfaction)
