PDA

View Full Version : NFL vs. Cable



Jeff G
11-29-2007, 11:05 AM
The cable companies and the NFL Network not being able to work out an agreement is really getting old. Tonight we have one of the season's best match ups and yet over half the country won't be able to tune into the game. I am a huge Packer's fan and thankfully one of our local TV stations is picking up the game to air but over 1/2 of Wisconsin won't be able to tune into the game.

On Thanksgiving we were at my parents with quite a few other family members and we couldn't watch the evenings game with the Colt's and Falcon's. Instead we watched college football on ESPN. I would guess that happened a lot.

How long are these two sides going to hold out? From what I understand the NFL Network is asking more than it should seeking a contract from cable companies similar to that of a year round station that pulls more viewers while cable is upset because the NFL is in so tight with DirectTV. This fight is well into it's second year with no end in sight and as an average income family I am annoyed. We have the billion dollar NFL vs. the billion dollar cable companies fighting while the average Joe who pays for both is getting shut out. My guess is more people have cable than a dish, wouldn't the NFL Network would gain a lot by signing a contract with cable an adding more viewers thus boosting it advertisers?

The big winners in this is the local bars & taverns who carry these games. Last year there was a good match up so a few friends and I met at Buffalo Wild Wings and it was packed. Wait, maybe I shouldn't complain, this may continue to be the perfect excuse to get out of the house on Thursday night's to hang with the buddies for a cold beer.

RedheadWriter
11-29-2007, 11:42 AM
Funny to read this now! I just hung up with my friend and he is going to one of his clubs to watch the game. I have Directv here so I can ewatch the NFL network whenever. You are right about the bars making out. A lot of people he knows are joining him at the club to watch the game (one he calls a must see match up!)
Rachel

Ian
11-29-2007, 01:26 PM
I actually just signed up to switch to Verizon FIOS last night and this was in no small part responsible.

FIOS is WAY better than what Comcast is offering me. I get more channels, true 1080p HD signal, much higher 'Net bandwidth (15mb downloads and 5mb uploads), and it's cheaper to boot.

Oh yeah and I also get the NFL Network. It's costing me $250 in an early termination fee to get out of my Comcast deal, but I don't even care.

BUH-BYE, COMCAST!!! :wave:

BigRedDad
11-29-2007, 01:33 PM
I am not sure if my news channel was accurate. If they were, the NFL is saying the NFL Network is free to broadcast and cannot charge the customers for it. The cable companies have to pay the NFL to get access to the feed which they are not willing to do.

I for one dropped Time Warner in September. I get about 60 more HD channels, NFL Package, ESPN Full Court, and a bunch of other channels for $15 less than Time Warner. This is the time that the consumers should be sticking it to the cable companies.

PirateLover
11-29-2007, 02:15 PM
I actually just signed up to switch to Verizon FIOS last night and this was in no small part responsible.
BUH-BYE, COMCAST!!! :wave:

Lucky duck. Not to go off on a Comcast tangent but I cannot tell you how many people I know who cannot wait for FIOS. Unfortunately, living within the city limits, I don't know when we see this day if ever. Comcast has a monopoly on this city, and what with the new tower being built, I'm sure they are in with most of the legislators. This town is so corrupt.

JPL
11-29-2007, 07:21 PM
I believe these problems can be traced back the the NFL signing and exclusive deal with Direct TV for the Sunday Ticket a few years back.

MinnieMommie
11-29-2007, 08:05 PM
We switched from cable to Direct TV with the sports package recently. My husband and son are very happy with it. There is an amazing amoubt of sports coverage.

Hammer
11-29-2007, 10:06 PM
Lucky duck. Not to go off on a Comcast tangent but I cannot tell you how many people I know who cannot wait for FIOS. Unfortunately, living within the city limits, I don't know when we see this day if ever. Comcast has a monopoly on this city, and what with the new tower being built, I'm sure they are in with most of the legislators. This town is so corrupt.

Hey, can we try and not beat up my employer? You do not hear me ripping your employers, do you? Believe me, I could go on a rant about GM. Comcast is far from perfect but it is no different than any other large corporation in any other city. Philly is no more corrupt than New York, Boston, Chicago or other major metropolis.

I've heard complaints about FIOS as well. Jen (conorsmom2000) switched back to Cablevision (a cable monopoly in North Jersey and they own sports teams as well). They are a few years from working out the kinks, but once they do, FIOS will be a great product. That said, had I not gotten a job at Comcast (and receive digital cable for free), I would have considered switching in a few years, once the product was stable. I'll agree that Comcast customer service is horrendous, but verizon isn't the greatest either. I have been getting the runaround just trying to cancel my DSL.

I don't even like the the team of Collinsworth and Bryant Gumbel, so I don't even watch it.

Melanie
11-29-2007, 10:11 PM
I don't even like the the team of Collinsworth and Bryant Gumbel, so I don't even watch it.

I'm with you there, Christine! :yes: I'm getting ready to mute it. Gumbel is horrible, IMO.

JPL
11-29-2007, 10:55 PM
Christine
As long as I can still beat up on Cablevision I'm happy ;)

PirateLover
11-29-2007, 11:11 PM
Hey, can we try and not beat up my employer? You do not hear me ripping your employers, do you? Believe me, I could go on a rant about GM. Comcast is far from perfect but it is no different than any Iother large corporation in any other city. Philly is no more corrupt than New York, Boston, Chicago or other major metropolis.
.
Sorry Christine, you have to know that it's no offense to you personally but we are just not Comcast fans in our household.

*I just wanted to add a caveat before my little rant... I know that all companies have problems. But my overall point is that it would just be nice to have choice. And we will never switch to satellite because my brother had it and hated it, plus we don't want to lose Comcast Sportsnet. ;) *
I'm sure it's a great job, as a matter of fact DBF has been looking into getting a job with them, and if they were to offer me one I'm sure I'd take it is well, but from a pure customer standpoint they leave a lot to be desired.

Whenever there is no choice for the consumer, it is a monopoly. I would at least like an option. My parents have been cable customers in the city since it was first available. They say that while there have always been issues, currently it is the worst it's been. Our boxes freeze, customer service is terrible, the digital cable sometimes "skips." Just today we lost sound on a few channels, and prices continue to skyrocket. Comcasttix just tried to rip me off almost $70 and I could not get my money back until I got my credit card company to file a dispute.

Comcast has a major interest in Philly seeing as how they own Comcast-Spectacor, thus the Flyers and 76ers, and they are building their ginormous new tower. There has been plenty of documentation on the fact that Comcast employs relatives of city officials. Comcast also regularly gives city council tickets to sports events. Also, about 5 years ago there was a cable company trying to franchise in Philly, but every time they went to city council for a vote it never got out of committee.

Pay-to-play in general has been so sickeningly obvious during Street's administration. As far as comparing it to other cities, I really couldn't say because I've never actually lived there and had to deal with it in my face on a day-to-day basis like I do here. And also, just because it is an expected practice, it doesn't make it right.

Now, back to the original issue of not getting the NFL network, I love how Comcast thinks they are doing us a favor by making it a personal decision to pay an extra $2. They blame it all on the NFL. Maybe the NFL is asking too much, but the bigger question for me is why can't we have this choice with so many other channels? Comcast consistently lobbies against "a la carte" bills that would give consumers the option to get what we want instead of being forced to pay for channels we will never watch.

Again, I mean no offense to any Comcast employees, I'm just speaking to my own personal experiences. As far as ripping my employer... as soon as I get a new one, I'll let you know so you can have at it.:blush:

Hammer
11-29-2007, 11:39 PM
I totally understand your frustration with Comcast, Maryanne. I had problems myself when I was getting my digital cable and I'm an employee! I just wanted to point out that the situation isn't unique. I think all cable companies are like that as Jeff insinuated in his post.

Regarding Philly corruption, I'm hoping that things will improve with the new mayor. I like some of his choices so far. Street did not undo all of the improvements made by Ed Rendell's tenure overnight and Nutter won't be able to clean up Street's mess overnight either. We are going to have to see if there are improvements this time next year.

Anyway, I found out that TSN (I'm in Toronto) is carrying the game here. Unfortunately, I picked Green Bay this week :( . The TSN Sportscentre announcers were ripping about Gumble's calling of the game.

Jeff G
11-30-2007, 12:59 AM
This is the first NFL Network game I've actually heard the announcers and it was painful. Gumble kept mixing up the teams, sponsors and even mentioned "Rick" Romo? We tried to tune in the local radio cast but because of the TV delay the radio was always a half a play ahead so it didn't work.

Ian
11-30-2007, 07:44 AM
Now, back to the original issue of not getting the NFL network, I love how Comcast thinks they are doing us a favor by making it a personal decision to pay an extra $2You know last night I figured, what the heck ... I'll call and subscribe to NFL Network so I can watch the game tonight. I'm getting rid of Comcast effective the 20th, so why not?

Well guess what? I COULDN'T!!! Comcast wouldn't answer the phone!! I mean that ... literally. I would wend my way through their annoying phone system only to be hung up on with a message that said they were too busy to take my call!!! Can you imagine??? They wouldn't even let me wait on hold for someone!

So that just reinforced the fact that I'm making the right decision. They've been ripping me off and giving me lousy customer service long enough.

kakn7294
11-30-2007, 08:30 AM
Thankfully, I have NFL Network - but I have to pay $4 extra for the privledge through Comcast. A friend of ours doesn't have it and it's not even offered as an extra through his cable company. It's really a shame that these companies - both NFL Network and the cable companies - can do this to their customers.

Jen0610
11-30-2007, 11:33 AM
Comcast around here has the NFL Network, so the cable people aren't up in arms about that, BUT Comcast doesn't have The Big 10 Network and boy did it hit the fan around here, when the first Indiana U basketball came wasn't shown on the local channel like it use to. You would have thought the world as we know it was ending.

We left Comcast 10 years a go, first with Dish, now with Directv and we have never looked back.

PirateLover
11-30-2007, 03:21 PM
I totally understand your frustration with Comcast, Maryanne. I had problems myself when I was getting my digital cable and I'm an employee! I just wanted to point out that the situation isn't unique. I think all cable companies are like that as Jeff insinuated in his post.
Totally. Who knows, if another cable company or alternative was able to set up shop in Philly, we might switch and hate it, and end up switching back. But until then we won't know.



Anyway, I found out that TSN (I'm in Toronto) is carrying the game here. Unfortunately, I picked Green Bay this week :( . The TSN Sportscentre announcers were ripping about Gumble's calling of the game.

I heard some of the mistakes he made today... they are inexcusable. I mean, he mixed up players on teams, had no clue what the penalties were, and even ID'd the wrong team coming out of the tunnel. What the heck is he on???

caryrae
11-30-2007, 05:41 PM
We went from Directv to Comcast because we moved into a Townhome which has rules about putting up a dish, man do I want my Directv back. Directv has way more HD Channels and the NFL network no extra charge. I loved how with Directv you could change your package right online no phone calls.