STrib: Gophers football cable TV viewers could get cut out this fall

UpAndUnder43

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Comcast/BTN deal set to expire, no deal in sight

Star Tribune link to the story:
http://www.startribune.com/gophers-football-cable-tv-viewers-could-get-cut-out-this-fall/489029541/

"Looking to watch college football on the Big Ten Network or Fox Sports One this fall? A contract dispute could leave you out in the cold come September.

BTN’s 10-year contract with Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, expires Sept. 1, and Mark Silverman, president of BTN and National Networks for Fox Sports, is concerned because no agreement appears near."

I personally have DirecTV so not worried, but this would suck for a lot of fans. Still a long ways off, and these usually get resolved.
 

per Randy:

Looking to watch college football on the Big Ten Network or Fox Sports One this fall? A contract dispute could leave you out in the cold come September.

BTN’s 10-year contract with Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, expires Sept. 1, and Mark Silverman, president of BTN and National Networks for Fox Sports, is concerned because no agreement appears near.

“I’m feeling with a little over five weeks left before football season, we should be much further along than we are,” Silverman said Tuesday at Big Ten football media days. “It’s extremely concerning. I’ve gone through this with them 10 years ago. And I can’t predict what their motivations are.”

Last year, Comcast dropped BTN (which is a joint venture between Fox Sports and the Big Ten) from markets that did not include a Big Ten school. Silverman fears that could extend to all markets.

Along with games on BTN, the agreement for Big Ten games that air on Fox Sports One also is expiring. “BTN and FS1 have made proposal to Comcast dating back to February, and we’ve had no substantive response at all,” Silverman said.

For the Gophers, their Aug. 30 season opener against New Mexico State wouldn’t be affected, but the Sept. 8 game against Fresno State on FS1 and the Sept. 15 game against Miami (Ohio) could be. FS1 also picked up the Friday night game against Indiana on Oct. 26. The rest of Minnesota’s Big Ten schedule has yet to be assigned a channel. Last season, all but three of the Gophers’ 11 games were on FS1 or BTN.

This season, BTN and FS1 are expected to air 60 games, or roughly two-thirds of all Big Ten games.

“We are letting people know this to alert Comcast subscribers of this real possibility they may lose these games,” Silverman added.

http://www.startribune.com/gophers-football-cable-tv-viewers-could-get-cut-out-this-fall/489029541/

Go Gophers!!
 

The important thing is that you pick a side and advocate for one of these groups who are who are rolling in money... so they can roll around in more of it ;)

/s


At the very least the start of the dispute would start with the preseason and home games that some of us can go to.
 

Fox is splitting into two companies:
- i) the mainstream, national TV content: Fox broadcast television channel and over the air network, Fox Sports (big contracts that air on Fox like NFL, as well as BTN and FS1, but *not* the regional channels like FSN), and Fox News
- ii) the rest of it, like movie studios, franchise rights for Marvel, etc.


That said, there are two points to consider here:

1) Comcast recently lost a bidding war for the ii) company (see above) content, to Disney, which also owns ESPN. So even though BTN & FS1 content falls into the other company, Comcast could just have a bad overall taste in its mouth towards anything "Fox-related".

2) When we fans see that the Big Ten has signed $XX million contracts for TV rights with ESPN, Fox Sports, BTN, etc., that is only actually half of the equation. Sure, that money from the TV channels to the conference is signed and sealed. But, that money has to come from somewhere. The TV channels in turn get their money from the distributors: Comcast, Charter, DirecTV, etc. Typically they charge $x.xx *per subscriber* to a tier of channels, as well as demand that a channel has to be on a certain level of basic tier.

That was/is the traditional model, which was in full force 10 years ago. That's why adding schools like Rutgers and Maryland added so much TV value: Fox Sports and BTN could go to every distributor and demand higher per subscriber fees and better basic tiers for those channels in large markets in NJ and MD.

But now we're at the beginning of a big change in the distribution landscape, from the traditional model to the streaming model. No one can for sure say how it's going to shake out. But the constant over the last year or two is that every major distributor is losing subscribers, every quarter. People are switching to streaming TV content packages (Sling, DirecTV Now, etc.), or just getting rid of traditional products altogether and going with for example, free Roku content + free over-the-air content and calling it good enough.
 

I wonder if some digital discussions are holding things up.... timing on getting as much $ as possible out of the old model is a big deal... but also getting into a sustainable digital distribution ...
 


I wonder if some digital discussions are holding things up.... timing on getting as much $ as possible out of the old model is a big deal... but also getting into a sustainable digital distribution ...

Well, at the moment Comcast doesn't sell a digital streaming product to the public. I'm sure they have a multitude of options for you to stream channels, if you already pay for Xfinity cable. Such as signing in with your account on a Roku app, or other ways I'm sure.

I know they've been busy trying to expand into mobile phone space. They offer that product now.

My guess is in the future they will offer something like "Xfinity Now", in the same vein as DirecTV Now. You pay $35-45 per month for a package of channels which you can access via internet streaming. And if you have an Xfinity mobile plan, they give you some discount or something like that.



I think Comcast does have a percentage stake in Hulu, but I haven't read anywhere that Hulu is interested in streaming sports (live or replay) content.
 

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Star Tribune link to the story:
http://www.startribune.com/gophers-football-cable-tv-viewers-could-get-cut-out-this-fall/489029541/

"Looking to watch college football on the Big Ten Network or Fox Sports One this fall? A contract dispute could leave you out in the cold come September.

BTN’s 10-year contract with Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, expires Sept. 1, and Mark Silverman, president of BTN and National Networks for Fox Sports, is concerned because no agreement appears near."

I personally have DirecTV so not worried, but this would suck for a lot of fans. Still a long ways off, and these usually get resolved.

We advertise on Comcast, and fortunately, I make the media choice decision. I will be contacting my Sales Rep with Comcast.
 

Some really good discussion in here.

I was paying about $110 to DirecTV for TV with a pretty modest sports package.

It took one angry phone call to get it to $80 and then I called about an issue and they offered me $30/month off my bill. I then switched from 3 TVs to 2 and my bill is $43 + tax for HD DVR in two rooms. People constantly tell me I'm wasting money, but once you add up the cost of all the streamable content I'd want, I think I'm going alright

I did just get centurylink internet when I moved, so I think I get $10 off per month for that as well, unless thats changed.
 

I get Cox Cable - hope they don't follow Comcast, but not likely as I am in Nebraska!
 



Well, at the moment Comcast doesn't sell a digital streaming product to the public. I'm sure they have a multitude of options for you to stream channels, if you already pay for Xfinity cable. Such as signing in with your account on a Roku app, or other ways I'm sure.

I know they've been busy trying to expand into mobile phone space. They offer that product now.

My guess is in the future they will offer something like "Xfinity Now", in the same vein as DirecTV Now. You pay $35-45 per month for a package of channels which you can access via internet streaming. And if you have an Xfinity mobile plan, they give you some discount or something like that.



I think Comcast does have a percentage stake in Hulu, but I haven't read anywhere that Hulu is interested in streaming sports (live or replay) content.

They do already offer live streaming of channels with tiers of packages to major channels and sports. It’s a poor package deal imo but they do have one
 

I've got no issues with Comcast myself.

However hard to imagine something won't be negotiated between now and season's start.

Otherwise, will have to find other options...and there's always the Learfield Sports Network to fire up the imagination during gameplay.
 

Sorry to be that guy, but anyone still paying for Comcast is a sucker.
 

Sorry to be that guy, but anyone still paying for Comcast is a sucker.

Fully admit that I still a full fledged sucker, but if I was moving into a new house tomorrow, I would cut the cord and go with either YouTube TV or PlayStation VUE.
 



Fully admit that I still a full fledged sucker, but if I was moving into a new house tomorrow, I would cut the cord and go with either YouTube TV or PlayStation VUE.

What's stopping you from doing that now?
 

Playstation Vue has been solid.
But the price went up. Still better than cable or directv.
 

They do already offer live streaming of channels with tiers of packages to major channels and sports. It’s a poor package deal imo but they do have one

I do t think they offer that as a stand-alone product, yet. In other words, you can only get that if you purchase a cable TV product. In yet other words, they don’t offer a standalone $40/month product that gives you access to stream live channels via some kind of app like “Xfinity Now”, without buying internet and cable.

If I’m wrong, I’m wrong.
 

I do t think they offer that as a stand-alone product, yet. In other words, you can only get that if you purchase a cable TV product. In yet other words, they don’t offer a standalone $40/month product that gives you access to stream live channels via some kind of app like “Xfinity Now”, without buying internet and cable.

If I’m wrong, I’m wrong.

Got what you're saying now. They do allow you to stream live with the internet through them. Do not think they will let you do this with another internet provider at present time, at least from my interactions with them.
 

Sorry to be that guy, but anyone still paying for Comcast is a sucker.

Who do you get internet through?

Unless you’re in a very lucky position to have access to a local fiber optical ISP or municipal broadband ISP (which Comcast, AT&T, et al forced the government to make illegal), you have to pay either a cable TV company or a phone company for internet access.
 



Who do you get internet through?

Unless you’re in a very lucky position to have access to a local fiber optical ISP or municipal broadband ISP (which Comcast, AT&T, et al forced the government to make illegal), you have to pay either a cable TV company or a phone company for internet access.

CenturyLink for internet, stream YouTubeTV, Netflix, HBO Now.
 

CenturyLink for internet, stream YouTubeTV, Netflix, HBO Now.
CenturyLink is soooo slow where I live. Not an option. I've done the math and for the channels we watch, once you combine internet with all the streaming fees you really aren't saving much if anything by streaming.

Sent from my RS988 using Tapatalk
 

CenturyLink is soooo slow where I live. Not an option. I've done the math and for the channels we watch, once you combine internet with all the streaming fees you really aren't saving much if anything by streaming.

Sent from my RS988 using Tapatalk

Same here. Of course that doesn't stop them from traveling around the neighborhood here trying to sell people on their awesome service at some unrealistic speed that turns out to actually be "up to 5mbps" .... that's pretty horrific speed even at the top end... let alone when you're in "up to" zone.

Comcast here is the only viable option.... yay free market....
 

CenturyLink for internet, stream YouTubeTV, Netflix, HBO Now.

Solid choice, IMO. And I think a lot of people agree, and have some type of setup similar to this. With one major, major caveat: live sports. Unless you can live with waiting (and hoping) for someone to put the game you care about up on YouTube, or if the game happens to be on OTA (lucky Notre Dame fans), you're outta luck.


CenturyLink is soooo slow where I live. Not an option. I've done the math and for the channels we watch, once you combine internet with all the streaming fees you really aren't saving much if anything by streaming.

In my opinion, DSL is usually not a great option in these days. It's a slower technology, that was competitive when cable modems first started coming out, but not so much anymore.

However, I know CenturyLink (and probably other local phone companies) have invested in trying to upgrade their networks to a fiber optic at least to the neighborhood. That can give you the 50-100 Mbit speeds.


With cable, some households really get jacked with a huge bill, and I think has a lot to do with "excessive" fees. There will be fees for HD, fees for DVR, fee for each cable box you have (which can be a lot). People get tired of that crap.
 

Playstation Vue has been solid.
But the price went up. Still better than cable or directv.

Question for you. If I get the Playstation Vue subscription, would I be able to record or "DVR" the NFL and/or College football games and watch them later?

I cut the cable after last years football season, and I am looking to stream rather than get my TV cable box back. Looks like Vue would be much cheaper.
 

Question for you. If I get the Playstation Vue subscription, would I be able to record or "DVR" the NFL and/or College football games and watch them later?

I cut the cable after last years football season, and I am looking to stream rather than get my TV cable box back. Looks like Vue would be much cheaper.

I have all college games set to record so I can watch any one I want for about a month after I think. In my area, Vue only has Fox, NBC, and ABC on demand. So anything live on those channels along with CBS I have to switch over to antennae. This varies by location.
 

I have all college games set to record so I can watch any one I want for about a month after I think. In my area, Vue only has Fox, NBC, and ABC on demand. So anything live on those channels along with CBS I have to switch over to antennae. This varies by location.

As an aside: I would pay $XX/month for a service for someone to "chop up" a certain number of college football games a month. It would be incredibly valuable, for me, to watch just the plays of games back-to-back, so I didn't have to spend hours of time just to watch one game.
 

What's stopping you from doing that now?

Really just the convenience that I currently have it installed at my house. However, if Comcast doesn't renew with BTN I will cut the cord. I could go without certain sports channels, but BTN is one that I absolutely want because I enjoy watching big ten basketball and football.

I have done some research on it and I would probably get a chromecast and do YoutubeTV. If anyone has any other recommendations I will certainly listen.
 

I have done some research on it and I would probably get a chromecast and do YoutubeTV. If anyone has any other recommendations I will certainly listen.

Unless it has changed recently, the Chromecast can only take the stream from another device (phone, tablet, etc.) and display it on your TV. Where as Roku, Fire, Apple devices actually handle all of it within the device, so you don't need to source it from something else. To me that's a big advantage, and I actually don't understand why they (Google) did it that way ... but obviously some people like it.

Then once you have a devise, you can really select any service you want (whichever offers the best group of channels, for the cost, that you prefer): Sling, Vue, DirecTV Now, YouTube .... these are all just services that should all be able to run on any of the devices.





PS -- sorry I've posted so much in this thread! It's a topic I'm very interested in, and have lots to say about. But I'm going to shut up now and let others speak.
 

Really just the convenience that I currently have it installed at my house. However, if Comcast doesn't renew with BTN I will cut the cord. I could go without certain sports channels, but BTN is one that I absolutely want because I enjoy watching big ten basketball and football.

I have done some research on it and I would probably get a chromecast and do YoutubeTV. If anyone has any other recommendations I will certainly listen.

Switched to Vue nearly a year ago. Dont miss cable at all. Saving about $20/month.
 




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