Well said.

I’m just a Fan. No one wants my money to watch Blazer basketball!

This is my worst season ever for enjoying The PTB playin’. I was again totally shut out on last night’s Game. 95.5 doesn’t pick up well enough to listen to on my home radio. NBA “Listen Live” didn’t work on either Team’s broadcast. The 3×5" illegal internet feeds are crap, even after doubling my DSL band width. I will dbl my band width again, as it is my only hope, to not miss another Game. Sad state of affairs. I used to be able to at least listen to the Games. No “Sport Bars” can get the broacasts either. I just sit at home alone and get plastered.

I had to deal with Comcast for my tv viewing for many years. In 1999 I purchased my home, and immediately got Directv. Have had no issues since.
     At that same time I was looking to upgrade my isp, which at the time was dial-up. The first high speed provider in my area turned out to be comcast. I am sure that there are thousands of Blazer fans that subscribe to that service as well.
    I haven’t done any research yet, but I am sure there are other high speed providers that have representative services available. Maybe a mass exodus from comcast .net would send a message? If we can’t have it all, we don’t want any of it!

rumor is they want a ridiculous price.

They want satellite customers to switch. And of course, if someone switches from the bird to Comcast for their teevee service, it makes it easy for Comcast to sell ’em Internet and phone services as well.

I feel for are those who have no options. If you live in an area that can’t subscribe to a cable company that carries the games, your getting a raw deal. That being said, if you do have a choice, shut up and change to Comcast. I dont get Sunday Ticket, but I get Blazer basketball. I made a choice. Comcast invested in a product I value, and good for them. Having products your competition does not is just good buisness. Why would they want to share what they own? Right now, its annoying to people that don’t get the games. But in the future, when the Blazers are playing for championships, I think the value of the product will keep going up. Why buy high and sell low? Comcast knows what they are doing.

and to family and friends. But they can’t watch a game unless their at my house. So yeah, Comcast is shooting themselves right on the foot. Many of the big marketing mistakes have been when companies try to corner the market and fail, and by the same token, many juggernaut companies have offered things for free or at little cost, i.e. Google and a host of others.

I’m very doubtful that it’s fair to lay all of this off on comcast.

From Oregon Media Insiders

No KATU if you have Dish Network

KATU no longer available to DISH Network Subscribers

SEATTLE, WA, Dec 18, 2008 — DISH Network’s satellite carriage agreement with Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSCI) expired on December 17, 2008, immediately leaving DISH customers in 7 media markets without the ability to receive Fisher’s programming. Stations no longer available to DISH customers are: KOMO and KUNS in Seattle, KIMA and KUNW in Yakima, KATU in Portland, KVAL in Eugene, KBCI in Boise, KIDK in Idaho Falls, and KBAK and KBFX in Bakersfield.

“Despite Fisher’s good-faith efforts to negotiate a new agreement, we were unable to reach acceptable terms to ensure that DISH provides us fair compensation for the value they receive from broadcasting our stations, which have leading positions in their markets and consistently deliver highly viewed news and programming,” said Rob Dunlop, Fisher’s Senior Vice President of Operations. “Our signal remains available over the public airwaves and through other service providers such as cable or DIRECTV. We regret any inconvenience DISH Network viewers may experience as they look for other options in order to watch our stations.”

I would trade my NBA package for Comcast if I could. I live in the country outside of Prineville, OR and the only TV reception I can get is satellite. So I can’t get Comcast.

Radio reception is horrible and comcast has blocked internet broadcast so I am almost blocked from My blazers

hg

The thing that I can’t get past is the lack of a deal with Charter Cable. If Comcast is waiting for Satelite to cave in order to ensure profit and in the meantime expanding their base at the expense of satelite, then a deal with Charter should be a high priority. Like their deals with other smaller companies, they should be trying to get more people hooked up to cable. Comcast would get the payout and would still be able to vicariously steal customers, hurting the satelite provider’s bottom line.

According to Charter’s website, there are 252,400 people in their West Division – Northwest Market. Which covers Oregon, Washington, and Northern California.

Here’s the deal:
$1.50 per month per subscriber = $378,600 to Comcast per month.
Charter offers the Blazer Channel as a $15 per month Premium Channel (12-month requirement). Anything over 25,240 homes signing up is pure profit! That’s about the size of the Rose Garden…per month. Easy! It would cost less than NBA League Pass too. Who really watches other NBA teams that much anyway?

Comcast gets $4,543,200 per year (10 million annual contract cost). That’s 45% of their contract cost for a relatively small deal. That’s what you call a Cash Cow.

Charter gets the chance to make money and expand their customer base without forcing a rate increase on ALL their subscribers. They take on some risk for the opportunity to make a good reward.

The FANS get a chance to watch their favorite team for the cost of a pizza.

How can that deal NOT be done?

By going with comcast the Blazers made themselves available to the majority of people in the market. More people have comcast than satellite in the market. The Blazers made the right choice. They (comcast) have reached deals with all the smaller cable companies other than Charter, that were pretty reasonable. They aren’t going to give something people want to their competition, and not ask alot for it. As far as league pass games go, home teams are ALWAYS blacked out in their markets. It stupid that people in Seattle can’t see the games, but it makes sense for Portland. They should go back to the old way of doing things, and let those outside the market (50 miles or whatever) tune into the league pass games, but I don’t see that happening any time soon.

If you live in the portland market, and can get comcast cable, you really have nothing to complain about. You have a choice. If you choose satellite, you can’t really whine about not seeing games. If you live somewhere that doesn’t have cable, than I understand, but for those that can get comcast, and choose satellite…thats your choice. Suck it up.