Comcast Deal Imminent?

by SloppyJoe on Aug 5, 2008 2:03 PM PDT Comment 28 comments

On Wheels After Work last night...on (insert really deep voice here) 955 THE GAME Wheels alluded that 'progress' had been made on getting CSN carried on, what I assumed, where Dish and DirecTV. You could tell by his voice that he knew something that he couldn't reveal.

Last week on Courtside, I recall someone making a comment about some impending positive news on this as well...but details were kept very sketchy.

Has anyone heard anything more about this? I'm about to move into our new house and re-activate my DirecTV and would whole heartedly welcome this news.

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DirecTV stole my $ 50.

If COINCAST does a deal with the sattelite companies
Dish Network is my choice.

GET THIS DEAL DONE COINCAST ! WE WANT OUR BLAZERS !!!

It's GO time !

by walkoff41 on Aug 5, 2008 2:09 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Nothing here

I’m one of the many Blazer addicts that falls between the cracks. Not covered by Comcast and too close to Portland so I fall within the blackout zone. I’m already on record as warning them that my wife will Pritchslap them if a deal doesn’t get done in time to see Oden play.

by Steve The Hedge on Aug 5, 2008 3:16 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I am 150 miles away from Portland (SIsters) and I am blacked out as well

Aldridge said. "We feel like we can beat any team. We feel like we can beat the Spurs, Suns, Lakers, Mavericks, whoever any night right now, and we'll still be here when those teams get old and their guys retire. We're going to be here for a long time."

by lee3022 on Aug 5, 2008 5:28 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

i don't understand the black out rules

I live in washington,(vancouver) had have comcast, so ofcourse I see all the games, howver my friend and I normally rotate who’s house we watch the games at, when we go to his house we watch it on the NBA league pass, which is odd that it is not blacked out because he lives on Mt. Scott, which is in Clackamas. Very odd to me.

by usmcr3049 on Aug 6, 2008 9:11 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

don't tease us

Woof

by Charles Barkley McLovin on Aug 5, 2008 3:27 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Don't Count On It

is what a cable exec recently told me, as he stated that Comcast price is still too high.

Cave Canem!

by Caveowl on Aug 5, 2008 3:58 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I hate comcrap

The ONLY reason I have them is to get the Blazers. Once a deal is done I’m switching. Comcast knows people will leave that’s why they’re demanding such a high price to the other companies.

It doesn't matter if you think you can or if you think you can't. Either way you're right.

by Brannon49 on Aug 5, 2008 4:00 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Comcast

its CRAPtastic

Leaders build cultures that create self-esteem, generate and sustain trust, elevate the dignity of work , create community and foster open communication, and finally encourage growth and learning.

-Warren Bennis USC Professor

That was a very hard winter,
and it was just like one long night,
with me lying awake, waiting and waiting and waiting
for daybreak.
- Black Elk
1881

by BlazerFan1 on Aug 5, 2008 4:23 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I remember why I hate Comcast

I used to have comcast, but for the last 5 years have had DirecTV. It’s been great.
Right now, I’m temporarily living where they have Comcast, so I get to be re-introduced to the top 3 things about Comcast that bug me.

1. Program descriptions in the guide are often wrong for a program.
2. Ads at the bottom of the program guide.
3. Cable TV outages that sometimes last 10 minutes.

I do like Comcast SportsNet though, and when I get settled into my new house with my DirecTV, I’m hoping CSN is carried on it.

You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose.

-- Unknown

by SloppyJoe on Aug 5, 2008 4:38 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Funny...

I had the dish for a year and I ended up hating it. Channels are scattered all around. Reception was sketchy, customer service was brutal, and sign up incentives were delayed several months and pro-rated. It ended up costing a ton. Comcast isn’t the best solution but even the guy who installed the dish told me he still had Comcast!
As a Blazer fan it seems Comcast is the place to be. I bet soon the dishes will have access…Other than that the only reason to have a dish is for NFL package. My opinion…the few weeks you can’t
see the actual team you need to see? 1. You shouldn’t have left your home town for a city without NFL 2. Your team isn’t very good and doesn’t get on National t.v. 3. Go to a sports bar. where other people as obsessed with football will join you in wasting your family’s Sunday.

P.S. Comcast has tons of on demand programming for free including a zillion movies for free. Direc t.v.? Nada.

End of the story….
We paid $120 to get out of the dish and rehire Comcast. A few months later we’re still wondering why we ever went dish…

It puts the lotion on the skin...or else it gets the hose!

by courtsideerrandboy on Aug 6, 2008 3:53 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

To each their own

That’s too bad you had such trouble with dish. I’ve had the total opposite experience with DirecTv. Maybe I just am lucky, not sure.

One more thing I forgot to mention, I get more channels for less money..I had to specifically sign up for a higher package just so I could get a couple of channels (BBC American being one – I love Top Gear). It came with my lower priced package on DirecTv.

My folks had DirecTV going way back to the Primestar days, and have always raved about the customer service and channels. That’s why I originally moved.

No matter how you feel, I hope that Blazers/Comcast work out a deal with the other cable and sat providers, for the sake of Blazernation.

You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose.

-- Unknown

by SloppyJoe on Aug 6, 2008 7:59 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Love my Dish

never go back. cable can’t compare on so many levels.. and on a side note.. comcast is bad, but time warner is worse… thankfully i escaped their net

Shaniqua don't live here no more... Is Shaniqua there, HELL NO!

by GreatOden'sRaven on Aug 6, 2008 2:54 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

i really hope it's on dish network

on the top 100 channels package..thats what i have

by dsx460 on Aug 5, 2008 4:21 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

+1

by lee3022 on Aug 5, 2008 5:29 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

+1 +1

i have dish too and i NEEED the blazers

by BLAZERS#52 on Aug 5, 2008 6:08 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

+2

Oden...Aldridge...Roy.....THE REAL BIG THREE

by CroRupt on Aug 5, 2008 8:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

This year I think we need to start a concerted effort against Blazer sponsorers

bombarding them weekly with boycott emails until they force the Blazers to fix the problem. It is a Blazer problem. It is the Blazers who owned the rights and sold them without protections for non-comcast areas. It is the Blazers who were too greedy and too non-Oregonian to realize the angst already existing between Portland and the rest of the state (politically and economically). This is wrong.

We can also all write to our state senators asking them to hold hearings. More light on this darkness and the publicity will drive the greed down enough to be fair.

by lee3022 on Aug 5, 2008 5:34 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

We have been in BOYCOTT mode for a year

Chuck Cushman out of Battle Ground, WA started the
boycott and some of the rest of us joined. I haven’t
shopped at BiMart, Freddies, GI Joes (“The place for the gear”-
the Medford store has NO Blazer gear)(Medford is in Oregon !),
closed account at Wells, no Taco Bell, etc, etc.

COINCAST SUCKS !!! S.O. wants BLAZERVISION !!!!!!!

It's GO time !

by walkoff41 on Aug 6, 2008 12:48 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Just an FYI on this subject

1. Keep in mind that Comcast signed a contract with the Blazers promising to pay them approximately $100 million (over 10 years and about 2-3 times what Fox Sports Northwest offered) and they need deals from the other Satelite/Cable providers to offset that cost.

2. Comcast will be able to charge more to advertisers based on the number of subsribers seeing the ads.

3. Comcast was able to sign deals with Verizon Fios and Ashland cable.

The point I am trying to make is that it is in Comcast’s interest to get as many other providers (and more subscribers) on board as possible. It is part of the business model to make deals with Direct TV, Dish Network, Charter, Bend Broadband and so forth. I hear a lot of people saying that Comcast is withholding this channel to drive up their local customers. This doesn’t seem to be the case to me. It looks like the other providers are playing hardball with Comcast trying to drive the price down. If Comcast was really withholding the channel to drive up local subscribers, they never have made a deal with Fios (their only non-dish competition in Portland).

"There something going on with that Skipper. No one gets that fat eating coconuts"

by 92wastheyear on Aug 5, 2008 6:03 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Comcast is a large national predator

Satellite TV is a competitor in Portland. They do not need to make money right now. They do get a compeditive advantage in signing up folks in Portland by excluding the DISH and DirectTV providers.

The Bend Broadband manager I spoke to said Comcast is demanding as high a price as they pay for ESPN and a 90-95% of subscribers coverage. That means every subscriber must pay $2 more to get Bend Broadband. There is absolutely no way that happens.

by lee3022 on Aug 5, 2008 6:38 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

He made a very good point that i feel was lost.

Comcast has signed deals with relatively small companies, (at least as far as cable tv goes) in Verizon Fios and Ashland cable. If these two companies can afford to pay what comcast is asking, how can DirectTV and Dish not? So far we have all been led to believe that this deal between the Dish/directv and comcast not getting done was because Comcast price was too high, but these facts seems to say the opposite. Maybe it is Dish and Directv who are holding out, hoping to get a “steal” of a deal from comcast that is below market value, while comcast is just holding firm on their price.

John Canzano has said on his show that he has seen the price Comcast is asking and it is, “outragous”. Which I find kinda odd that he knows what their asking, yet can’t talk about it or write about it. I also don’t trust Canzano as far as I can throw him, so part of me thinks he could just be making it all up to feel/look important.

by usmcr3049 on Aug 6, 2008 9:35 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ashland Cable may be taking a loss on their Comcast contract

My understanding is that Comcast continues to want local providers to pay up to $24 per year for all subscribers, regardless if only 10% to 20% of those viewers actually want the sports coverage. The local companies want Comcast to compromise by adding an optional sports tier fee. They are willing to pay Comcast what they can collect from their subscribers who actually use the service. And, Comcast, even if they are predatory, should compromise on their billing, in order to get revenue they aren’t likely to receive unless they compromise. (I suppose its unlikely Comcast leadership will follow the more benevolent business model Bill Gates has started to advocate. There’s a story about that in this week’s Time magazine print addition, but I haven’t looked for the article online.)

Cave Canem!

by Caveowl on Aug 6, 2008 11:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

how did you come to your understanding?

Nothing I can find has any dollar figure in it. Do you have an article you can link me to?

by usmcr3049 on Aug 7, 2008 4:02 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fios GM is f-ing smart

Both Teams Played Hard
Both Teams Played Hard
Both Teams Played Hard

by Kelsoballa on Aug 5, 2008 10:24 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Does anyone here know if Oceanic Time Warner Cable blacks out da Blazers?

I could look it up myself but I don’t want to go on the internet at work.

- Tom

by tominhawaii on Aug 6, 2008 6:58 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

If it does . . .

OTWC SUCKS ! Bring back our Blazers to the Islands !!!

ALOHA !!!!!

It's GO time !

by walkoff41 on Aug 6, 2008 12:50 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oh man, that sucks.

"The only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not." - Charles Barkley

by tominhawaii on Aug 6, 2008 1:31 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

While I am angry at Comcast obviously, I am equally upset with DirecTV. If this is about money it’s plain stupid. Plenty of people would buy a ‘hometown sports’ package for $12 or similar to watch those games. I have the ‘sports extra’ package that DTV offers and guess what? Comcast Sports Network IS on there, just not the NorthWest channel we need. As happy as I am about the 13 games and the “middle of the night” re-broadcasts we will get it’s not enough. Not this season.

by Rake on Aug 6, 2008 12:33 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs