And not really in a good way…
My boss gave me a “gift card” (translation: promo, 1st month free thingy) for Dish Network. They’ve lowered their prices since the last time I took a look at my options for satalite TV so I thought I’d take another look. They have a “top 60” channel package for $24 which has nearly everything I want. Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, ESPN, etc. It doesn’t have G4/TechTV but since they mergered that station has been crap anyway. It also includes the local stations. Now, mentioned (but not discussed) in the brocure is the option for sports packages at $5.99/month extra. $6 isn’t bad if I can add NESN to my package, so I call.
I ask about the basic package, what it includes and doesn’t include as well as installation, how many TVs I get hooked up, that sort of thing. Then I ask about sports. Apparently I hit some sort of cultural barrier when I said the word “NESN” because the lady got all confused. So I rephrased. I said “is it possible for me, being in Houston TX, to get a sports channel from Boston?” The answer was “Yes, you could get the MidWest package and watch MidWest Fox”.
???
“Ok, let me try this another way… I live in Texas, in the south. I’m from Boston, in the north. I’d like to watch baseball, from Boston, the Boston Red Sox. Is that possible?”
“Yes, you could get our Major League Package with your service”
“Ok, and that would be all the games, for all the teams? How much is that?”
“It would only be $169 for the first half of the season”
*cough*
“$169? What about the rest of the season?”
“$249… but it would be better than the single station you mentioned”
“Lets go back to that station for a second… is it possible to even get it?”
“It is, but it would be blacked out”
“Huh?”
“Since you’re not in the local market, you could get the station, but all the games would be subject to blackouts.”
“Ah, I see… well, thanks for your time….” *hangs up quickly*
So, let me get this strait. I could physically get NESN, but I couldn’t watch any games because I’m not in New England? If I was IN NewEngland, I wouldn’t have to try and get NESN extra would I ?!?!?! That’s the whole damn point. I want to watch sports I can’t watch locally. But I can’t, because the MBL tv-rights suck wang.
Arg.
yeah, directv does the same thing. They have a sports pack that has all the local sports networks (fox sports, etc) where the games are *supposed* to be shown, but then all sporting events shy of college are blacked out (and even some of those). without the games, Fox sports channels are useless. FYI, they do reair games afterwards (later at night) that do show up on the channel. You *could* get a DVR and record those, but it’s not quite the same thing.