Directv vs FIOS
I had been under the impression that all Big Ten games during the 3:30 ABC/ESPN slot would be available nationally. I have Directtv at home here in Maryland. Because the UNC-Clemson game was on the ABC station here (DC), regular ESPN was blacked out because the national ESPN feed had that game. The Michigan-Michigan State game was on an ESPN alternate or overflow channel. I watched the first 3 quarters at home on that channel (no HD though). At 6 pm we had to go over to a neighbor's house for a social event and the host and I tried to find the game there on his TV. He has FIOS and ESPN was also blacked out for him, but we couldn't find any alternate or overflow channel with the Michigan-MSU game. Was it there, but we just couldn't find it or is this a reason to avoid FIOS? (It was available on a computer in his house via ESPN3.)
October 10th, 2010 at 9:05 PM ^
...channel 70 (ESPN non-HD).
October 10th, 2010 at 9:48 PM ^
Also in DC, also with Verizon FIOS. Seconds before 3:30 PM as I cracked open another Little Sumpin' Sumpin' , my ESPN HD (ch 570) freezes up right in the middle of one of Dr. Lou's brilliant exchanges with Mark May. WTF?!? Changed channels to make sure it wasn't the cable box. According to the program guide, the Michigan game and an ACC matchup (curse of living on the East coast) were the ABC/ESPN pair for the week, but only the ACC game was showing (ABC HD feed). Same problem with Comcast according to a friend in the area so it would seem an ESPN thing and not the service providers. We did eventually find the game in standard def (ch 70).
BTW, I was in the room with at least one lawyer who deals with FCC related cases, but no one had an answer for why the HD feed would be blacked out while the standard def channel was available.
Watching in standard def brought back bad memories of years back when it was always a coin flip whether or not your game would be in HD. Of course I convinced myself that ESPN's decision and the resulting bad juju had a direct impact on the game. Unfortunately our D did not benefit from have fewer pixels to defend.
A +1 to anyone who can provide a definitive answer to explain why standard def but no HD.
October 10th, 2010 at 11:01 PM ^
There was a thread here mid-last week about this when the coverage map first came out. I've never heard of this happening, but what I think someone said was they can only transmit so many HD feeds to the satellite and our game didn't make the cut. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong though).
October 10th, 2010 at 11:12 PM ^
I found the thread here: http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/coverage-map-ack
jcgold's post sums it up here:
It's not about cameras, it is about satellite feeds. They don't have enough to cover all the games in HD. Usually its the ACC or big 12 game that is the sd feed, but this week its us.
Good thing I'll be there.
October 10th, 2010 at 9:11 PM ^
October 10th, 2010 at 9:20 PM ^
for the loss, but I guess he kind of works for ABC/ESPN, so it's all the same.
October 10th, 2010 at 10:15 PM ^
Man I wish they had FIOS here. I had it in Buffalo and it was by far the fastest internet for the price and it never went out. Stupid Omaha only has Qwest or Cox; Cox is pretty fast and reliable but you have to pay extra for more than one IP address and Qwest you can have unlimited IP addresses but service goes out at least once a week. Ugh, I shouldn't complain, but it's frustrating at times.
October 10th, 2010 at 11:18 PM ^
Also have FIOS in DC. I was freakin out when the ESPNHD blacked out, but we eventually found it with the search function in the guide. Yup, channel 70.