OT: The Pac-10's TV deals suck
I was checking all of the ESPN channels for the Stanford-Arizona St game, only to find that it's televised on a Fox Sports regional channel that isn't even available in HD here in the Bay Area. Even Oregon-Cal is on Versus, not ESPN. The #1 and #6 teams in the country are each playing a conference game, and they're not even on major national TV networks. Stanford's game is not even being broadcast in HD in their own home market. Oregon is on a channel that no one has ever heard of.
In contrast, most Michigan games are televised on ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC even out here, and the ones that aren't are on the Big Ten Network, which is only an extra $5.00/month. Even teams like Illinois and Northwestern are often on basic cable out here. My friends who are Pac-10 fans always complain about how they can't find the Cal or Stanford game on TV but are constantly bombarded with games between random Big Ten teams.
Jim Delany is indeed a ninja.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:27 PM ^
And people wonder why everyone wants to be in our conference.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:28 PM ^
November 13th, 2010 at 9:50 PM ^
The Stanford-ASU game is being televised by Fox Sports' Arizona affiliate and carried here in the Bay by some random 'Fox College Sports Central' channel that, as far as I can tell, isn't available in HD.
We used to be like this back when our random Big Ten games were televised by "ESPN Plus" and carried on WXON or whatever locally. But that's precisely the point: The Big Ten changed the landscape by negotiating national deals with ESPN and creating its own network. The Pac-10 has been slow to adapt.
November 14th, 2010 at 2:10 AM ^
+1000 for your avatar and handle...
November 13th, 2010 at 9:30 PM ^
Didn't they just ink a deal with Nickelodeon?
November 13th, 2010 at 9:31 PM ^
The funny thing is that I have the game on in New York. It's on Versus HD, but still a nice game to watch. Weird how all of those affiliations with cable companies work.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:33 PM ^
November 13th, 2010 at 9:55 PM ^
You mean me? I'm getting it. If to the OP, then yeah, it is weird that he can't get the game on VS.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:20 PM ^
November 13th, 2010 at 9:35 PM ^
I have to order the most expensive TV package offered by my apt complex's cable provider (third party company that offers Dish) in order to get VS. Fuck that.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:41 PM ^
The problem with Versus is that it's owned by Comcast, so other cable and dish providers bump it down to a premium tier to screw Comcast.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:01 PM ^
They do that in an effort to piss off Comcast. Meanwhile, people like me who can only afford a modest cable pacakge, get screwed out of seeing more CFB and NHL games.
And, for the record, Comcast's service sucks fat hippopotamus balls.
November 14th, 2010 at 12:52 AM ^
+1 to the fat hippo balls comment.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:41 PM ^
Not to mention that USC v Arizona is the ABC game.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:50 PM ^
Ore-Cal on Versus and Stanford-ASU on CBS College. It's good to be in NYC.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:26 PM ^
November 14th, 2010 at 12:55 AM ^
I guess east coast bias is real after all.
November 14th, 2010 at 9:04 AM ^
It's not that great to be in the city. I had a problem with my DVR and it didn't record the 2 half. I went ballistic because this has happened twice this week. Time Warner sux, looking to get something else and we don't get the NFL network.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:54 PM ^
see negative comments on BTN in earlier posts
November 13th, 2010 at 10:09 PM ^
I have missed a couple of games each season since Big 10 TV went live. I live in St. Louis, and Charter is my carrier; they didn't start carrying Big 10 TV until this season. AT&T U-verse was the only service that carried it here. What pissed me off was that my best friend in town lives 4 blocks from me and he was able to get U-verse... and I couldn't. I was waiting for the day I could drop Charter (which sucks) and join U-verse. But now i get every M game again, so I'm not complaining.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:12 PM ^
Did you actually miss the games (as in, didn't get to watch them)? I hope not getting BTN at home didn't stop you!
November 13th, 2010 at 10:25 PM ^
I was in Cairo, Egypt for the entire '07 season, so I bought a Slingbox and hooked it up at my parents' house in Michigan before I left. But The Horror was on BTN which Comcast didn't carry at the time, so I was forced to follow it on ESPN.com from an Internet cafe. I remember banging on the table in disbelief, wanting to believe that the box score was some kind of mistake caused by screwy Egyptian computers. The proprietor of the cafe came over to me and asked me if there was a problem, and I almost told him yes and that the browser on his stupid computer was screwed up because it was telling me the wrong score for the Michigan-App St game.
November 14th, 2010 at 10:17 AM ^
You'd think that a city like St. Louis - which has a bar on every other corner - would have a few decent sports bars in town with plenty o' screens, but it doesn't. There are a few BWW's in the area, but they are far from me and I really don't feel like being surrounded by drunk Mizzou and Illini fans. Until this past summer, my DSL service sucked. I had AT&T come in and rewire some lines and it's up and running just fine.
So now I'm good to go and watch every M game from the comfort of my own living room. Life is good.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:11 PM ^
AT&T UVerse 450: showing me football whenever I want it.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:23 PM ^
I live in Oregon and think its dumb they are on Versus
November 13th, 2010 at 10:25 PM ^
I know that as part of the Pac 10 becoming the Pac 12 they are looking for new TV deal. That was a big factor in selecting Utah and Colorado.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:34 PM ^
Oregon not pull away from Cal.. come on Tedford's Overrated QB Factory, come on...
November 13th, 2010 at 10:45 PM ^
I live in the bay area, most Pac-10 games are on the FS and Vs. channels, and sometimes ABC or ESPN if its a big game. Right now i have USC-Arizona on ABC, Texas A&M vs Baylor on Prime ticket Oregon-Cal on Vs, and Florida-South Carolina on ESPN. NHRA drag racing on ESPN 2??
November 13th, 2010 at 10:55 PM ^
Who the fuck watches drag racing?!
November 13th, 2010 at 11:52 PM ^
Compare the PAC10's expansion - Colorado and Utah, with the Big 10's - Penn State and Nebraska. I thought Utah was a good add when they were ranked #5. After the TCU shellacking and whatever that was they did in South Bend today, I'm thinking not so much. The Big 1T2en (or whatever we end up calling it) is far superior to the pac12.
November 14th, 2010 at 4:27 AM ^
I don't get the BTN where I live, but do get Versus. The commentary is bad, but not Chris Martin bad.
November 14th, 2010 at 2:29 PM ^
I don't think he was that bad in the Purdue game, relatively speaking (which, admittedly, is not saying much). Usually he's a nuclear train wreck, this time he was just a train wreck.