May 2, 2006
Comcastic Clash Could Cut Cable
While racial tensions are simmering over the battle to win ownership of the Nationals, another longstanding baseball feud is nearing a head, with potentially frustrating results for District television viewers.
Comcast, which provides cable service to most D.C. cable subscribers, has refused to air Nationals broadcasts produced by MASN, Orioles owner Peter Angelos' sports network, which owns the rights to Nats games. Three weeks ago, Virginia Representative Tom Davis (R) held hearings on the matter in his House Government Reform Committee, and he is now considering legislation which would force the Cable giant to air those games, according to NBC 4. Said Davis:
This is terrible. It is my understanding that one of the parties refused to meet, and we've made that known. And we also have a telecommunication bill moving through Congress. We may put a rider on there. This is just, in my opinion, an abuse of monopoly power.
But the matter doesn't end there.
WUSA is reporting that the D.C. Council, which controls Comcast's District cable franchise agreement, is likewise threatening action against the company. In a move of boobtube brinkmanship, the Council is considering revoking the cable giant's rights in the city if it does not agree to air MASN's baseball broadcasts. As WUSA notes, if Comcast continues to stand fast, and our efforts to protest incorrect bills suggest the company is fully capable of such thickheadedness, then the District could find itself without a principle cable provider. The political ramifications of such a turn of events could be interesting to observe, but Jack Evans and Vincent Orange claim that the support in the Council is there, and Mayor Williams agrees with the policy of pushing Comcast to the edge.
The Council will consider the emergency legislation on the matter today.
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Comcast is the worst. Everyone should switch to Directv.
The church parking issue has been bigger than this stupid fight over baseball games for DC residents. Glad the councilmembers have no clue.
Does anyone else think there is a problem with the Orioles owners owning the rights to the Nats game. I think the problem lies with Peter Angelos, not Comcast.
Why should Comcast air the games if Angelos gets all the royalties?
Comcast can start a sports network and bid for the rights to Nats games if they want them so bad. IMO, the fact that the Orioles owner also owns MASN appears irrelevant, unless they are doing something to somehow promote or favor the Orioles at the expense of the Nats. Comcast alleges this, but without providing any details and claiming that they would somehow be better. Knowing Comcast, I don't buy it. If Comcast has a real reason why the rights were 'unfairly' awared to MASN, they need to take it up in court and stop using DC residents as leverage.
Comcast claim's to be on DC's side, but their actions betray them.
ugh.. how did that apostrophe get into claims?
Comcast has a sports network Anon, its called Comcast Sports Net. They also cant bid for the rights to broadcast the Nationals, thats precisely why they arent showing the games. MLB handed them to Angelos. They were prepared to bid for the rights but were denied an opportunity.
When is Verizon going to bring FIOS and its TV service into the District already? Oh wait, they suck too. I guess it's back to satellite!
Not sure if this will get my comment deleted, but I'm gonna say it anyway:
Fuck 'em. Comcast needs to be taken down a notch anyway.
I had unreliable service for a year before the came to fix it and the guy who was fianlly sent said to me about the drop he had to add to my apartment "I don't really like to do that kind of service call. I'm not lazy or anything, its just that I don't get paid enough to be out there sweating. And I don't like being on ladders. You'd better call and leave a good comment with my dispatcher if I do this for you."
Fuck 'em.
For the record I hope the comment I left with is dispatcher got him fired.
Bring in Starpower or some other cable company.
O.k., I'm much calmer now....
RCN, baby.
As I recall, and I'm just recalling here, New York City had to threaten Time-Warner similarly a few years ago to get the them to carry the Yankees on the YES network.
Yeah RCN has much better customer service. I was going to switch to comcast cause it was $20 cheaper but they took a week to come out the first time then when they got there they said that they couldn't get the cable to my apartment and we would have to reschedule for a later date. I then called RCN and said that comcast was cheaper so they offered my $20 off my monthly bill.
Hint: If you really want to watch Nats games, but you can't, get a MLB.tv subscription.
"But I'll get blacked out of Nats games" you say
Yes. But only if you use your own credit card. Get in touch with a friend or family member outside the Nats' viewing area (e.g. NYC, or better yet, a zip code not in any baseball territory, like east North Dakota) to purchase the subscription on their credit card. You send them a check and you're all even and you get to watch live games on your computer.
I've also heard word that if you get blocked out, for whatever reason, you can right click on the black out message and select "back". Apparently that starts the feed, despite the black out. I have not verified this.
Does Verizon's Fios TV really suck? What have you heard about the service? I was looking forward to it (to get around subscribing to Comcast), but after your comment I'm not so sure.
That should read "west North Dakota". I suspect that east ND might be in the Twins' area.
nats^3: Then as I said, they need to explore legal options, not use DC residents as a tool. If the deal was legal, but morally unfair, then tough tits.
bob: the YES situation was slightly different. It had to do with use fees and who would pay them (TW vs. customers). The city finally brokered a deal.
a few years ago, my cable kept getting disconnected, and i couldn't figure out why (bill was paid up, etc.). techs kept coming out every three days or so to fix it, and then the problem would come back. turned out when my neighbor got cable, the install technician just unplugged mine and hooked the neighbor up. and whenever either of us called to complain about disconnections, instead of actually fixing it, the technicians kept passing one cable connection back and forth between our two apartments.
is rcn actually available in the dc area? what are the other options for cable and internet? i thought comcast pretty much ruled dc. i'd love to stop giving them $$$
Great to see that with all the important issues facing the District, the region, the nation, and the world, that our city leaders and members of Congress are wasting time on something as silly and stupid as a rich man's pastime: baseball.
Williams and Davis both need to get a clue.
massysett, like it or not, we all have some stake in the financial success of the Nats. Can't really expect to rake in the tax revenue if nobody's going to games, and it's tough for many area fans to get excited about a team they can't watch. You're oversimplifying the issue as an excuse to make an uninformed crack about a sport you don't like (since when is baseball a rich man's pastime?). The city is investing quite a bit of money in this team, so the council, the Mayor and Davis are well within reason to address this issue. It's not about baseball; it's about a business issue that's negatively impacting the region.
bg,
I live in Woodley Park and have RCN for cable and internet service. The high-speed internet is quite a bit faster and more reliable than what I had with Comcast, and my monthly bill is about $10 lower. I think it varies by neighborhood, though. I know of folks in Columbia Heights who have RCN, but there are people who live a few blocks away who are stuck with Comcast as their only option. Plug your address into rcn dot com to find out.
only rcn dialup. booooooo
RCN is an overbuilder- they "build over" existing cable lines. They mostly choose large apartment buildings, since they have to lay fewer lines to reach more subscribers.
There aren't any traditional options in the District besides satellite, Comcast, or RCN, as Verizon doesn't yet have franchise rights to distribute cable.
If you have a broadband connection, you can get cable programming over IP through Akimbo.
GO WIZARDS!
I live just south of Catholic University. For my installation, the tech went to the trouble of climbing the pole across the street and then running me a new line to a new box (instead of tapping from my neighbor's service). Since then, I've had trouble once, and that tech was also willing to climb the pole when he realized there was a signal quality problem degrading my broadband connection. He also left me a spare cable modem (though I think that may have been inadvertant). The response has just been SO much better than Comcast. The TV signal looks a lot better too!