Re: Cable NBA League Pass

["Michael J.King Sr." <kingpin@primenet.com>]

At 08:58 AM 9/29/99 -0400, Dan Forant Sr wrote:
>From- Alt.cable-tv.tci-digital Newsgroup
>
>Viewer's Choice is adding the NBA League Pass. Testing starts on Oct 4.
>Preseason on the 18th and regular season Nov 2 I believe. The package
>contains 12 or 14 channels including the NBA.Com channel. It will probably
>be sold as a subscription service for about $160. The NHL package will start
>midseason on HITS 6 which is currently used to carry ESPN Game Plan and MLS
>PPV. Digital cable is coming up strong. It will totally blow away Ku band
>dishes once the NFL package starts. I can't see it not going on next year.

The NFL still has exclusivity contracts with  both Direct TV for DSS 
delivery until 2004 and TVN for C-Band delivery until  2002 ,but I reckon 
money and other incentives could change that! The NBA package has been the 
most complete of all the major Sports (NHL MLB) as they offer almost every 
game every night. With the addition of  NBA.com for free with the Pass 
makes it an even better buy. As far as digital cable being a force well IMO 
it is years away as not enough companies are capable of offering it as they 
need to do major rewires.Heck here in the Valley for example Cox controls 
just about every major cities systems and most of the minor systems as well 
but can only offer DC in parts of Mesa and and in one small community until 
wire upgrades are done.So if you live here and want the Pass this season 
you would have to invest in a Direct TV DSS system or go to a Sports 
emporium! DDISH Network IMO is far superior to Direct TV in almost every 
area especially in customer swervice and sound quality but are locked out 
of offering the NBA Pass , NHL Center Ice or MLB Extra Innings packages as 
Direct TV has exclusive deals. The NBA recently extended their DSS 
exclusivity agreement with Direct TV. This move both dissappointed and 
baffled me as the NBA doesn't usually allow any possible income to slip 
through their greedy little fingers! They essentially shut out a couple of 
million DISH Network owners from being able to purchase their League Pass 
until at least 2004!! Not everyone has competing systems installed (Unlike 
this sports nut!!) so revenue gains from people owning DISH systems are 
lost to them. As Dan pointed out Digital Cable will be big if these 
companies upgrade quickly because they already have their proverbial foot 
in the door with their existing cable subscribers and they hold a huge card 
in that no Dish purchase is necessary AND most  companies can offer Long 
distance service and more  importantly High Speed Internet access!! This is 
big as only one bill  is needed for phone, cable and computer access.Pretty 
sweet in my book!! I almost forgot the people that can't have dishes or 
have blocked views of the Satellites. They can also  package  attractive 
savings deals to boot for all the services. Cox cable here offers free 
wiring protection for both inside and out for free. The same service from 
the phone companies, I recall it being called Linebacker is $1.95 per phone 
line per month so in a 2 phone household that is near $50.00 clams saved 
before you get all the added channels and services!  I have the bigger of 
the two small dishes so this doesn't effect me but rain can effect your 
viewing pleasure big time as signal loss for your typical rain storm is 
usually total so here is another area DC can exploit to their advantage!! 
If I know cable companies though they will somehow drop the ball regarding 
timely upgrades but one can hope! Overall I agree with Dan that this is 
definetly a win win situation for the consumer. Sorry for rambling but this 
subject is a passion of mine! Later.Mike

p.s. Dan when you refer to KU are you meaning the dbs/Little dishes?? Just 
curious sir!