Re: Fw: NBATV and the playoffs....

[Snoopy the Celtics Beagle <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(For those on the Celticsstuff group, I'm leaving the relevant article by 
Marc Stein  of ESPN at the end of this, since they may not have seen it 
yet.  Thanks to Josh for the heads up)

I've been noticeably annoyed at this since it started, as some of you 
know.  I've replied to Mr. Stein by e-mail, and I'm seriously considering 
recommending a boycott of next season's Pass on the CBW.  The only 
potentially good sign is these nebulous "negotiations" with the cable 
providers, though no one seems willing to cough up any details, much less a 
progress report.

Am I overreacting?  I admit, sometimes I can get to be a pain, taking to 
the Beagle Soapbox.  I'm curious to know what the rest of you think, 
publicly or privately.

> > As if gypping NBA League Pass subscribers out of regular season games
> > isn't bad enough. NBA TV will also be exclusively broadcasting some
> > first-round playoff games.
> >
> > What this amounts to is the NBA is forcing it's fans to do its dirty
> > work by pressuring cable systems into carrying the network. Whether
> > this will be possible in markets that aren't NBA-friendly is
> > questionable.
> >
> > Anyway you look at it basketball fans get the shaft -- and are paying
> > for the privilege.
> >
> >
> > http://espn.go.com/nba/columns/stein_marc/1535010.html
> >
> > The latest on getting back our NBA TV
> > By Marc Stein
> > ESPN.com
> >
> > Editor's note: As part of "The Stein Line" every Monday, ESPN.com
> > senior NBA writer Marc Stein takes you around the league for the
> > latest news in "Coast to Coast."
> >
> > As part of that visit with the Commish, we naturally raised one of our
> > primary concerns here at the Stein Line.
> >
> > As in: What the heck happened to our NBA TV?
> >
> > Apparently what happened is that, as of Jan. 1, NBA TV started pulling
> > marquee games off the League Pass schedule and began airing up to four
> > of them a week. Which meant that NBA TV suddenly had a rate card
> > attached to it for cable systems that were previously carrying the
> > channel for free. "We're moving toward programming NBA TV on a
> > 24-hour, seven-day-a-week basis," Stern said, "and there's a cost
> > associated with that. It will only be shown on those systems that
> > subscribe to it for their subscribers."
> >
> > Thus, on digital cable systems across the nation, NBA TV was suddenly
> > deleted from the channel menu -- even for League Pass subscribers --
> > and replaced by a worthless NBA Preview Channel. NBA TV, at present,
> > is only available on the Dish Network and DirecTV.
> >
> > Purchasing League Pass, whether you have digital cable or a dish, is
> > supposed to guarantee the consumer every "non-nationally televised
> > game." But NBA TV broadcasts are considered national TV broadcasts by
> > the league, even though the viewership is a fraction of what an ESPN
> > game gets.
> >
> > From a Stein Line perspective, this is like changing the rules in the
> > middle of the game. If you pay almost $200 in the fall with the
> > expectation that you will get every game that isn't televised on ESPN,
> > ABC or TNT, you don't want to hear that the arrangement no longer
> > holds in midseason.
> >
> > Stern acknowledged our protests and says he is "very optimistic that,
> > by the beginning of next season, NBA TV will be available on the
> > majority of cable systems."
> >
> > "To mix a metaphor and use the wrong sport, we're on third base (in
> > negotiations) with some (cable operators), at second base with others
> > and still standing at home plate with others," Stern said. "But with
> > some luck, perhaps, we might be able to make a deal with some systems
> > so they can get the playoff games."
> >
> > You can only hope. The league plans to televise up to seven
> > first-round playoff games on NBA TV, which means they'll only be
> > available nationally to dish subscribers unless deals are made with
> > Comcast, Cox, Cablevision, etc. Without a deal or two before the
> > post-season, playoff games on NBA TV would be available on cable only
> > in their two teams' local markets.

Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
Please visit the <http://www.celticsbeagle.net/>Celtics Beagle Website