What can be done to insure better Shootout service from InDemand *next year*?

[Knave]

For some of us Dish and DirecTV are not an option. So don't tell me to get a satellite dish.

With that in mind, is there anything that can be done by us and/or by MLS to insure better Shootout service for those of us stuck with digicable next year?

I think, for one thing, MLS needs to get its act together with InDemand earlier. This year we lost - what was it - a quarter of the season because the Shootout wasn't even available on digicable.

Then some of us had trouble getting the package once it was offered because the cable companies were ... well, incompetent

Then there's this play-off difficulty. And I'm sure some folks had other problems.

In short, InDemand's shootout package was riddled with problems this year. Is there anything that can be done to remedy these problems next year?

[monster]

I think the first thing is to put pressure on your local cable provider. The majority of the problems I have heard about have been at the provider level, not at the iNDemand level.

For instance, the only "problems" I have had is the one week of missed games and a handful of games that were tape-delayed because of conflicts with college football. That's because my cable company has been responsive and given me everything iNDemand has made available.

iNDemand has been far from perfect, but the local cable companies are as much to blame with fulfillment problems in September. With the exception of one week, the signal has been available.

My advice is to write to your local cable company (find out the decision makers), your local government (who authorizes them to do business in your area), iNDemand and MLS.

Tell them how much you enjoyed what you got, but how much better it can be. Tell them about the problems without hysteria and hyperbole. Tell them how much you want to spend your money for this product.

Don't wait until spring and don't do it just once. My constant questioning of my cable company has them e-mailing me whenever iNdemand makes schedule changes regarding soccer. Be mature and knowledgeable about the situation and you should have success.

[odg78]

That's exactly what you need to do. The majority of the problems that have been described in the multitude of Shootout threads are caused directly by problems originating at your local cable company's headend. Every division will have at least one person in charge of their PPV offerings. This will be the person responsible for making sure the technical people have everything set up properly so your Shootout works fine. Get the name and number of the PPV manager so you are able to contact them directly. If you try to work your way up from the call center to them, you're in for a lot of frustration and time on hold.

[The Perfesser]

If one doesn't really want to overtly threaten one's cable operator, what are the other options?

I live in 2 locations and have two different cable providers (ATT & Charter). Both have iNDemand, but neither chose to offer the shootout package.

And don't tell me to get a dish either because the location at which I spend most of my time has a large stand of trees on my neighbor's property due southwest of my home. And don't tell me to take a chain saw to these trees because I don't think the local hoosegow has very good cable OR satellite dish service.

I can't tell you the amount of time I spent trying to "reason" with the PPV operator to add the shootout package.

The problem may be less with the local cable PPV person (although if we had hard national numbers that showed an increase in shootout sales on both dishes and on iNDemand that might help) than it is with all of the other sports PPV crap that is out there that the local cable people can order.

It might help if we could figure out where we could grab 4 PPV channels on a Saturday night from late March until October. One source might be the NBA offerings. The NBA has up to 12-16 channels on my cable systems, yet when their season ends, they reserve ALL of the NBA channels for the WNBA!!!

Hello! There are about 1/3 fewer WNBA teams than NBA teams, so there is huge unused PPV capacity from April until November.

Now, we can all take individual action and get to know the PPV person at our cable franchise personally, but I think that another tactic might pay off.

Why doesn't St. Phil find a way to talk to the major cable operators and try to find a way to clear the channel space for the shootout package?

Look, for $49 a season, it's literally a steal. I'd be happy to pay twice that much to see MLS games, and I'd bet that most of you who'd like to get the shootout package would too.

[monster]

Originally posted by The Perfesser
If one doesn't really want to overtly threaten one's cable operator, what are the other options?

I live in 2 locations and have two different cable providers (ATT & Charter). Both have iNDemand, but neither chose to offer the shootout package.

And don't tell me to get a dish either because the location at which I spend most of my time has a large stand of trees on my neighbor's property due southwest of my home. And don't tell me to take a chain saw to these trees because I don't think the local hoosegow has very good cable OR satellite dish service.

I can't tell you the amount of time I spent trying to "reason" with the PPV operator to add the shootout package.

The problem may be less with the local cable PPV person (although if we had hard national numbers that showed an increase in shootout sales on both dishes and on iNDemand that might help) than it is with all of the other sports PPV crap that is out there that the local cable people can order.

It might help if we could figure out where we could grab 4 PPV channels on a Saturday night from late March until October. One source might be the NBA offerings. The NBA has up to 12-16 channels on my cable systems, yet when their season ends, they reserve ALL of the NBA channels for the WNBA!!!

Hello! There are about 1/3 fewer WNBA teams than NBA teams, so there is huge unused PPV capacity from April until November.

I'm checking with my system's GM about this. I agree, although I bet the NBA pays some ungodly fee to hoard those channels.

Now, we can all take individual action and get to know the PPV person at our cable franchise personally, but I think that another tactic might pay off.

Why doesn't St. Phil find a way to talk to the major cable operators and try to find a way to clear the channel space for the shootout package?

Look, for $49 a season, it's literally a steal. I'd be happy to pay twice that much to see MLS games, and I'd bet that most of you who'd like to get the shootout package would too.

I thought that a comment from someone at MLS at the beginning of the season indicated that had happened. I heard that the protracted negotionas with iNDemand were to make sure "these kinds of things didn't happen going forward." Maybe MLS thought that and iNDemand screwed them on it.

But Phil broadcast a football game into some of his movie theaters. And he's itching to get concerts, etc., into these stadiums. And he's producing moviesAs he gets more of the entertainment pie, I'd hope he'll get more leverage in these matters.

For instance, you want to PPV that concert he's promoting at the Staples Center? You clear bandwidth for MLS. Just a hunch.

[monster]

My GM said he has no idea whay iNDemand didn't use those NBA channels. The companies just pull the feeds sent to them. But he is meeting with iNDemand's regional PPV rep soon and will ask.

I also asked him about the possibility of them running a soccer-only PPV channel if MLS ever developed one and he expressed great skepticism based on his knowledge of what is going on with The Tennis Channel.

I believe MLS can garner what it needs to survive if SUM can get a broadbased set of programs appealing to youth, MLS fans and followers of foreign leagues. We'll see, however.

[dark knight]

Interesting info from MLS Confidential:

3. MONEY WELL SPENT: MLS paid approximately $5,000 to make the second
game of the Crew-Quakes quarterfinal available on the MLS Shootout
package.

...

According to the league office the Shootout package has more than
10,000 subscribers. The season package is distributed by DISH
Network, DirecTV and iN DEMAND.

[FlashMan]

10,000.

Not enough to start a MLS-based PPV channel I suspect.

10,000 x $45 = $450,000

Not really a lot money, is it?

[dmets]

So aproximately $5000 per game.

Lets do the math:
Say 130 regular season games (some matches still have no TV at all)
at 5k a pop = $650,000

If Ridge is right, and there are more than 10,000 subs. Then take away $450,000 in subscription fees.

That leaves aproximately $200,000 they cant find an advertiser willing to pony up that amount to "Present the MLS Shootout" give me a break. Imagine a Budwiser Logo for four minutes instead of the MLS logo. Yea - that wouldn't be money well spent by the advertiser...

MLS are you listening?????

[Charles]

I heard that the protracted negotionas with iNDemand were to make sure "these kinds of things didn't happen going forward." Maybe MLS thought that and iNDemand screwed them on it.

My experience with local cable has been almost identical to the comments posted here----frequent missed games because the local PPV "gal" would "forget" to "load" the games; grrrrr; frequent calls to the know-nothings after hours were pretty useless, calls during business hours (when of course the games aren't on) yields all kinds of assurances that "everythings fine now" and then.........still the game is black that night, or that weekend....followed by a 5-page letter and phone calls with the GM, which has helped somewhat, but clearly one answer is to go as high up the local ladder as possible, and then copy everything to the local municipality that controls their franchise---in most areas these cable operators must answer to, at least in theory, the local political subdivisions who hold, again at least in theory, the pursestrings, and give them the right to operate what is essentially a monopoly (i.e. the cable system itself)...so that's my next avenue of attack.