Like others have said, it’s great if you want to watch other MLS teams and games. In general, it’s just great as a soccer fan. FA Cup, Serie A, USL, English Championship, Eredivise, and UEFA Nations League. Plus a ton of original content.
I was going to make a joke about KNR being willing to do anything, up to and including airing the Crew, to keep the Browns on their station. Turns out it's true.
Hey, the Haslams can and should leverage Browns access in exchange for Crew coverage. It’s all just contracts and money. May as dangle a carrot if you have it.
Was anyone in NE Ohio watching via ESPN+? I'll find out on Saturday but I'm wondering if the 75 mile radius is enacted or if the whole state is now in the blackout area. (I was able to stream last season.)
Can anyone here speak to the production quality of the game Saturday compared to the last few seasons on Spectrum? I was at the game so I obviously didn't see the TV broadcast, but I'm just curious. I'm assuming it's quite a bit better than what Spectrum produced.
I watched the replay on FSGo yesterday and thought they did a really good job. Pregame and Postgame show were shot on the stage and the camera work was better than the limited number of Spectrum Sports games I got to watch. The audio work was really good I thought, could definitely hear the Nordecke throughout, Wise Men Say was VERY prominent and at one time you could hear Zach setting up the wall.
The Pre and Post game was nice. The host was from the Cleveland area I assume. She was very good at saying Sports Time Ohio and not so good at knowing the Crew players. That will improve in time. She was professional the whole time. Dwight and Neal did what they do best. As much as I like the 2 of them, I’d like to see an ex player rotate through. It’s nice to hear a player prospective once in a while. We are fortunate to have those guys as they are dedicated to this club. Maybe bring in a player for the pre and post show to go over the strategy’s etc.
Production was miles better than anything Spectrum produced.. It looked like the broadcast for a professional team!!! Imagine that.
I would love to have a former player incorporated in some fashion. At the very least, I think it would be cool if they could rotate former players as guests on the broadcast or pre/post game shows.
I liked the fact it wasn't overproduced. My pet peeve is when I'm watching a game and missing live action due to replays and the slow motion agony cam.
I found the name, Ashley Collins. She's Bruce Drennan's sidekick on his STO show and does some Browns stuff, especially in preseason.
Not only do the producers seem to have a fear of split-screen, but they'll also show the coach on the sideline doing an interview during the game. We don't need to see the coach standing there when a caption "Voice of..." would suffice.
https://awfulannouncing.com/soccer/mls-local-deals-2022-packaging-national.html MLS directing teams to only have local tv deals through 2022 in anticipating of a whole scale deal for local & national for 2023. In theory, good news. However, I'm very skeptical that MLS is competent enough to get a deal that is wide spread enough that the 25 or so different markets are adequately covered.
So I signed up for YouTube TV last night and it’s freaking amazing. If you’re a sports fan, this is definitely what you need. Awesome deal for $40 per month.
Direct Kick schedule was released for March. Looks like of the 4 games left this month, 3 will have the Columbus home stream which is a welcome change. Also, it looks like they switched to an RSN blackout (150 miles usually) for the Crew this season. Though I have been told those in Cincinnati should be able to access via ESPN+ as the games on FS Ohio and Sportstime Ohio are supposed to be blacked out due to FC Cincinnati. http://www.tsq.com/alerts/MLSDK MARCH 2019 Schedule.pdf
I signed up Wednesday night to trial it over the weekend and make sure the Crew game came it. If it does, Monday morning spectrum cable will no longer be a thing in my home.
They do carry FSO and FSO plus. I’ve already set the DVR for the next two games. Sports wise it has ESPN, ESPN 2, FS1, FS2, CBS Sports, FSO, TBS, and I’m not sure how but I’m able to watch a slew of Premier League and Champions League games. I’ve only been able to mess around with it for about an hour or two last night and this morning. It’s got all of the major channels I usually watch including all the major 24 hour news networks. We’ve also got my son covered with Cartoon Network and Disney JR. Sadly no cooking channel, Food Network for my wife.
I'm just making sure I'm not blacked out, close to the border on the maps I've seen posted. Should be ok, but just making sure.
I'm in Grandview and DirecTV Now blacked out the game thru DTVN but it works thru the Fox Sports app. Dumb.