As most of you, my fellow Gooners are aware of by now, our match today away to Leicester City, is not being shown on television, we have been relegated to the now-infamous NBC Sports Gold and their $50.00/year Premier League Pass package. Now this, was NEVER a problem before, for in the past three seasons (starting with the 2013-14 season), we have had the luxury of, no matter which of the 20 EPL squads we support, being able to watch (provided you have NBCSN on your participating TV package) what they used to advertise, as "EVERY TEAM, EVERY MATCH, EVERY WEEK, as well as LIVE online through NBC Sports LIVE (on www.NBCSports.com/LIVE). This was sheer genius as we Gooners (or even fans of obscure clubs like AFC Bournemouth, Leicester City or even Burnley) got to watch them in every game during the Premier League season. FOR FREE. But, now, as of the beginning of this season, NBC Sports Group has gotten kinda greedy, as they now insist on you having to go to Best Buy and buy either a Roku box, or an Amazon Fire Stick, or Apple TV system, AND, having to pay an extra $50.00 for what they call their "Premier League Package" on their NBC Sports Gold service, in which you HAVE TO have either of the devices mentioned, AND, have a TV carrier that carries NBCSN ON TOP OF IT. THIS IS BULLSHIT, so I hope that maybe one of my fellow Gooners would forward the link to this thread, to the powers that be aver at Comcast/NBC and let them know that if wasn't for my late mother's trust fund, i would not be able to even enjoy having satellite TV and all sorts of amenities like this, as I only get $873.00/month from Social Security Disablility (for my developmental and psychiatric issues) and even though I would have a cut version of my service once my trust fund runs out (I have had DISH since 1997, when Alice and I got it well before my mother passed on in 2000) I would have to pay for all of it, and with the economy the way it is right now, I don't think we could afford even having much to do, as our bills and rent (if I had to pay my half myself) keep going up yet our wages and benefits remain stagnant. This hurts many people of both disabled and severely-low income persons like us. Having to pay extra for EPL action, in which, was free just for having NBCSN on our package, if total bullshit. I left VfL Wolfsburg and the Bundesliga after getting a virus via one of those illegal streaming sites I was forced to use because the BL was not on US TV at the time (2010-2013), don't make me go back to that, or the EPL and Arsenal would lose 2 fellow Gooners here in the Olympic Peninsula because they would be forced back into taking their chances with those same sites that gave us that virus back in 2013. Enough said.
When NBC took over from Fox everyone was ecstatic about all the broadcasts and the shoulder programming on NBCSN and all the access we had. I knew it wouldn't last. As bad as Fox Soccer was at times, I miss having a dedicated channel with Premier League and Champions League games, Fox Soccer Report and Sky Sports News. Now it's 2018 and almost all the Premier League shoulder programming is gone, the online access is behind another paywall, Champions League games will soon be on Turner which will probably do the same thing with an extra fee for the privilege of watching online, and ESPN FC is also gone from TV. Honestly, I might consider paying if there was a place where I could get all the games. But the BS is of having to pay two different services for one league. As far as viruses for watching the dodgy streams - Get a Chromebook, install UBlock Origin, and watch in Incognito mode. That's what I do.
Totally appreciate your rant @BIGHMW , but it's about 1 year late. NBC finalized and implemented this decision last summer. And there's no indication that they were going to change course, even if they were listening to people like us, which I doubt. And NBC's not the only one! There's been a lot of discussion about this shift in the NBC/ESPN/BeIN threads. @blackhornet is bang on in what he said, and how he knew it wouldn't last. Bait-and-switch is a tried-and-true business model, especially when it comes to online content. Things are only going to get worse I'm afraid, at least in the next few years: Less and less on conventional TV channels... Splintered coverage across many providers, with ransom payments of ~$5/mo to each of them, regardless of whether you already pay via your TV bundle... Higher net costs to us fans (and I'm only talking about 1 sport, god help you if you like to watch more than one!... Lower quality, reliability & ease-of-use for online platforms... Less control over time-shifting or saving certain games/shows (like DVD's allowed)... Etc, etc, etc.
It amounts to double jeopardy really. You pay a premium for the cable, then pay again to access the content they own but choose not to broadcast on cable.
I know, isn't that complete bullshit??? $$$ for DISH, $$$ for Roku box, and $$$ for Premier League Pass package, it's just too much for low income folks like myself, if I didn't have my late mother's trust fund (or when my trust fund runs out of money), I would not be able to afford it all, as Alice and I would be fully responsible to pay for everything ourselves with barely anything left for anything much afterwards. I only get $873.00/month Alice only gets about $650.00/month Alice gets $195.00 in food stamps I get none (I was deemed ineligible due to having a trust fund despite the fact that very same trust fund won't pay for food) BILLS: Untilities (water/sewer/garbage/electric) DISH Internet and phone. ....and low income/subsidized housing here in Port Townsend/Jefferson County is non-existent, so we are forced to live in a 3-bed/2-bath house here at Towne Point in which is way too expensive for us to live in on our own income, plus we are getting a break on the rent from the landlord (Doris, my late mother's former book keeper, whom we've known for years now), so it's all good (at least for now). What I'm really saying is, that if it weren't for my trust fund, I probably would not be able to enjoy my footballing fix every week, as having to have all the BS just to watch Arsenal would be cost too much, I would pretty much be relegated to the LIVE ticker on Arsenal.com or just the proverbial annual Season Review DVD (do they still make those).
More of Arsenal's games would almost certainly have been NBC Sports Gold, if not for the Europa League's Thursday's games, which pushed many of Arsenal League games to Sundays. So there was a benefit to being in the Europa League.
Yup I realized that myself 2-3 months ago. So that's basically the silver lining of playing in UEL. So what's the deal about this weekend are we on Gold or on NBCSN?
I've seen both CNBC and MSNBC. Apparently they are televising all the games on Sunday of regular cable.
They haven't figured out how to shove a Bud Lite commercial into our games every thirty seconds like during NFL games so the broadcasters have to make revenue elsewhere (like from your wallet). Unfortunately if you wanna watch...you pay. Bitch all you want...they aren't listening. By the way that's why I detest watching the NFL.... a fourth grade level humorous commercial every 3 minutes. Bores the shit outta me.
@blackhornet I’ve been able to find ESPNFC on YouTube thankfully. It’s a bit disjointed at times but still works. Hope this helps.
I hate it too, but... Can’t have your cake and eat it too. Record tv money means record xfer deals and record wages for players. Think arsenal could pay mesut’s new deal without the huge tv contract? My main complaint is with the scheduling. Like the other week—AWs last home game was at the same time as a meaningful chav-pool game. Can’t count the number of times I’ve had to choose between Arsenal and an interesting fixture. Pretty annoying and needless since we’ve had so many Sunday fixtures this year. They do one early game, one late game and the rest at the same time. Why not stagger them so an neutral can at least watch the end/beginning of each?