I saw this the other day but didn't read about it until this morning. This looks great for Time Warner Cable subscribers but is a really bad deal for any of us who don't have TWC and sets us back years in terms of TV coverage. 12 games will be covered by a combination of KTXA, ESPN, ESPN2, and NBC Sports but I didn't find a breakdown of road and home games. I guess I will be watching a lot of road games on a tiny computer screen or go to watching parties. Guess I can party like it's 1999 again. FC Dallas announced to their season ticket holders that for 2013 the club has partnered with Time Warner Cable for TV Broadcasts. http://soccerblog.dallasnews.com/20...ith-time-warner-cable-for-tv-broadcasts.html/
If it turns into anything like the twcsportsnet in LA it will eventually make it's way to other providers. http://www.twcsportsnet.com/channel-finder
It does look like a big step back to me. The worst part seems to be the mention that if you are in a TWC area Direct Kick is blacked out even on road games. Why bury your road coverage even further in the DFW area? Seems like they are following Comcast Houston (Astros/Rockets) into the media blackout abyss.
We are working to get a better explanation as to what matches will and will not be shown - if you have to have TWC, and if you don't what that means for you. The release was sent out at an odd time, only to season tix holders and not the media. It also can't be found on the team's site (that I can find)… But I agree, the way that was worded makes it sound like fans are screwed if they don't have TWC (and I wouldn't if my life depended on it)…
Frankly, either the press release was just written very poorly and is jumbling up a positive message - or it's very cleverly written in a vague manner as to try and hide some pretty crappy news. Their deal with FSSW, as I recall, was a time buy or barter deal between the club and the network. I am going to assume that TWC some sort of "better deal" - maybe even paid for the rights - and FCD took them up on it. But there is some confusion over what exactly is being done here because of the mention about host again traveling to away matches…. TWC doesn't have production studios, and we assume they will have to use FSSW or someone else to accomplish these broadcasts. Of course, if that means that people without TWC are on the outs, then that's problematic. Frankly, if you have DirectKick and homes games on TWC are blacked out, then that's not an option and the $50 for the miserable experience of trying to watch a match via the internet is of little to zero interest to me. Again, I have calls into FSSW, TWC and the club to try and get further details. Will pass them along via 3rdDegree when we have them.
and i was just complaining about the fact i am stuck with twx and the dudes across the street from me can get u-verse...guess i may be good for now
I have DISH, living in Dallas, and will be unable to attend many home games this year... so I am very anxious to hear further details about home/away game status for non-TWC customers. I've never had MLS Live before, but I have a big-ass monitor so I don't mind watching on the computer as long as the video quality is good.
Quality is excellent, I have a Roku player hooked up to a 40" tv in the bedroom and it looks great. Your biggest problem is going to be dealing with potential blackout/tape delay issues.
terrible idea. This isn't gonna force me out to Frisco anymore than I went before. Just continue to add to the accumulation of fans who have been alienated by their team. Thankfully in this age I don't have to be strong armed into paying money for a shitty service when I can find it online anyways, just sucks the likelihood of being able to ask for the game to be put on a tv while I'm out.
this is great for me since I have TWC. Also, its odd to me that some hate this so much. Sure, its exclusive to TWC but now every game will be broadcast in HD and in real time this season. You couldn't say that with Fox Sports deal even if it technically reaches more homes.
Well, I have TWC but I don't get the TWC Sports Channel. What the hell... Unless they're thinking about making it a basic channel (which I don't believe they will) I'm outta luck. I don't pay too much for cable and I don't intend to spend anymore than I already do. Without FCD, I no longer have any use for cable TV in general. Looks like I'm back to Netflix and Hulu. I'll have to check out MLS Live again. Quality is good and I can watch them all.
after investigating a little on the TWC website I am now confused. so there are apparently 3 different Time Warner sports channels here in Dallas and unless there is a channel shuffle coming soon the press release got some of the info wrong. here are the TWC sports channels 145 - TWCSNSD - Time Warner SportsNet - SD 146 - TWCSNHD - Time Warner Sportsnet - HD 147 - TWCDP - Time Warner Deportes - SD 148 - TWDEPHD - Time Warner Deportes - HD 185 - TWCSW - Time Warner Cable SportsChannel - SD a few random things these channels are very hard to find info on. Wiki only shows that Time Warner Sports Net is for SoCal markets while Time Warner Sports Channel is for the Syracuse/Buffalo New York area. Their website seems to indicate you can order Time Warner Sports Net in a sports package if you are on AT&T U-Verse, Direct TV, Cox, Bright House, Verizon FIOS, and Charter. http://www.twcsportsnet.com/affiliates I cannot find the same for Time Warner Sports Channel however.
We've had all the games available in HD for the last 3-4 seasons without this nonsense. No one WANTS Time Warner, they are usually forced into it through economic means or lack of options. TWC is run by morons and their channel selection is usually less than stellar. Plus, this is obviously a Texas specific channel. Is this the same channel that they show the Sidekicks games on? Wonder if that had any kind of weight on this...
We have a full explanation and breakdown of the schedule here: Bottom line either get Time Warner, or find a buddy that does.
Another bone-headed move by FCD that sounds good but is more like lipstick on a pig. Time Warner Cable is tiny, very few people have it. So in FCDs mind having a match in HD that can be seen by a few TWC subscribers is better than it being on FSSW/21 in standard def that is available to 100x or maybe 1000x more potential viewers. Also, it would seem that this would restrict viewership further as when a game was on FSSW here in Dallas often times it was also on Fox Sports Houston or SA (I get all 3 channels on my AT&T U-Verse). I always tried to watch every match I could not attend in Frisco and all away matches, and between ESPN/ESPN2/NBCSN/FSC (previously)/FSSW/ and Ch. 21 just about every single match was on TV for just about anyone in DFW who cared to watch and many more in the State of Texas. So now a tiny sliver will get to see the matches in HD vs. a much wider audience. This does not seem to make sense to me. Standard def. and announcers being local is better than not being able to see the f'n game at all. They can spin it how they want to but I don't see this as a win for the fans. I'm sure TWC has all the channels ESPN/ESPN2/NBCSN/FSC (previously)/FSSW/ and Ch. 21 as well, so TWC would have access to those games regardless. But now by partnering with TWC instead of a channel the MAJORITY of fans are going to lose out on seeing the MAJORITY of the matches. Another brillian FCD front office move...............
Agreed 100%, pretty bogus move. According to the article, if I moved to an apartment complex in Plano that only offered U-Verse as a cable option, I could technically get the FCD games on Direct Kick without blackout restrictions. However, I don't have faith that they have an adequate means to measure whether you can actually get TWC in your area or not and I fear that the entire DFW area will be blacked out regardless. This is so insanely stupid and of course it comes during a year that I was planning on watching most games on TV thanks to a 2nd job. Making FCD less visible to the Average Joe is going to make FCD even less relevant than they already are. How does that online service work, can you watch games on tape delay at your convenience?
You can watch the games after a blackout period (I believe local black outs are delayed 24 hours, national 48 hours). They also do a pretty neat "condensed" match that saves some times if you don't feel like devoting an entire 90 minutes to a game (another team perhaps). The thing to remember here is that 1) I'd imagine the viewing number for FC Dallas games is pretty much non existent, otherwise FC Dallas wouldn't have had to pay to get it on the air. 2) As mentioned in the article this is savings of "hundreds of thousands" of dollars, which is a big deal to a team floating at or near the break even point. One thing I haven't seen an answer to in any of the articles is whether this channels has the option to be picked up by other subscribers, like the similar channel in LA (granted having the power of the Lakers behind it is the reason it was picked up...). Also makes you wonder if this isn't the start of TWC pushing to get the rights to another of the major teams in the area (no idea when their current deals expire or anything so who knows).
I would argue for a team struggling to have any relevance in this market, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars is pretty minor. Unfortunately, 18 years of poor marketing moves means you may have to spend money to get your product on respected tv stations until you can prove you can drive an audience. But if you view that money spent as part of your advertising budget, and probably the best advertising money you could spend, then so what? Especially in light of the money they get from the Brek sale that can't be used on the roster, this type of thing is exactly what those funds could be used for. It's moves like this, where if a casual soccer fan asks where can they watch FCD games, and someone says oh TWC channel 1, that is going to continue the perception that this club is minor league and not worth their time. Let alone the negatives it does to those of us who care. I am not paying money to watch tape delayed games, and I am certainly not fn changing cable providers to watch games either.
I agree with this, but at the same time pretty much all of MLS struggles on tv, locally and nationally; it's doesn't seem to be where the big push is right now, it's getting the fans in the seats, the atmosphere built up and creating demand at the stadium. I imagine if that can be accomplished the league/teams will push more for a TV prescience, because that's really where the big money is, you can only make so much with butts in seats/concessions. So I guess where i'm going with this, is that while it in theory is a hit to the credibility of the team/league I think in reality it's not, it's a change to FCD's bottom line; having an invested third party (regardless of the potential limited local reach) is a good thing. With LA, they've made pre-post match shows that never existed, they're paying the team multiple millions of dollars a year, and that only just started at the end of last year, and that's with a lot more on/off field success then FC Dallas has experienced... But really i'm probably just trying to be positive and it's a shitty thing for everyone involved;
This is the Brave New World of sports broadcasting. Cable companies are tired of getting held for ransom by Fox and Disney for the only DVR-proof channels out there, sports channels, having to jack up subscription package prices to compensate, and having subscribers cut the cable. Right now, most every single cable and satellite subscriber in the USA pays $8 a month to ESPN as part of their programming package. And while Comcast, Time Warner, et al, can't yet stick it to ESPN, they CAN stick it to Fox by cutting out the middleman in their areas by starting their own regional sports networks and signing deals with the local pro teams. In Philly, Washington, Houston, Chicago, and Northern California, places where Comcast is the dominant cable system, you've got Comcast SportsNet. In Houston, they've grabbed the Rockets and the Astros and the Dynamo, with the Rockets and Astros as co-owners of the channel. Fox Sports Houston is no more because of it. (It was more or less just an FSSW alternate channel, but still...) The same has happened in Chicago. Comcast joined with the Cubs, White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks to start Comcast SportsNet Chicago and killed off Fox Sports Chicago. In LA, the Lakers signed a huge deal with Time Warner and put their games on a new Time Warner SportsNet. The Dodgers are doing the same. And although the Kings, Ducks, Clippers, and Angels are still with Fox Sports West, you can bet that Time Warner will make a play for them as their deals with Fox expire. Why not? It's better to own the channel than to pay Fox. So now, you can expect the same thing to happen in D/FW. Time Warner is going to start their own channel here and you can bet that they'll try their damned to start picking off the Rangers, Mavs, and Stars as each team's deals with Fox ends. Ultimately, the end game will be to reduce Fox Sports Southwest's relevance to the local sports fan, and how much they have to pay Fox to carry FSSW. I guess that FCD just happens to be first in the chute. Now does this suck for the local non-TWC subscriber? You bet your ass.
So if we live in SW Fort Worth and purchase the MLS Direct Kick via PPV, then we should be fine? I hope that their are some creative options available for people. When you can't follow the team drama game to game, it becomes difficult to care.