i live outside of philly,and had comcast digital cable because of fsw for 3 years until feb 02 when i saw the writing on the wall and switched to RCN. Since Feb i have had no complaints with RCN i get fsw, rai, tv5, plus the saturday and sunday english ppv matches if i'm interested which with comcast you could only get the sunday ppv only i'm in soccer heaven now
I just made the switch to DirecTV last week. My Comcast "digital" (wasn't going to be upgraded to fiberoptic until "sometime between May and September of 2003," never mind that last Nov. they said it would be upgraded in "early 2002") ran me $50 per month, plus $10 for a premium channel package. Now my base is $40/month for the TotalChoice Plus package and local channels, plus another $10 for the Sports Pack, which includes something like 23 regional sports networks (not sure about blackout rules, but I might not even need the Shootout), plus FSW. So my base rate is still $50/month. Of course, I couldn't resist adding the EPL PPV season pass, which bumped up the cost considerably. The equipment was free, and the installation was free. I paid something like $15 in tax to get everything set up. Oh, and the picture quality is about 10x better than Comcast. It's like I got a whole new tv. When they asked me why I cancelled, I gave them 3 reasons: 1) no Comedy Central (how ridiculous was that? no E! either, not that I cared about that one); 2) they'd cut FSW from their digital service in many surrounding jurisdictions, and I have heard rumors of the same thing happening in DC (rumors which the operator refused to address); 3) poor picture and sound quality. Anyways, the only downside (and it's a BIG one for a lot of people) with DirecTV is that you've gotta either own or have a cool landlord, and you've gotta have a clear line-of-sight to the southwest...tough combination to pull off in an urban area...
If our ATT system currently has FSW, does that mean it'll get dropped by Comcast or not? Have there been any examples around the country of systems that may have had FSW only to see it disappear when Comcast took over?
Taken from soccertv.com: "Comcast owns and operates Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which competes directly against FOX Sports World for US TV rights to international sports events such as cycling, yachting, equestrian, skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. OLN is currently available in over 40 million households, while FOX Sports World is currently available in about 15 million households including about 3 million households currently served by AT&T Broadband." FSWorld should just stop competing for the same sports as OLN. Most people watch FSW for Football and maybe Rugby. Why lose access to all those homes for something that doesn't really matter to your business. On the other hand maybe Rupert Murdoch buy Directv and threaten to remove OLN unless Comcast puts FSW on all its stations.
This article is very telling. When I first got Comcast digital cable I was in heaven. FSW, the Sixers were great, I couldn't have loved Comcast any more. But now I think Comcast is the antichrist, and not just because of them dropping FSW. Their service is absolutely horrible. My father-in-law was mistakenly charged for a second box, it took him 6 months, 10 phone calls and 2 trips to their office until they stopped billing him monthly. I have countless other stories which portray the same picture. Not to mention they also charge almost $40 a month for high speed internet. Shouldn't that come with digital cable? If we could get local channels, I'd get a dish. ATT customers you are in for a treat.
My cable company was Suburban Cable... they were bought by Comcast and FSW was dropped when the contract was up (it took about 18 months before it was dropped).
I have AT&T and supposedly on Monday it becomes Comcast or Comcast AT&T or something. If they drop FSW I'll be pissed, but, again, they'll be the largest cable provider in the country, so there's not a whole lot they can do (and all the petitions you can muster will be an excercise in futility---you'll have a better chance getting MLS Cup cleared in Savannah). But I've heard, to date, nothing from my cable company about what to expect over the switch. Which doesn't surprise me because their customer service is abysmal. There is another cable company in my area, but not everywhere, and I can't get anything but AT&T unless I want to get a dish. Which I'm going to look into.
It's so easy to understand. By getting rid of FSW, Comcast is operating under one assumption. If you don't get any soccer on TV, you'll switch your loyalty to cycling, snowboarding, skiing, etc. "Either you watch cycling/skiing/kayaking or you don't watch niche foreign sports" It's so American. The Corporate America's way, that is.
Can somone answer this. Is Comcast going to drop FSW here and if so when. The whole reason I got Digital Cable was for FSW.
If you're in Harrisburg, take a look at Dish Network. They just added the locals. My wife finally agreed to getting the satellite and FSW again. I dumped digital cable after Comcast dropped FSW; now I'm really looking forward to calling them and cancelling my basic subscription.
Don't count on them keeping FSW. You may be getting it by mistake. If you look at the channel listing for your local area on the Comcast website, you may find that it is no longer listed. My parents had Suburban Cable, it was bought by Comcast and within 6 month FSW was officially dropped. They kept the channel for a while, but recently they dropped it from my parents when I complained to my local cable company that if my parents can have FSW and live less than 3 miles from me, that there isnt any reason I should have it too. My mistake I guess. My advice would be to lie low and not bring the issue up. Also don't add or delete services. They reset your box when they do this and FSW would be kaput in your home if the service is not offered to new subscribers in your area and you change your service. Comcast is the antichrist. It goes beyond not having FSW. Their service sucks. They are more aniticompetition than Microsoft. The internet service is a huge problem prone ripoff, and the people working there have no clue what so ever. I was actually billed for MLS Shootout 5 times because of their mistakes and inability to make it work. First they charged me a second time when I moved, then three additional times when I had to get the packaged turned back on after they incorrectly shut off the package off on me three times. If I could get the Flyers and Sixers on DTV, I'd switch tomorrow, but there's an issue where they are clearly abusing monopoly power. Comcast has more than 80% of the Philly cable market, so they won't sell Comcast Sportsnet Philly to dish providers. That means that Comcast owns the teams they broadcast, the arena in which they play, the cable channel that broadcasts the teams, and they are the largest provider of service in the industry that gets their teams into people's homes.
We can only hope that SUM and MLS start their own network with mouse, so that the leagues we like will be on. The conspiracy widens...
I have AT&T Digital at the moment. Primary reason is for FSW. If that is dropped with Comcast I'm out.
It's a bit ironic that the Clinton Administration, the national new media and various state Attorney's General made a huge deal about Microsoft being a monopoly and you hear NOTHING about similar crap being pulled in the cable industry. People have zero say in this. It's either take your local cable company or forget cable and get a dish. But if you have lots of high trees on your property, you're stuck with cable. Unfortunately, it's another example of big business running this country and if we don't like it, they say screw you. I remember our then local congressman, Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) at one time was head of the House Telecommunications Sub Committee which "regulated" the cable industry. Back about 6 or 7 years ago, he made a huge deal about this alleged "Cable Reform" legislation which was supposed to lower everyone's cable rates and be great for the consumer. It passed. But who's cable rates have gone down since then? And all we've gotten is more consolidation to the point where this industry borders on being a monopoly. Is this all for the "benefit" of the American consumer? Screw you Ed, you hypocrite. I would love to see how many influential people in the cable industry are active contributors to his campaign fund and those of other members of the sub committee - both Republican and Democrat. My guess is lots. The cable industry is every bit the same type of special interest as Microsoft, the Oil Companies, Insurance companies, Attorney's etc. Only problem is they're not quite as "glamorous" because no one knows who heads Comcrap. There's no Bill Gates to villify. So this type of garbage goes on unnoticed unless you're affected by their service or programming decisions.....which it sounds like we're about to be.
Thought I'd trash Cablevision while you're at it. They suck too. They've been telling me calbe internet will be available in a few months for two and a half years. I can't get digital cable either so its no FSW or satellite. MSG carries Premiership game of the week on the Friday after but only before the NBA starts up. I know that the government does allow monopolies in some industries (electric, cable, etc.) but why do they? Seems pretty stupid to me.