Comcast has no intention to carry HDNet

Discussion in 'Business and Media' started by OldFanatic, Dec 19, 2004.

  1. OldFanatic

    OldFanatic Member

    Jan 12, 2004
    Bay Area
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/10238982.htm?1c

    "We keep on talking to the local and national [Comcast] folks," [Mark] Cuban said. "They know we are ready, willing and able to do a deal. For whatever reason, they haven't said yes to HDNet and HDNet Movies."

    If you're interested in HDNet being carried by Comcast, contact both Comcast and HDNet. Currently, HDNet is not carried by VOOM either. But given the huge fooprint enjoyed by Comcast compared to VOOM, pursuading Comcast to carry HDNet would have the biggest bang for the buck.
     
  2. wjarrettc

    wjarrettc Member
    Staff Member

    Oct 1, 2002
    Cliffs of Insanity
    Club:
    Carolina Railhawks
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Apparently this is a BIG deal in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area where HDNet is showing tons of Mavericks B-ball games this season and the local NBA fans can't watch on their Comcast cable.
     
  3. OldFanatic

    OldFanatic Member

    Jan 12, 2004
    Bay Area
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Check this out:

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/08/19/BUGAV8A83D1.DTL&type=printable

    I get HD channels from Comcast, and KROND is one of them. For the last week (since when I noticed this channel), I had been a bit confused about it, as I saw the HDNet logo. But the content seemed to be reruns of some old recycled junk (Harlem Globetrotter's trip to Bermuda being one of them.) After checking the HDNet online schedule, there didn't seem to be any correlation between what was being shown on KROND and the HDNet schedule.

    I'll wait and see by the time MLS season rolls around, if KROND actually carries the live matches on HDNet.

    One thing to keep in mind is the huge competition from InHD to HDNet. InHD is partly owned by Comcast.
     
  4. Airblair

    Airblair Member

    Dec 8, 1999
    Redwood City
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That article you cited was from last August. I think the agreement between KRON and HDNet has ended. And in any case, you won't see the Quakes games in HD on KRON; FSN BA has the local rights and is just now ramping up HD production of Giants and A's games, and I'd imagine the Quakes are pretty low on the list of priorities.

    I get HDNet via Dish Network as of the beginning of this month and I can't wait for the season to begin. Cripes, I find myself watching slivers of MLS games they use in their 30-second bumpers, over and over and over again . . .
     
  5. OldFanatic

    OldFanatic Member

    Jan 12, 2004
    Bay Area
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Mark Cuban sent me the following email, as a result of my following question:



    http://blogmaverick.com/entry/1234000873024786/#c114582
    It does not show our current schedule
    We provide them with demo content for their DTV broadcast
    You need to call Comcast and request HDNet and push them pick us up
    So I suppose I'll call Comcast again, then.
     
  6. socrne1

    socrne1 Member

    Liverpool FC
    United States
    Feb 12, 2003
    Chicago
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Who are you calling at Comcast to request this channel?
     
  7. onefineesq

    onefineesq Member+

    Sep 16, 2003
    Laurel, MD
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    i just sent them an email yesterday and got back this form response. what a joke. they continue to raise rates and provide marginal service. the American dream, i suppose.
     
  8. OldFanatic

    OldFanatic Member

    Jan 12, 2004
    Bay Area
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I can't understand how Comcast can use the excuse of competition between InHD and HDNet for the reason to not carry HDNet. They own Comcast SportsNet as well, which competes with Fox Sports Net. But I haven't heard of them not carrying Fox Sports Net in any market due to this competition.

    As for whom in Comcast I'm speaking with: the same clueless callcenter dopeheads. I know, I know, that has very little chance of success. But Mark Cuban says, keep calling Comcast. If many more people call, it would put more pressure. Now that they're thinking of acquiring Adelphia (which already carries HDNet), there may be some hope of the original Comcast customers getting HDNet.
     
  9. billf

    billf Member+

    May 22, 2001
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The Comcast Sportsnet example really doesn't carry much weight in the sense that it might compete with FSN in some markets. CSN is a new addition in markets like the Bay Area and Chicago so the FSN carry argeements the local Comcast branches have in place must be honored. I wouldn't be surprised if CSN actually kills FSN in those markets which Comcast would love I'm sure. In Philadelphia and Washington, there was never an FSN branded channel. DC's CSN came from Home Team Sports, there was no FSN in DC, and CSN Philly came from Sportschannel Philadelphia and a local variety channel called Prism. There never was a FSN in Philly either, but CSN does carry FSN branded programming in Philadelphia.

    Where you can look at CSN and equate it to this example with HDNet is Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia. Try to find CSN Philly listed on a DirecTV or Dishnetwork lineup. You won't find it because Comcast distributes the channel via microwave so it does not have to sell the signal to the competing DBS systems. Since sports is such a hot content property and because Comcast has about 90% of the Philly cable market, there is a very small percentage of DBS customers in the Philly area compared to the rest of the country. Thus, Comcast protects its market share by using exclusive content. As the largest cable company in the country, Comcast has a great deal of power with respect to content. Since it backs INHD, it can use its market position to establish the channel as a property and keep competing channels off its systems. It costs a lot of money to start up a network so it protects Comcast's investment in INHD and may help bleed a rival to a slow death. I doubt many subscribers are up in arms over not having HDNet because the relative number of HD subscribers is still very small.

    Knowing Comcast, acquiring parts of Adelphia doesn't mean much in terms of getting the channel system-wide distribution. They can let agreements run out in Adelphia systems and not renew those system's contracts. Plus, the channel lineups are still local. Having a channel offered in one area doesn't get it picked up automatically in others. It would likely just increase INHD's distribution. If Comcast doesn't want HDNet now, inheriting it in a small number of franchise areas won't force its hand. HDNet has nothing to offer Comcast. At least Fox owns DirecTV and the two companies can negotiate carriage based on what it can offer the other's properties.
     
  10. metro1026

    metro1026 New Member

    Jan 21, 1999
    Swamps of Jersey
    FWIW, I just emailed comcast that I would like them to add HDnet. They just started carrying FSW and GolTV, thats why I switched bach from Dish Network, hopefully, they will add HDnet too.
     

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