Possible good news for the Earthquakes TV schedule Remember how there were some Earthquakes road games that weren't televised during the 2003 season? Well, the recent announcement of the new Fox Sports Net Plus channel may alleviate that problem for the 2004 season. It seems that if there's a time-period conflict between two local teams (i.e. the Sharks and the Warriors playing at the same time, or the Giants and the A's, or either baseball team and the Earthquakes, etc.), that one game will be shown on Fox Sports Net Bay Area (channel 40 on cable/digital cable... I'm not sure what channel it is for DirecTV and DISH) while the other game will be shown on the new channel (check the link for channels). So if the ownership situation for this season is resolved relatively soon, there'll be enough time for the Earthquakes to take advantage of this new channel when formulating its 2004 TV schedule. GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Good. Speaking of games we didn't get to see, Landon Donovan has some home video for us of his neat vacation to Texas this summer with his friends Ian and Brian.
Awesome! More channels! Now there really won't be anything to watch! Hehe.... I'm on a mission here. Don't mind my babbling....
Don't forget that the first use of this new channel will be for tomorrow's (Thursday, 1/15/04) Sharks-Canucks game, which will be played live at the same time (7:30pm PST) as Fox Sports Net Bay Area's live broadcast of the Warriors-Cavaliers game. GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
This is great. Any time the Sharks or Quakes had a conflict in the past, their fans simply lost out to basketball, baseball, college football, et al.
If the Quakes take advantage of this new channel, would they no longer need to use KICU Channel 36 (cable channel 6) once or twice a season like they did in the last few years? GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Assuming that the Comcast channel lineup in SF is the same as the Comcast channel lineup in the South Bay, it'll either be on channel 15 or 22 (the local cable operator I spoke with on the phone didn't seem to know, so I guess we'll just find out at the beginning of the Sharks-Canucks game on Thursday). It seems that they tried turning either channel into a permanent "Fox Sports Net Bay Area 2", but weren't able to so far. For now, whichever channel it turns out to be, it'll only show games when there's a schedule-conflict with FSNBA (but will otherwise continue airing its normal programming). GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
As it turns out, it's on cable channel 22. So now I have to decide whether to watch the Sharks or the Warriors. GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
I guess it's now on cable channel 77 (which is now broadcasting the Sharks-Islanders game). This is still a good option for the TV schedule if the Quakes can't broadcast one or two games on either Fox Sports Net Bay Area or on KICU Channel 36. GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Speaking of Fox Sports Net Bay Area, they and Comcast have reached an agreement to broadcast all of the local games in high-definition. I'm still trying to determine if that includes the Quakes, or if it's limited to the Giants, A's, Warriors, and Sharks. And of course it's no help to us Dish subscribers . . .
Will that affect the quality of the broadcast signal for those of us without HDTV's, or will it be a completely separate signal? GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
No to your first question, yes to the second. HDTV broadcasts have to be done with HDTV-capable cameras and production trucks, so they're typically separate productions. Sometimes a production will be done solely with HDTV cameras and equipment, and "down-rezzed" for standard definition broadcast. This doesn't effect picture quality, since down-rezzing is easily done at any point in the process, from the production truck to the satellite uplink center to the cable-company headend to your TV or STB (set-top box). But this makes for a more difficult production, since all shots have to be framed for both HDTV and SDTV, which is a narrower aspect ratio. True, but remember that HDNet will not be available on Comcast, and HDNet is carrying at least one MLS game each week. The HDNet/Comcast snit won't end anytime soon; HDNet is owned by Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and he is insistent on keeping the HDNet signal at actual high-definition. (It's kind of a vanity project for him, and not so much as a money-making proposition. He just wanted to advocate the creation of HDTV content.) So Comcast and some other cable companies went and created InHD as their own outlet for high-definition programming, and they may choose to down-rez its output at any time. Bottom line is that it may be that those of us with high-definition TVs (and I'm not one, but may be soon) will need both Dish and Comcast for all of our MLS HDTV needs. But it would also pay to wait to see exactly how many Quakes games are going to be on FSN-Bay Area in high-definition, before you go that route. (FSN-BA is available on Dish in standard definition.) If anyone has any questions about HDTV, feel free to PM me, as I work in the industry.
Personally I am very intrigued about any HD developments for Quakes Soccer. I have a 50" HDTV and I have the HDTivo on order (expected 1st or 2nd week of May) which is just in time for the 1st away HD broadcast of the Quakes on HDnet.(May 15th against the Dallas Burn) I was personally waiting for the HDTivo as my wife and I both can't live without our Tivo (How else could I see every MLS game broadcast on TV in its entirety, I did just that last year Hopefully the Comcast broadcasts will still be available via DirectTV as that is who I get my service with. Once my HDTivo comes I will have to host a Quakes in HD party for one of their away games. (That way we can see all the Quakes goals in slow motion and even pause or fast-forward to see how plays develop. I am very excited about this upcoming season. Randy Overbeck
I remember last season that the first Earthquakes HDNet game (I believe that it was against KC) was "down-rezzed" for the Shootout Package, but the resolution wasn't adjusted... so it broadcast looked rather fuzzy. The other Quakes HDNet broadcasts that were also shown on the Shootout did have their resolution adjusted accordingly, though it was still weird seeing the horizontal ends of the widescreen broadcast sort of "cut off" to the sides for a regular TV (especially the scoreline graphic and such). GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Fox Sports Net Bay Area in High Definition First thing to keep in mind is there is no confirmation yet that FSN Bay Area will do any Quakes games at all. One surely hope it will happen, but there are no guarantees. Secondly, only HOME games of Bay Area professional sports teams are guaranteed be on Fox Sports Bay Area HD. Comcast's new contract with FSN only requires FSN Bay Area to do home games of professional teams in high definition. However, even though not contractually required, they could decide to do some away games in high definition-- especially if the non-Bay Area team is doing its own HD production for that game. This new high definition channel will NOT show up on DirectTV or Dish for one or two reasons: (1) Comcast's contract with FSN might preclude it and, more importantly, (2) DirectTV and Dish do not currently have the bandwidth capacity to put regional or local high definition feeds on their services. The channel migh show up on new satellite service VOOM because VOOM is owned by the same outfit that owns and operates FSN Bay Area. But again, bandwidth consumption is a concern for them, so it won't happen anytime soon.