FSN Plus is a minus
By :Kyle Bauer
Ok so I promised a blog about the Wings and Pistons and their playoff aspirations. Well here I go.
The Wings will be fine, stick with Hasek.
The Pistons might have the best bench tat they’ve had since '04 but that doesn’t change the emergence of the Celtics bench coupled with Boston being overly more talented and dominating in the post. I say another conference finals trip but Boston in 6.
I could elaborate into a 6 page diatribe like I typically would but instead I’m going to talk about a matter that equally effects the Wings, Tigers and Pistons, more important their fans.
"April in D" is a sorry, cheesy ass, ad-campaign put on Fox Sports Net to cover up that they monopolized sports coverage in the city of Detroit. A couple weeks ago FSN signed a blockbuster deal to have exclusive local coverage of the Tigers, Pistons and Wings for the next 10 years, with extensions options afterward (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080319/SPORTS03/803190357/1048/sports.)
FSN's answer to the overlapping schedule is a greedy and pathetic one that plays into the hands of the cable companies who can decide to carry the "FSN Plus" outlet at will. An example of this is the biggest cable company in Michigan, Comcast, choosing not to put FSN Plus on an open basic channel i.e 8 and 32 ( formally occupied by the ill-fated "Comcast Local Sports Network" and ESPN Classic) they threw it on 900, which of course is a digital premium outlet. Dish Network is only selecting certain FSN Plus broadcasts to carry due to availability on their system.
In a struggling economy people are having a hard enough time paying their basic cable bills and Comcast, similar to what they were trying to do with the Big Ten Network are dancing with FSN to force people to move up to premium digital if they want to see select Tigers, Wings and Pistons games. True, people could just listen to their radios if they cant get FSN Plus but similar to the Big Ten Network argument, something we used to be able to get minus the extra cost and was always there for us to watch, isn’t there anymore.
There’s also the argument that the lack of free local sports other than the Lions is unfair to the less fortunate of the city and metro area who cannot afford even basic cable. Since 2003, the Pistons were the only team that played majority of their games on free TV. The Tigers had played select games on TV 20 and Fox 2, the past couple seasons. Is it fair that these people have to wait for the rare national game on ABC, NBC or Fox to see their hometown teams play? They shouldn’t have to be sent back to the 60's as far as local sports coverage because they’re poor.
The solution is simple and it's something FSN has implored in the past, maybe in a less greedy frame of mind. Comcast needs to move FSN Plus to an open channel instead of finding a premium channel to shove it on. Formally Comcast Local filled this spot. Second, in the past, FSN has produced the broadcasts of Tiger and Red Wings games on TV 20 or Fox 2. They got credit for producing the broadcasts but would simply air it to the public for free. Likely this was cost cutting/saving measures by TV20 and FOX, still the point remains, it is feasible and possible for FSN to produce the games and broadcast them on a free outlet and not bending over Comcast and Dish Network subscribers by throwing it on a premium outlet.
Don’t get me wrong, my gripe is as much with Comcast as it is with FSN. Really I’m more pissed at Comcast because if they would had fallowed the lead of Wide Open West cable and broadcast the conflicting games on basic, there wouldn’t be a problem for thousands of people. Still, FSN could at least advise Comcast to switch to a basic outlet and this never would have been much of an issue at all if FSN hadn’t locked up the exclusive contract.
In FSN's defense they have made the issue visible and are doing a good job of informing people of the change and where to find FSN Plus depending on your cable provider. They’ve had commercials featuring Mario Impemba, advising people to visiting the FSN Detroit page to find listing of when, what games and channel to find them on. Still, as the Tigers play critical games trying to pull out of the hole they’ve dug for themselves, the Wings and Pistons are fighting in the playoffs, not every Detroit sports fan can gain access to the game where in the past they could. Also they have been showing replays of FSN Plus telecasts on FSN around 11 pm or midnight, fallowing FSN's primetime game. This is a decent compromise, but still robs several people who want to get to bed early the convience they previously had.
I have heard rumors of Comcast Sports Local making a comeback and right now there couldn’t be a better time for it. This situation could be remedied in the least if they bring that outlet, on basic. It would be solved if the could produce the games and distribute them to free providers.This is still a relatively new system and in my opinion, there are several kinks. Hopefully in time FSN will understand my compliant and resolve the issue. Hopefully.
You can listen to me on WXOU.org Tuesdays from 3 to 4 with Neal Ruhl, Wednesdays from 5 to 6 with Corey Hagood and Brad Doesher then on Totally Raw Sports Thursdays 2 to 3.
Ok so I promised a blog about the Wings and Pistons and their playoff aspirations. Well here I go.
The Wings will be fine, stick with Hasek.
The Pistons might have the best bench tat they’ve had since '04 but that doesn’t change the emergence of the Celtics bench coupled with Boston being overly more talented and dominating in the post. I say another conference finals trip but Boston in 6.
I could elaborate into a 6 page diatribe like I typically would but instead I’m going to talk about a matter that equally effects the Wings, Tigers and Pistons, more important their fans.
"April in D" is a sorry, cheesy ass, ad-campaign put on Fox Sports Net to cover up that they monopolized sports coverage in the city of Detroit. A couple weeks ago FSN signed a blockbuster deal to have exclusive local coverage of the Tigers, Pistons and Wings for the next 10 years, with extensions options afterward (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080319/SPORTS03/803190357/1048/sports.)
FSN's answer to the overlapping schedule is a greedy and pathetic one that plays into the hands of the cable companies who can decide to carry the "FSN Plus" outlet at will. An example of this is the biggest cable company in Michigan, Comcast, choosing not to put FSN Plus on an open basic channel i.e 8 and 32 ( formally occupied by the ill-fated "Comcast Local Sports Network" and ESPN Classic) they threw it on 900, which of course is a digital premium outlet. Dish Network is only selecting certain FSN Plus broadcasts to carry due to availability on their system.
In a struggling economy people are having a hard enough time paying their basic cable bills and Comcast, similar to what they were trying to do with the Big Ten Network are dancing with FSN to force people to move up to premium digital if they want to see select Tigers, Wings and Pistons games. True, people could just listen to their radios if they cant get FSN Plus but similar to the Big Ten Network argument, something we used to be able to get minus the extra cost and was always there for us to watch, isn’t there anymore.
There’s also the argument that the lack of free local sports other than the Lions is unfair to the less fortunate of the city and metro area who cannot afford even basic cable. Since 2003, the Pistons were the only team that played majority of their games on free TV. The Tigers had played select games on TV 20 and Fox 2, the past couple seasons. Is it fair that these people have to wait for the rare national game on ABC, NBC or Fox to see their hometown teams play? They shouldn’t have to be sent back to the 60's as far as local sports coverage because they’re poor.
The solution is simple and it's something FSN has implored in the past, maybe in a less greedy frame of mind. Comcast needs to move FSN Plus to an open channel instead of finding a premium channel to shove it on. Formally Comcast Local filled this spot. Second, in the past, FSN has produced the broadcasts of Tiger and Red Wings games on TV 20 or Fox 2. They got credit for producing the broadcasts but would simply air it to the public for free. Likely this was cost cutting/saving measures by TV20 and FOX, still the point remains, it is feasible and possible for FSN to produce the games and broadcast them on a free outlet and not bending over Comcast and Dish Network subscribers by throwing it on a premium outlet.
Don’t get me wrong, my gripe is as much with Comcast as it is with FSN. Really I’m more pissed at Comcast because if they would had fallowed the lead of Wide Open West cable and broadcast the conflicting games on basic, there wouldn’t be a problem for thousands of people. Still, FSN could at least advise Comcast to switch to a basic outlet and this never would have been much of an issue at all if FSN hadn’t locked up the exclusive contract.
In FSN's defense they have made the issue visible and are doing a good job of informing people of the change and where to find FSN Plus depending on your cable provider. They’ve had commercials featuring Mario Impemba, advising people to visiting the FSN Detroit page to find listing of when, what games and channel to find them on. Still, as the Tigers play critical games trying to pull out of the hole they’ve dug for themselves, the Wings and Pistons are fighting in the playoffs, not every Detroit sports fan can gain access to the game where in the past they could. Also they have been showing replays of FSN Plus telecasts on FSN around 11 pm or midnight, fallowing FSN's primetime game. This is a decent compromise, but still robs several people who want to get to bed early the convience they previously had.
I have heard rumors of Comcast Sports Local making a comeback and right now there couldn’t be a better time for it. This situation could be remedied in the least if they bring that outlet, on basic. It would be solved if the could produce the games and distribute them to free providers.This is still a relatively new system and in my opinion, there are several kinks. Hopefully in time FSN will understand my compliant and resolve the issue. Hopefully.
You can listen to me on WXOU.org Tuesdays from 3 to 4 with Neal Ruhl, Wednesdays from 5 to 6 with Corey Hagood and Brad Doesher then on Totally Raw Sports Thursdays 2 to 3.
posted by Kyle Bauer at 7:18 PM
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