March 1. DirecTV. Versus.  WTF.

Verizon Fios. Thats how you stick it to Directv.

A decent number of folks that frequent this site don’t live in the Mid Atlantic and therefore don’t get games locally. I guess we don’t count??? Even though we buy merchandise, view games on TV/online, attend NHL and other hockey games in our own areas, and attend Caps games when we are in DC.

He’s part of a group of owners who now have their national games on a network that a large number of people can’t even get if they wanted to. This Versus deal has been a mess from day one. They took more money up front instead of choosing to invest in a deal that could grow the game by increasing not decreasing viewership. Now all of a sudden they care about which tier providers put Versus on. Please.

Don’t overlook the usefulness of a phone call or email to your senators and congressperson, especially if those people happen to serve on any relevant committees. They still think the market is handling this issue, and it isn’t as long as there isn’t equal access in every residential area.

… and listening to the radio broadcasts. I managed to finagle Center Ice from DirecTv when this whole thing started (I live in BFE Ohio) so I’ve enjoyed watching the games. Once this season’s over, I’ll drop DTV and move to something else.

Moving to Fios if no Versus by March 15. Not going to miss any playoff games.

i have all but given up. i have bitched and moaned to no avail. I will say THIS…i have found more than 1 website for FREE that i have been using to watch the versus games on. The quality is not hd, but the feeds are pretty good, and its live and you can see the game..Already paid 40 EXTRA dollars per month back in nov/dec just to have cox and directv at the same time by just getting basic cox service plus versus. Too much money to pay for one channel. Tired of being caught in the middle…oh by the way, directv decided to raise up my rates for my package in the past 30-60 days… if ANYONE wants a few links, just email me directly and i will send them to you …not selling anything, just a mega Caps fan who did some research and found a few good sites to watch games…

puckheadmark@cox.net

I, for one, believe that Ted, the other 29 owners, and the NHL executives are pretty powerless here.

This is a power struggle between DTV and Versus/Comcast. DirecTV has no agreement with the NHL, Versus does. The NHL brass can state their dissatisfaction with Versus, but ultimately it is Versus that has a contract in place with the rights air the games (which hopefully won’t be renewed in light of all this). Unfortunately, it is we, the fans that suffer.

I used to be a DirecTV subscriber, but after this, it would take quite a bit for me to go back. As long as they have exclusive rights to the NFL games, they are pretty much going to be able to do whatever they want, because that will always be their number 1 selling product.

I would hope, that when it comes time to work out the next television contract for the NHL, they are at least smart enough to include provisions allowing them to break said contract if the network awarded the coverage rights is unable to maintain it’s availability on all major carriers. I believe Versus does have a contract through the end of next season.

And don’t even get me started on what real dispute is between VS and DTV. It’s not the first of it’s kind, but is why no matter who you decide to go with (cable, satellite, Fios, etc), you’ll end up paying a lot more than you think you should for a lot of channels you don’t want. Basically, it’s not just a fight over how much VS charges DTV (and hence, its customers) to air the network, but also what “tier” it falls on. Networks try to leverage deals to make sure that their channels get put onto the basic packages, rather than the more expensive premium ones, because that has an obvious drastic effect on the number of viewers they can reach. Ever wonder why you can’t just call the cable company and be like, “here is a list of 20 channels I want to watch, I don’t need any of the others, how much do I owe you?” It’s because part of the deal that the networks work out with the providers is what tier of programming they fall on. Most of us could save a LOT of money on our cable/sat bills every month if we actually had the ability to only pay for the services we wanted/needed, instead we’re subject to huge packages and all-or-none type deals.

I hear a lot of folks say, “fine, make it a premium channel, I’ll pay for it!” The thing is, I’m sure DirecTV would be a lot more likely to go for a deal with VS if that was an option, but it’s not—this is where VS is being stubborn. They don’t just want to charge $xxx rate for their network, but they also want to ensure it’s part of the base package.

One thing is for sure, one party is going to have to compromise. Either VS will have to agree to lower their asking price, or allow themselves to put into a different tier (i.e. the sports package, which costs extra), or DTV is going to have to give in to what they’re asking…and, as I mentioned before, as long as they have NFL Sunday Ticket and no real threat of losing substantial subscribers, that’s not gonna happen.

I can see why he is saying that it is not his problem as the dispute is between Direct TV and Versus and is a national dispute. When CSN added CSN+ and stopped using NewsChannel 8, when there were conflicts, my local cable company, Cox, did not originally pick up CSN+. Several Caps fans were e-mailing and calling Cox on a regular basis to complain. There was one away game that we missed due to the lack of CSN+. Leonsis did try to help get that problem resolved. I can see why in that that dispute between Cox Communications and Comcast in Fairfax County was a local dispute. Cox did pick up CSN+ before the Wizards season started that year.

even the casino’s can’t or won’t add it to thir lineup. i like watching my mma for free. we gets spike and all the ppv’s for free in nevada casino’s but versus is a whole different matter.