Time Warner is in deal-modeWith the announcement earlier this week that a deal between Comcast and the Big Ten Network is imminent, Buckeye fans living in Columbus are hoping their local cable television monopoly follows suit.
Time Warner was quick to put up a statement after word of the Comcast deal leaked:
We are hopeful that Time Warner Cable and Fox can reach a fair and reasonable agreement prior to football season.
We appreciate your patience as talks continue and want to assure you that we will do everything possible to achieve a positive solution for all our customers.
Translation: We have nothing new to report, but we know you're getting pissed, considering fans of your fiercest rival will now get the network.
The Comcast deal is supposedly worth between $0.70 and $0.80 per subscriber, which is well short of the network's initial asking price of $1.10. That's good news on two fronts: a framework is in place to achieve similar deals with other carriers and the lower price shows that the network is willing to negotiate.
Time Warner Columbus definitely took a hit last year heading into football season. I'm sure every one of you know at least someone that ditched the network in favor of satellite service. You can bet the YSU and OU games will be broadcast on the BTN, just like the YSU and Akron games were last season. With the opener fast approaching, how much longer will holdout fans give the network?
Comments
Did anyone make the switch to Direct TV last year and if so, have you experienced problems during severe weather?
I still have cable and have a hard time believing Direct TV worked perfectly during the last few weeks.
I have Wide Open West cable and so I have been getting the BTN since the YSU game last year. I feel sorry for all you guys still on TW.
Corey,
I have had DishNetwork for several years. The amount of interruption on a home dish is less than the average cable outage every year. It goes out only in extremely severe weather and, usually, only momentarily.
YOU COULDN'T PAY ME TO SIGN UP WITH A CABLE COMPANY EVER AGAIN!
I had cable for a three month stretch while moving in 2006. I had more problems in that three months with cable than I've had in years with a dish.
I have Dish Network and love it. The myth that you lose picture everytime there is a cloud is a exactly that, a myth. I've lost a signal once, during the blizzard when the dish got covered in snow. I just dusted it off and was up and running. If you have an HD TV, Dish Network's HD DVR blows TW out of the water. I can't remember how many times my capacity got maxed and resulted in losing programs that I had saved on my TW DVR. The Dish Networks HD DVR storage capacity and software make the TW box look ridiculous.
My only caution, is that if you sign up for Dish (not sure about Direct) is that you check to see if you can get your local channels in HD over the air with an antenna or rabbit ears. Dish doesn't have locals in HD for Columbus yet and probably won't any time soon.
Greg Oden's Tonsils, Direct TV DOES have locals in HD....and the Direct TV service is great also. The Direct TV HD picture is also better than the Time Warner HD picture.
I pick up Cleveland locals, so I have the HD locals. With what Wil said, I would go with Directv if I was in Columbus. As soon as my contract with TW ran out, they jacked the price up and that is when I jumped ship. Besides being better HD/equipment wise, satallite tv is cheaper. My mother-in-law was a TW subscriber forever. She had one tv and no cable box. Just the line going into her TV and the basic cable package. I asked her how much she was being charged and was horrified to hear that she was shelling out almost $70 a month, for non-digital channels. Another thing they are rolling out here (Canton, OH) is the AT&T U-verse thing. Looks pretty good also.
Thanks for the tips. I have Insight and there are no complaints, I too have had BTN and the NFL Network's live games from the beginning. I know DirectTV has the best sports coverage, but I have always been nervous about signals during severe weather, I don't want to be forced to read a book or something.
I've had Direct TV for almost three years now and have no complaints at all. Service has been top-notch and the HD selection is huge.
My brother lives in Blacklick and recently switched from Insight to AT&T. Their HD picture is possibly better than DirectTV. From the little I have seen of it (and heard from him) it's pretty sweet.
I haven't had problems with Directv due to weather. Occasionally, I have to reset the box but not any more than I did with TW. There's more HD choices, the DVR is better, & I can the NFL package. Plus, they never screw around with not providing ceratin channels (BTN, NFL, etc.).
[...] but I think it is a damn shame if Time Warner deprives Buckeye fans of any more football games. As Jason pointed out last month, Time Warner is the lone cable giant still holding out after a deal was struck with [...]