ESPN Blackout

[ecmunster166]

I sort of new here. I am thinking about getting Directv, but I have a question I can seem to find the answer.
I know someone that has Direct, and during football season Alabama was playing and it was on ESPN. There directv was blocked. I have it on my cable and it was not blocked. They other cable in the city was also not blocked. It this normal? I'm just concerned because I don't want to get directv and then can't watch a game on ESPN for some strange blackout and I can on cable. I figure they would both be blacked out.

Any information on this. I live in Montgomery AL

[hancox]

This was *likely* caused by the game being available on local ABC, but to be honest, enough SEC teams have had PPV that it could have been a game available anywhere BUT Alabama on ESPN.

[ecmunster166]

I actually work for ABC. I know we did not carry it.

[Big Dawg 23]

I actually work for ABC. I know we did not carry it.

I have seen games on ESPN that are only available via the Gameplan. Do you live in an area where Auburn is considered the home team? If not the day of black out may have been a carry over to the Alabama game. That happened for me when Georgia VS Arkansas. It finally came on 7 minutes into the first quarter or so.

[SamCdbs]

There is no "blackout" on ESPN of any game ever. It works like this:

At 3:30 ET ABC will carry multiple games on a regionalized basis (none of them Alabama, since Alabama is in the SEC, which is on CBS). One of these will be a Big 10 game. If you live in the area where the Big 10 game in on ABC, then the normal ESPN channel will be "blacked out" and an alternate ESPN channel will carry a different game. If you live in an area where some other game is on the local ABC, then the normal ESPN will be on, and the alternate "blacked out".

ONCE, I believe it was the LSU game, this happened. The 3:30 ESPN game was followed by the Alabama-LSU game. Somebody at DirecTV forgot to flip the switch at the end of the 3:30 Big 10 game, which resulted in a "blackout" of the first 30 minutes of the 7:00 Alabama game.

It was a screw up and I am sure the moron who did it has been dealt with.

There will never, assuming compentence in the tech staff, any difference between your cable's ESPN and DirecTV ESPN.

[Big Dawg 23]

There is no "blackout" on ESPN of any game ever. It works like this:

At 3:30 ET ABC will carry multiple games on a regionalized basis (none of them Alabama, since Alabama is in the SEC, which is on CBS). One of these will be a Big 10 game. If you live in the area where the Big 10 game in on ABC, then the normal ESPN channel will be "blacked out" and an alternate ESPN channel will carry a different game. If you live in an area where some other game is on the local ABC, then the normal ESPN will be on, and the alternate "blacked out".

ONCE, I believe it was the LSU game, this happened. The 3:30 ESPN game was followed by the Alabama-LSU game. Somebody at DirecTV forgot to flip the switch at the end of the 3:30 Big 10 game, which resulted in a "blackout" of the first 30 minutes of the 7:00 Alabama game.

It was a screw up and I am sure the moron who did it has been dealt with.

There will never, assuming compentence in the tech staff, any difference between your cable's ESPN and DirecTV ESPN.

There are blackouts on ESPN. On many occasions last year I didn't get ACC or Pac-10 games because ESPN would have ACC, Big Ten, SEC and Pac-10 Games on at 230. Yes they would run one on ESPN, One on ESPN2 and my local ABC Affiliate. However, the ESN Alt channel said the game should be on but it was blacked out. A good example is the Washington-USC game. This game was blacked out on my ESPN. Thankfully I had Gameplan so the game was on in the 780's.

[Lem52]

In my area, anytime a game that is on ABC and same game is on ESPN, ESPN will be blacked out. I saw that several times over the past football season. Its not a problem since its in HD.

Lem52

[Ramy]

In my area, anytime a game that is on ABC and same game is on ESPN, ESPN will be blacked out. I saw that several times over the past football season. Its not a problem since its in HD.

Lem52

Me too.

[SamCdbs]

These are not germain to the OP's question, which is about SEC member Alabama, which is not on ABC, and are not really blackouts.

On a typical Saturday at 3:30, ABC will present games of the conferences it holds rights to. Big 10, Big 12, ACC, Pac 10 and perhaps even the Big East. Each local ABC station will carry the game of the most local interest. ESPN (DirecTV 206) will simulcast the Big 10 game.

In areas where the Big 10 game is on ABC, ESPN 206 will be substituted with ESPN 210, which will carry one of the other games. In the rest of the country, ESPN 206 will appear as normal and ESPN 210 will not appear.

The exact same thing will happen on cable, except that a tech at the headend will substitue the alt feed on the cable system's normal ESPN channel.

Let me assure the OP that ESPN on cable and ESPN on DirecTV are 100% exactly the same, and there are NO blackouts.