Royals-Tigers 4-2 already blacked out???

[trumanhorn]

Sorry, I didn't actually read the Columbia Tribune article before I made that last post. It looks like Dish screwed up this one.

On a side note, the KC Star has said that only 88 games will be in HD, with the other 52 just being in SD (that's a FSN decision);

 

[josem3]

ESPN-HD show the game instead of the Toronto vs Yankees(rain delayed).
I'm glad ESPN shows the game.

 

[PhilAce]

This game should not be blacked out in my area. I just looked online at the local cable guide and it is showing up there.

 

[bela_blasko2006]

Are you in Kansas City's DMA? They are probably the only ones to receive the game, with the rest of the state getting the Cardinals game (you can't get both, so if you can see the St. Louis game on FSN Midwest, this may be the problem)

BUT here in NE Oklahoma the Royals are claiming this area-so we should have access to the games regionally-correct? On the out of market packages i am blacked out.

 

[fezuehlke]

I have sent emails to both Dishnetwork & FSN Midwest regarding whether I will be able to watch FSN KC in Des Moines (I have the sport package). No response from FSN, typical response from Dishnetwork CSR below on my email.

Dish CSR Reponse:"Thank you for your email. We have researched your inquiry. Our records still show that the Kansas City Royals are blacked out in your zip code assignment. We apologize for the frustration and inconvenience caused by this issue.
Your business is greatly appreciated and we thank you for allowing us to be of assistance to you. If you have any further questions or concerns, please refer to www.dishnetwork.com or reply to this email."

My reponse email:"Thank you for your quick response.

I didn't mean to imply that I already had access to Kansas City Royals games through FSN Midwest. Last year I had access to St. Louis Cardinal games on FSN Midwest. As shown on the attached screen print from MLB showing the blackout for my zipcode (referring to being unable to watch these teams on MLB Extra Innings package or MLB.TV package) the teams that I should be able to view on the Dishnetwork Multi-sport package are according to my zip code are as follows:

Teams I watched last year since teams claimed zipcode 50265 as home territory:
Chicago Cubs - Comcast Chicago
Chicago White Sox - Comcast Chicago
Milwaukee Brewers - FSN North/Milwaukee
Minnesota Twins - FSN North
St. Louis Cardinals - FSN Midwest

New to FSN this year but claiming zipcode 50265 as home territory:
Kansas City Royals - FSN Midwest/Kansas City

Dish CSR reponse: Thank you for your email. We have researched your request to check if your zip code has already been updated to receive signal for the Kansas City Royals games through FSN. Regretfully, we didn't show that you can already receive the signal for Fox Sports Midwest where the Kansas City Royals games are shown. We apologize for the frustration and inconvenience caused by this issue.
Your business is greatly appreciated and we thank you for allowing us to be of assistance to you. If you have any further questions or concerns, please refer to www.dishnetwork.com <http://www.dishnetwork.com/> or reply to this email.
Sincerely,




What I don't understand is when I put in my zip on MLB.com blackout check I am told I am in the viewing area for the Cubs, Brewers, Cards, White Sox, Twins and Royals. My wife & I are big Royals fans and if we find out that D' viewers can watch the Royals on their multi-sport package I might have to think about moving. Why can D* figure it out but E* can't. I don't think they care to do real research.

 

[stingsplash]

I feel your pain, bro....I'm going through something similar. I live in CT so have always received Red Sox, Yankees, and Mets games.

I switched to Dish in December and now am getting blacked out on Red Sox and Met games (no YES network, obviously...)

I have been calling Dish support, and either they try to tell me that it's "MLB's Blackout Policy", OR they tell me that I SHOULD be receiving the games! But they can't figure out why I'm not.

I've since followed up this morning to the ceo email address...here's a few snippets of what I wrote (haven't heard back yet):


---------------------------------------------

"[FONT=&quot]Some of your reps on the phone have confirmed what I already knew....that Boston Red Sox games should NOT be blacked out to me, in Connecticut zip code 06xxx. (One of them tried to say I would get blacked out, but retracted that once I pointed out all the reasons I shouldn't be blacked out). This would be on NESN, channel 434.

I switched over to Dish in December from Comcast. With Comcast, I never had these issues with baseball games, and I'm living in the same house, and same town. So either Comcast is breaking the MLB blackout policy (If so, you should sue the pants off of them), or there is a problem with my Dish account or receiver.

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]I have been blacked out of every single game this season, including the re-run game this morning! Clearly there is a problem here, as I also get blacked-out of NY Mets games, as well (Which also fall under my local viewing privileges).

So unless my Zip code falls somewhere in the Nexus of the universe, I'm pretty sure I should be receiving SOME kind of baseball. (Sarcasm not intended towards the reader of this email...just in general.)

I have checked MLB's policy, and I live in a town that should receive Red Sox, Yankees, and Mets.

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]There is a game on at 3:30 EST today. I will check it AGAIN (at the urging of your support reps), but I am sure it is going to be blacked out again.

I hope you can resolve this for me...otherwise I'll ask to go to Customer Retention. If THEY still can't do anything, Dish will be losing a loyal subscriber that is happy with all of his other Dish channels.

p.s. PLEASE don't tell me that this is a MLB blackout policy issue that you have no control over, as it clearly is not. if Comcast and DirecTV can carry the games in this town, so can you.)"
---------------------------------------------------


That's it...I'll post any response I receive.

[/FONT]

 

[PhilAce]

I don't get it. The game on tomorrow is not blacked out. The Royals-Tigers is on Mediacom (cable) right now in my area. I'm betting it is also on D* too. This makes no sense to me. There are no conflicts with the Cardinals, so that can't be it. E* did this last year a few times, blacking out games that shouldn't be. I have written to E*, ceo@echostar, and FSN Kansas City. No response from any of them.

 

[nicklenights]

Why does Dish do this?

I just found this forum and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one being screwed by Dish and blackouts that only seem to affect them. I switched to Dish last year from Directv and have been trying to figure out their insane policies ever since.

I'm in Wisconsin (Madison area), and last year DISH decided to blackout Cubs games on ESPN (Wednesday night), but I'm certainly not in the Cubs market. The same game that was blacked out on ESPN was also blacked out on Comcast Chicago. There is simply no way that I should be blocked from watching both the regional feed and the national feed. These same games were also being shown with no problems on cable and directv.

The Dish reps tryed to tell me that ONLY people in Chicago and the other team's city were the only people that could watch the game. They apparently thought that ESPN decided to turn itself off in New York, Boston, and 97% of the country, and they didn't think there was anything odd about that.

This past weekend I was also blacked out from watching college hockey on FSN North. I couldn't even begin to get an explaination from Dish on that one, again, even though there was no blackout issue on Directv. I also found out that at least one Dish customer in Texas had no problem watching the game (between Minnesota and Boston College), but I was stuck watching the game on a crappy internet feed.

Has anyone ever gotten a reasonable explaination why Dish has all of these blackouts that don't affect any other provider? Also, does anyone know what Dish only blackouts based on time, not actual programming like Directv does?

And of course most importantly, has anyone ever found a good solution to this problem, other than waiting out the remaining 12 months on my 18 month contract before I can switch back to dtv?

 

[PhilAce]

Yep, Sunday's game is already blacked out in the guide. This is beyond frustrating. I thought my area was supposed to get "more games than ever". I call BS!

 

[stingsplash]

I'm on the phone, screaming at them now. Beyond frustrating!!

 

[DimJim]

I'm also in the Des Moines, IA area - zipcode 50311. I have Dish Network with Top 200+ (upgraded just so I could get FSN Midwest, and specifically FSN KC)

I was blacked out of yesterdays game KC @ DET.

I am blacked out of today's game as well.

They both show up in the guide and say they are unavailable in my area.

Yesterday I was able to watch the Cubs - Brewers game on FSN Wisconsin for some reason. Today the Cards and Rockies are viewable.

This is beyond frustrating. All I want to do is watch my royals. Any ideas?

 

[stingsplash]

Working on an idea right now....will post details in just a bit.

 

[PhilAce]

I'm getting the game today, but only in SD. The RSN HD feeds are getting error 005 messages.

 

[PhilAce]

I finally got a reply from FSN:

"Thanks for your e-mail. You are correct – You should be receiving these Royals telecasts. We are aware of the problem and trying to resolve it with Dish.

Thanks,
FSN Midwest"

 

[mike316]

I finally got a reply from FSN:

"Thanks for your e-mail. You are correct – You should be receiving these Royals telecasts. We are aware of the problem and trying to resolve it with Dish.

Thanks,
FSN Midwest"

Yup...NESN told me the same thing.

Hopefully they work it out, but I get the feeling it may be ONE Zip code at a time, rather than a mass-addition... (Hopefully not, though).

 

[Dgenx321]

Dish just flat out sucks!!!

I had watched the Pirates on FSN Pittsburgh for 6 years and now they black them out??

DirecTV is still showing them in this area..

 

[peterson40]

My "service address" is in Sidney, NE and I have had every Royals game in HD so far.. Plus Denver Locals and The Rocky Mountain RSN

 

[DimJim]

yeah, had to go to a bar today (what a shame ) to watch the royals game. They had Directv and they got the game. what a load of crap. I hope dish gets it resolved darn quick.

 

[Nebugeater]

There was a story in the Omaha NE paper in the last day or two about the Royals TV package with the regional FOX sport package. Not sure if it applies to what you are having happen or not but it will effect some of the cable systems in NE that carry the games.

The original contract between FOX and the Royals had 100 games being broadcast. This is what has been marketed to the cable companies. The contact was changed to move the total of TV games to 140 or so for added $$$$ The additional games ARE NOT part of the original package and if a cable or SAT provider wants them they had to negotiate at an added cost for the extra games. The game that was blacked out was the first of the "extra" games for the season. It was not on some of the cable systems too. The story did say that D and E both were lined up to carry all the games. This is a guess on my part but maybe the "extra" games were not in the deal for HD

 

[Nebugeater]

CJOnline / The Topeka Capital-Journal - Complete Royals TV package not on Cox

Here is a story from Topeka that I found that, while not anseering the specific issue, adds to what I was trying to explain.

The Royals television package, expanded to a record 140 games this year, won't be available in its entirety to subscribers of Cox Cable.

Today's noon game in Detroit, which will be televised on Fox Sports Kansas City (formerly Fox Sports Midwest), will be the first of 40 games not carried by Cox, the only cable provider in Topeka and large parts of Kansas. Tuesday's home opener against the New York Yankees will be carried on Cox (cable channel 34), but the Wednesday and Thursday home games against the Yankees won't.

For the first time in club history, Royals TV games are available only through cable and satellite outlets. There are no over-air telecasts.

Of the 140 scheduled TV games, only 100 — the same number offered a year ago — will be available to Cox customers after the company elected not to pay an increased subscriber fee to Fox Sports Kansas City, which now produces and distributes all Royals telecasts in the first year of a long-term contract.

Most cable and satellite TV providers agreed to the new deal and will carry all 140 games, 88 of which will be broadcast in high definition, said Geoff Goldman, a spokesman for Fox Sports Kansas City.........................