The Benifits of Having HD RSNs UP Full-Time

[DodgerKing]

Since the start of baseball season and the overlap of basketball (which just ended) and the hockey seasons, there are a lot of issues with many subs on different providers receiving the HD feed of their favorite team. Either through sports packages like CI or on their own local RSN. This has made it clear to me why DirecTV has put such a great emphasis on getting all of the RSNs (or as many ass possible) up on CONUS in a full time status (this means they are up full time, not that everyone can see them full time).

Here are some reasons why it is beneficial to do so:

1. Every sub within their own local RSN market can now see their own local RSN in HD full time, even outside of the game broadcasts (this does not mean that all of the content is in HD), as well as the part time alternate HD RSN. Because of this, those subs will not be left out of seeing their local baseball, hockey, basketball, or collegiate team in HD when there is overlap.
2. Those who sub to the individual pro sports packages now have many more games in HD. I see many subs of other providers whom sub to CI or EI or LP not get as many games in HD due to bandwidth with limitations or overlap of pro sports games within one RSN. Other providers are only able to turn on so many HD feeds at one time. With Direct this is not an issue as they are always ON ALL of the TIME (even during blackouts the channel is still on and active)
3. Last but not least, due to the offering of all of the sports packages and the fact that the HD RSNs are on 24/7/365 (again this does not mean everything is in HD 24/7/365), most of the blackouts can be avoided. Something you do not see with other providers.
4. Sports package duel feeds gives sub the option of which RSN they want to watch the game on. Also, means fewer blackouts.

I want to avoid the conflict of "Should these RSNs count as a full time national channel within their channel count". I don't care if you want to count it as a channel or not. The purpose of this thread is to outline the benifits of putting the RSNs up the way Direct does.

If there are negatives about this process that you would like to bring up, please do so.
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Mods, if you feel this should be placed in the War Zone, then please do so. I would prefer it be kept here since the focus is more on DirecTVs carriage of HD RSNs and their unique way they carry them nationwide, and the fact that it will get more responses being here.

 

[DodgerKing]

Iceberg made a good comparison post between the HD RSNs of Dish and Direct (I hope by posting this, it does not push it into the War Zone).

What is there to debate? From reading your posts in this thread you try and change what people say and go back to your "one man rampage" about out of market sports packages which is not the issue here

-If the OP gets the multi-sports package with Dish he will get all the RSN's and Big10 Network (since his loc is not in a big 10 state)
-These channels are in SD
-They are subject to blackouts of games
-He has access to the HD channels of those networks (according to the Dish site)...again these are subject to blackouts
-Since Dish takes the route of only showing games if they are in HD he might be able to see games...this goes to my next point
-Due to satellite capacity issues, Dish doesnt show ALL the HD sports...read through the numerous threads of X game not being in HD on Dish

Now then....Dodger mentioned DirecTv because as he noted "Keep in mind that the HD RSNs on Dish are not full time like they are on Direct. You may not get as collegiate games in HD due to the fact that they can only turn on so many HD fees at one time." which goes back to my last point

Now with DirecTV here is the info
-If the OP gets the multi-sports package with Directv he will get all the RSN's and Big10 Network (since his loc is not in a big 10 state)
-These channels are in SD
-They are subject to blackouts of games
-He has access to the HD channels of those networks...again these are subject to blackouts
-The HD version of the station is up 24/7. Not everything is in HD (obviously)
-As long as the game is not blacked out and is in HD the OP can see the game in HD with the multi-sports pack on DirecTV. Its not a crap shoot like on Dish where Dish may decide to show something else.

This comes in handy when FSN has a "big" nationwide game yet the local RSN has it pre-empted for something else.

Big10 is set up differently than the RSN's....FSN is a regional network. Big 10 Network is a national network (heck its in Canada on Starchoice) that has a special agreement with each carrier.

 

[DodgerKing]

One negative that may come from putting every HD RSN up full time could be bandwidth restrictions for other stations. Although this may not be an issue right now, HD RSNs do use the same amount of bandwidth as any other HD station. If Direct has a chance to get like 20 new HD stations tomorrow, they will not have the room to put up all 20.

 

[rad]

On thing that might help, IIRC the Fox RSN's are 720p which uses just a bit less bandwidth then 1080i RSN's.

 

[Ronnie-]

I see nothing but good from it at this point. It caters to their target customer base IMO, and there is nothing wrong with that.

 

[DodgerKing]

On thing that might help, IIRC the Fox RSN's are 720p which uses just a bit less bandwidth then 1080i RSN's.

But those 1080i's like NESN and YES have some of the best PQ of ANY station on Direct

 

[DodgerKing]

Another one I forgot to mention is the duel feeds in their sports packages.

 

[jcrandall]

Direct has also done a great job carrying the RSN ALT feeds, such as Chicago that uses an HD alternate feed frequently.

Other markets like Detroit have just an SD alt feed, but it has a dedicated channel and is never considered "secondary".

Just check the Dish forum any day of the week, and you'll find customers going, why no game in HD, they produced it in HD? The sad fact is that Dish has X channels that are shared among all HD RSN feeds. If they dedicate 4 channels, they'll only show 4 games.

Direct's biggest mistake was corrected two years ago, the old mistake was putting RSN's on spotbeams, in which case even in-state customers couldn't necessarily get the HD feed. Thank heaven they corrected that.

 

[DodgerKing]

Direct has also done a great job carrying the RSN ALT feeds, such as Chicago that uses an HD alternate feed frequently.

Other markets like Detroit have just an SD alt feed, but it has a dedicated channel and is never considered "secondary".

Just check the Dish forum any day of the week, and you'll find customers going, why no game in HD, they produced it in HD? The sad fact is that Dish has X channels that are shared among all HD RSN feeds. If they dedicate 4 channels, they'll only show 4 games.

Direct's biggest mistake was corrected two years ago, the old mistake was putting RSN's on spotbeams, in which case even in-state customers couldn't necessarily get the HD feed. Thank heaven they corrected that.

Good point about the spot beam issue. I have heard Dish subs say they should be on spot only to free up space for other CONUS channels. They fail to realize that would limit their sports package options and since the markets in all sports very inconsistent (overlapping states in some) the spot beam issue would not be feasible.

 

[Ramy]

Directv still doesn't have FSN Cincinnati in HD full time yet.

 

[rad]

Direct's biggest mistake was corrected two years ago, the old mistake was putting RSN's on spotbeams, in which case even in-state customers couldn't necessarily get the HD feed. Thank heaven they corrected that.

I wouldn't call it a "mistake". At that time all they had was the Spaceway sats which did nothing but spotbeams. So it was either put the local RSN's up on spots so those markets could see them in HD or do nothing until D10/D11 went up. I for one was happy to see the local RSN's on spots during that time.