Would NBC Sports Philadelphia & NBC Sports Northwest be finally available nationwide?

[Anthony Buchanan 1]

I'm a part-time 76ers viewer from Brooklyn, NY and that when my mama subscribed to DIRECTV a few years ago, I was so so excited that I want to watch NBC Sports Philadelphia & NBC Sports Northwest (then known as CSN Philly & CSN Northwest) full-time. So what I did is that I look for the 2 channels via the channel finder & soon, I realised that the 2 channels isn't available! So what's the problemo?

 

Is it because Comcast wants to be different from satellite TV providers or that they just don't care about it?

 

We always know that DIRECTV/Dish Network viewers in the Delaware Valley have been waiting for 20 years, trying to watch NBC Sports Philadelphia! Would the Phillies (which owns 25% of NBC Sports Philadelphia) be able to address concerns or just to launch a rival Philly-centric regional sports network that will compete w/ NBC Sports Philadelphia?

 

Just look at the Dodgers/AT&T situation, Charter wants to offer SportsNet LA to all satellite TV viewers but AT&T refused to do so!

[Weeters 1811]

Is it because Comcast wants to be different from satellite TV providers or that they just don't care about it?

 

I can't imagine why Comcast, a company that sells cable television service, would not want their exclusive sports channel made available on a competing satellite television service....

 

Those channels are typically exclusive to their providers for a reason: to entice people to use their services. You want NBC Sports Philly? Gotta get Comcast. Don't want Comcast? Tough luck.

[ColDayNews 437]

SportsTime Ohio or Central Ohio Sport! TV weren't available to satellite providers until a few years ago. It was to entice people to get Spectrum, or in the case of Central Ohio! Sport TV... Time Warner Cable and Insight. Want local sports channels? Get cable. Don't have cable? Too bad.

 

Non-story.

[Anthony Buchanan 1]

Have you folks look at the conditions that the FCC ordered Comcast/NBCUniversal to follow in exchange for gaining merger approval back in 2011?

 

I was really wondering that if Comcast didn't obey some of the FCC conditions like failing to offer CSN Philly/CSN Northwest to satellite TV providers & failing to provide free internet to the poor neighbourhoods, then they would be heavily fined!

[NEOMatrix 1295]

Maybe they are offering it to non-cable providers but they're probably overcharging for it like Spectrum is doing with its Dodgers and Lakers channels in the Los Angeles DMA.

[Anthony Buchanan 1]

Maybe they are offering it to non-cable providers but they're probably overcharging for it like Spectrum is doing with its Dodgers and Lakers channels in the Los Angeles DMA.

That's a slap in the face for satellite TV customers who are struggling to get both NBC Sports Philadelphia, NBC Sports Northwest & Spectrum SportsNet LA!

[rkolsen 1679]

The whole NBC Sports Philly not being on satellite is confusing. As far as I know NBC Sports Washington is available on DirecTV.

 

Also certain sportsnets may not be available nationwide because of their contracts with the teams. NBC Sports Philly wanted to go national I would expect the teams would want to be paid accordingly.

[ToriElectra 291]

The whole NBC Sports Philly not being on satellite is confusing. As far as I know NBC Sports Washington is available on DirecTV.

 

Also certain sportsnets may not be available nationwide because of their contracts with the teams. NBC Sports Philly wanted to go national I would expect the teams would want to be paid accordingly.

The reason it's not available on satellite dates back to the days of PRISM and SportsChannel Philadelphia- when Rainbow shut both of them down to make way for Starz and CSN Philly, CSN inherited PRISM's old distribution system, which used only microwaves and fiber-optics to distribute it, allowing Comcast to use a loophole that said channels that didn't uplink to satellite didn't have to be carried on satellite providers. The old, good FCC blocked that loophole in 2010, but Comcast doesn't seem to care about allowing Dish and DirecTV to carry NBC Sports Philly.

[Anthony Buchanan 1]

So is Comcast illegally using the terrestrial loophole after the FCC banned it in 2010?

[Anthony Buchanan 1]

If Comcast was illegally using the terrestrial loophole (as a way to prevent NBC Sports Philadelphia/NBC Sports Northwest from uplinking to a nationwide audience via satellite TV providers), then the FCC might give them a heavy fine & might force them to offer both channels via DIRECTV & Dish Network.

 

Now with Trump overseeing the FCC, I personally think that it won't happen anytime before 2020!

[Spring Rubber 614]

What is the FCC anymore anyway? Seems like a formality at this point.

[Weeters 1811]

There seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding about that FCC rule. The channels are subject to the same retransmission negotiations as every other channel on the system. The FCC rules only require the channel be offered, which Comcast has done with both channels in question. It's DirecTV and Dish who don't want to agree to Comcast's terms, which means it's out of the FCC's hands. Comcast is fulfilling the FCC's requirement to offer the channel to satellite providers.

 

Obviously, terms of the deals are not public. Which means it very well could be on Comcast, demanding too much money, or DirecTV and Dish, for not wanting to pay a reasonable rate to Comcast for the channels. Just like every other retrans negotiation.

 

It's just a really long, ongoing retrans negotiation.

[Anthony Buchanan 1]

There seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding about that FCC rule. The channels are subject to the same retransmission negotiations as every other channel on the system. The FCC rules only require the channel be offered, which Comcast has done with both channels in question. It's DirecTV and Dish who don't want to agree to Comcast's terms, which means it's out of the FCC's hands. Comcast is fulfilling the FCC's requirement to offer the channel to satellite providers.

 

Obviously, terms of the deals are not public. Which means it very well could be on Comcast, demanding too much money, or DirecTV and Dish, for not wanting to pay a reasonable rate to Comcast for the channels. Just like every other retrans negotiation.

 

It's just a really long, ongoing retrans negotiation.

So could Comcast reduced the subscription prices for both NBC Sports Philadelphia & NBC Sports Northwest to about 1.10 cents or just $1.00 so that it can settle & end the 20-year carriage battle between Comcast, DIRECTV & Dish Network?

[Spring Rubber 614]

So could Comcast reduced the subscription prices for both NBC Sports Philadelphia & NBC Sports Northwest to about 1.10 cents or just $1.00 so that it can settle & end the 20-year carriage battle between Comcast, DIRECTV & Dish Network?

 

Sure, they could, but why would they want to get rid of their own monopoly?

[NEOMatrix 1295]

So could Comcast reduced the subscription prices for both NBC Sports Philadelphia & NBC Sports Northwest to about 1.10 cents or just $1.00 so that it can settle & end the 20-year carriage battle between Comcast, DIRECTV & Dish Network?

And Spectrum could stop charging 5-plus dollars for its Dodgers and Lakers channels. But why would they? All the more reason to get Crime Warner, er I mean, Rectum.