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=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: sonickteam2 on December 29, 2006, 10:47:00 am
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Does anyone else out there have these HD channels? I just got em on Tuesday and i must say they are the cats meow!
not only have i caught fabulous movies on FilmFest and World Cinema, but classic CFL games and shows about Meerkats! plus, one channel is devoted solely to live performances, Soundstage, live shows and the best show on earth, Later..With Jools Holland.
my DirecTV friends are lining up to switch over!
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Wow, life in ole Bawlmer sure sounds grand!
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Originally posted by le sonick:
classic CFL games
Ha hahahaha ha haha hahah.
Yes, I'm giving up my NFL package for Beach Soccer and CFL games!
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Originally posted by vansmack:
Originally posted by le sonick:
classic CFL games
Ha hahahaha ha haha hahah.
Yes, I'm giving up my NFL package for Beach Soccer and CFL games! [/b]
what's beach soccer?
the NFL package? amazing that people would rather have 12 football games a week for 17 weeks of the year, than have countless hours of programming all year around. (CFL games aside, since thats such the easy joke to make)
i'll take Later...With Jools Holland over the NFL anyday.
and does the Sunday Ticket even broadcast in HD?
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The board rebirth won't allow me to post with a quote, so I'm replying to le sonick.
Yes, the Sunday ticket is in HD if the game is originally broadcast in HD. Fox does up to 7 games in HD and CBS does up to 4.
Beach soccer is what's advertised on Voom's sports channel - Worldsport. That and CFL games. Oh, and replays of La Liga (spanish soccer).
As for your "countless hours of programming" year round, I think you'll discover after the honeymoon is over that there are a lot of repeats for a period of about a month, then they change the programming, and show the same thing over and over for a month, then do the same for each month. What you're really getting is 12 weeks of "countless hours of programming" repeated over a 52 week cycle.
Rave would be cool, but everything else that comes with Voom is crap. HD Videogame watching, live auctions, art galleries, fashion shows, travel shows, crap sports, the news and anime?!!? Come on....it's no wonder Voom went out of business before being rescued by Dish.
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what's beach soccer?
Oh I'm sure it's another made up game by the doodles because they suck at the game in it's purest form on the world stage...."BEACH SOCCER WORLD CHAMPIONS" it's coming, mark my words.
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Meerkats? - The one about "Snowball"?
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Nope Mank, the Brazilians invented beach soccer, and not surprisingly they're the best at it too.
Although Cantona coached the french team to the title in 2005.
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Glad to see the Brasilians are the best at one sport at least.... :D
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yeah, i suppose some of the stuff on Voom is uncool. personally though, i like the travel shows! and Filmfest and World Cinema are right up my alley.
i guess not being an NFL fan makes it a no brainer betweeen Dish and Directv.
on a related football note, i am 23-5 in bowl games this year, and with an OSU win monday, $175 is all mine! :)
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Enjoy your Voom....
DIRECTV to Offer 100 National HD Channels in 2007
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 8, 2007--DIRECTV, the nation's leading satellite television service provider, is hailing 2007 as the "Year of HD" with the planned launch and carriage of 100 national high-definition (HD) channels. With this substantial HD muscle, DIRECTV will offer three-times more HD programming than any other multi-channel distributor, with the majority of these channels launching in Q3.
DIRECTV also announced today that it currently has signed agreements, or agreements in principle, with more than 70 major networks including:
-- A&E
-- National Geographic
-- Bravo
-- NFL Network
-- Cartoon Network
-- SciFi Channel
-- CNN
-- Speed
-- Food Network
-- TBS
-- FX
-- The History Channel
-- HGTV
-- The Weather Channel
-- MTV
-- USA Network
DIRECTV will also extend its leadership in HD sports programming by offering hundreds of games and other HD programming available from Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) around the country, including YES Network, Comcast Sports Net, New England Sports Network and FOX Sports.
To satisfy the insatiable appetite for a greater number of movies in HD, DIRECTV will offer an expanded line-up of HD programming available from all premium movie channels.
"This is DIRECTV's break-out year for HD," said Chase Carey, president and CEO, DIRECTV, Inc. "The launch of our two new satellites will complete the largest capacity expansion in DIRECTV history, and no other video service will be able to match the sheer volume and quality of our HD programming. With HD adoption now reaching critical mass in the U.S., and 40 million homes projected to have HD-capable TVs this year, DIRECTV will be uniquely positioned as the best choice for HD programming."
With the launch of DIRECTV 10 and DIRECTV 11 satellites in 2007, DIRECTV will have the ability to deliver more than 1,500 local HD and digital channels and 150 national HD channels, in addition to new advanced programming services for customers.
DIRECTV currently offers standard-definition local channels in 142 markets, covering nearly 94 percent of television households in the country, as well as local HD broadcast channels in 49 cities, representing more than 65 percent of U.S. TV households.
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old news.
and probably not happening til September.
and if you think Echostar isnt going to match em, you'd just have to be Crazy!!!
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In an attempt to not regret his purchase, the French American said:[/b] and if you think Echostar isnt going to match em, you'd just have to be Crazy!!!
Did Echostar launch new satellites that I'm unaware of? Last I checked they had a capacity issue that DirecTV fixed by launching MPEG 4 capable satellites. The MPEG 2 satellites currently used by Echostar have a known limited capacity, and it's no where near 100 HD channels.
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i didnt purchase anything!!! fyi.
you dont have to buy any of the Dish equipment.
and sure, i'll switch to DirecTV if in the fall, Dish hasn't announced upping the HD ante.
but for now, Dish wins the HD game.
I also like the feature Dish has for NHL Center Ice that you can pick which feed you want to view the game on. DirecTV chooses whose broadcast you watch.
i've had Dish for 2 years now, and i will switch if DirecTV makes 100 HD Channels and Dish doesnt counter, but everyone knows if Dish doesnt match, or at least come damn close to matching, DirecTV's HD channel capacity, you might as well just close up shop and go home!
dont you think EchoStar is working on launching those same satellites?
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I certainly hope so, they have been really slow to get all of the HD local channels out to their customers (not sure if its a bandwidth issue or a contract issue), so I'm sure they have plans to rectify this, the only solution being to put up more satellites.
I liked that Dish is going to offer free HD DVR's to their customers, and I hoping this triggers market matching so I can get a free HD DVR from D*TV.
I did hear one other interesting tidbit over the break - DirecTV is negotiating with MLB for the exclusive right to broadcast the MLB Package, similar to the Sunday ticket. That would send shockwaves into the market...
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In case you missed your weekend edition of the Times...
Extra Innings Exclusively on DirecTV
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Major League Baseball is close to announcing a deal that will place its Extra Innings package of out-of-market games exclusively on DirecTV, which will also become the only carrier of a long-planned 24-hour baseball channel.
Extra Innings has been available to 75 million cable households and the two satellite services, DirecTV and the Dish Network. But the new agreement will take it off cable and Dish because DirecTV has agreed to pay $700 million over seven years, according to three executives briefed on the details of the contract but not authorized to speak about them publicly.
InDemand, which has distributed Extra Innings to the cable television industry since 2002, made an estimated $70 million bid to renew its rights, more than triple what it has been paying. Part of its offer included the right to carry the new baseball channel, but not exclusively.
The baseball channel is scheduled to start in 2009.
M.L.B., DirecTV and InDemand officials declined to comment.
DirecTV is also the exclusive outlet for the N.F.L.â??s Sunday Ticket package, for which it pays $700 million annually. Sunday Ticket has about 2 million subscribers; Extra Innings about 750,000, according to The Sports Business Journal.
Extra Innings lets subscribers, for a fee, watch about 60 games a week from other local markets except their own.
The only other way that fans without DirecTV will be able to see Extra Innings will be on MLB.comâ??s mlb.tv service, but they must have high-speed broadband service. About 28 million homes have high-speed service, less than half the number of cable homes in the country. The picture quality of streamed games is not as good as what is available on cable or satellite.
DirecTV is available to about 15 million subscribers.
Last month, Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, who was then the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, cited DirecTVâ??s exclusivity with Sunday Ticket as a reason to strip the N.F.L. of an antitrust exemption to negotiate all TV contracts for its teams. Comcast, which has complained that it cannot carry Sunday Ticket, is a Philadelphia-based company.
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bastards
whatever happened to letting customers DECIDE which companies to spend their money on??!!!
anyway, that makes my $200 decision on whether or not to get Extra Innings awfully easy!
but i guess being a Red Sox fan doesnt make it all that necessary with like 8 games a month on ESPN!
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8 games a month and you call yourself a fan....
For the record, I don't think this is the best deal for baseball fans, but inDemand was doing a poor job of marketing the package, and I think D*TV took advantange of that.
I am beginning to fear that D*TV is lining up sole assets that can be worth something so that it can then be sold. It's just a hunch right now, but Malone does have a history of that, putting shareholders pockets first in his thought process.
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i have LIFE you know!
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I have played beach soccer, its pretty fun, everybody should do it...
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Le Sonic,
Chase Carey, CEO of DirecTV at the 2007 Bear Stearns Media Conference.
Mostly boring but listen from the 13 minute mark to about the 17 minute mark.
http://cc.talkpoint.com/BEAR002/030507a_cy/launch.asp?entity=directv&speakernum=5624&media=WMP (http://cc.talkpoint.com/BEAR002/030507a_cy/launch.asp?entity=directv&speakernum=5624&media=WMP)
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you're right, boring!!! not really sure what i was supposed to get from that.
other than Directv is getting 100 HD channels by the end of the year, and they plan to mop the floor with their competition with exclusive programming.
any other pertinent info i missed? (it was a touch crackily)
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Originally posted by le sonick:
other than Directv is getting 100 HD channels by the end of the year, and they plan to mop the floor with their competition with exclusive programming.
any other pertinent info i missed? (it was a touch crackily)
Paraphrasing (it was crackily, I just thought his pot shot at Voom was funny)...
"It will be 100 channels of HD programming that people want to see, with all respect to my cable vision friends, it won't be just the 30 channels of junk like what's on Voom. What you are currently watching in SD, we are going to bring you in HD."
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I do feel a little badly for non-Directv subscribers...I'd go nuts if I couldn't watch my Angels.
Baseball deal with DirecTV 'imminent'
Despite recent counteroffers, satellite provider is about to gain exclusivity to Extra Innings package.
By Larry Stewart, Times Staff Writer
March 8, 2007
A proposed deal by Major League Baseball that would give its Extra Innings pay package exclusively to DirecTV "is imminent," according to two sources close to the negotiations, and could be announced as soon as today.
The deal, in which DirecTV would pay MLB $100 million a year over seven years, has been mired in controversy since it was first reported in January. But with opening day only a few weeks away, there is a growing sense of urgency.
Meanwhile, another source close to the negotiations said a recent counteroffer by In Demand â?? the cable pay package provider that shared the rights to Extra Innings for the last five seasons â?? plus one by satellite provider EchoStar, which owns Dish Network, "came too late in the game."
In Demand's counteroffer, which did not ask for exclusivity, matched DirecTV's offer.
Up until now, Extra Innings has offered up to 60 regular-season, out-of-market games a week on cable, through the In Demand service, as well as DirecTV and Dish Network.
Last season, about 270,000 of the approximately 500,000 Extra Innings subscribers were DirecTV customers.
It was the exclusivity of the proposed deal that sparked protests from thousands of fans, particularly those of the Boston Red Sox, who either don't want to switch from cable or are unable to get a DirecTV signal. In one fan's case, trees on a neighbor's property blocked the signal. Another fan said his apartment's landlord would not allow a satellite dish to be installed.
The protests caught the attention of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), a Senate Commerce Committee member. Last month, he asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the proposed deal. That inquiry is believed to be ongoing as of Wednesday.
Announcement of the DirecTV deal has been expected for weeks. Baseball officials, when asked about the delay, have said only that details still had to be worked out to make the deal more responsive to fans, yet declined to elaborate.
When asked if the FCC inquiry was a reason for the delay, the officials would not comment.
Kerry also was seeking to schedule a commerce committee hearing on the issue and had asked baseball officials and DirecTV to hold off announcing anything, spokesman Vincent Morris said.
A source close to the deal confirmed that such a request was received but said it would not be honored because the regular season starts April 1 and it is unlikely a hearing could be scheduled in time.
Baseball officials appear to be undeterred, even amid equally lucrative counteroffers. Yet the negotiations over the last month have not been easy.
One of the sources close to the talks said, "It's been two steps forward and one backward."
According to a company spokesperson, the In Demand offer matched or exceeded DirecTV's offer, including financial terms of the deal as well as distribution of the new Baseball Channel, scheduled to be launched in 2009. Distribution of this channel is believed to be the crux of the issue for MLB.
Robert Jacobson, president and chief executive of In Demand, said the proposed MLB deal "is stunning in its disregard for baseball fans."
EchoStar issued a statement saying, "The line has been crossed. On behalf of more than 13 million Dish Network subscribers, EchoStar is taking a stand on sports exclusives. When our customers are suddenly cut off from watching their favorite sports teams on TV, it is time to ask whether the market is working. This is both anti-competitive and anti-consumer."
Chase Carey, DirecTV's president and chief executive, sent a seven-page letter to the FCC on Friday in response to the agency's inquiry and promised that no consumer will be denied.
"Consumers switching from cable to DirecTV will be provided with free equipment and free installation," he wrote the FCC. "The small number of 2006 Extra Innings subscribers who cannot receive DirecTV â?? estimated to be approximately 5,000 nationwide â?? will have access through mlb.com." He was referring to a $79 yearlong package that provides video-streamed games.
Baseball's stance is equally clear. Commissioner Bud Selig, attending spring training games in Phoenix over the weekend, told reporters the controversy over the deal is "ridiculous."
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larry.stewart@latimes.com
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they can have their MLB package, but i go where Center Ice is, they steal that, and i'll be DirecTV like that!
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Extra Innings needed to determine cable package-
Extra Extra Innings
By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports
March 8, 2007
Major League Baseball will allow the In Demand cable provider and the Dish Network satellite service a chance to match an agreed-upon deal with DirecTV to sell MLB's Extra Innings package, temporarily quelling fears that thousands of fans would barred from receiving out-of-market games.
MLB Executive Vice President Tim Brosnan said In Demand and Dish have until March 31 to accept a deal that allows them Extra Innings so long as they place the MLB Channel, which expects a 2009 launch, on the same basic subscription tier as DirecTV agreed to in its contract.
"The incentive to them is so they can participate and so their fans can obtain the product," Brosnan said. "There certainly was an incentive for DirecTV, and we can assume the incentive is the same for the cable company."
While Brosnan would not detail other specifics of the deal, the placement of baseball-only channels on basic tiers could serve as a poison pill that prevents In Demand and Dish from signing on. In Demand president Robert Jacobson told the Associated Press that the agreement between MLB and DirecTV was a "de facto exclusive deal."
When placed on basic tiers, channels can charge far higher rates for advertisements because the number of subscribers is significantly greater.
Should MLB and Dish Network or In Demand â?? which would distribute Extra Innings to Time Warner, Cox and Comcast cable operators â?? not reach a deal, there is a seven-year, $700 million contract in place for Extra Innings to exclusively run on DirecTV.
"We got to an arrangement that works for us on either front," said Chase Carey, DirecTV's president and CEO. "If you're asking which I'd prefer, I'd say the exclusive. That would be the preferred path."
The uproar over an exclusive deal enraged fans across the country and prompted Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to write a letter asking the Federal Communications Commission to investigate.
"This should help enormously in that area," commissioner Bud Selig said.
Extra Innings allows subscribers to watch broadcasts of most MLB games for a flat rate each year. Because of blackout restrictions, however, some cities without major-league teams are barred from viewing up to six games each night.
Selig said at the All-Star Game last season he would look into changing the blackout rules. An MLB spokesman recently said there has been little progress in the matter.
Jeff Passan is a national baseball writer for Yahoo! Sports. Send Jeff a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
Updated on Thursday, Mar 8, 2007 5:50 pm EST
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Originally posted by Venerable Bede:
MLB Executive Vice President Tim Brosnan said In Demand and Dish have until March 31 to accept a deal that allows them Extra Innings so long as they place the MLB Channel, which expects a 2009 launch, on the same basic subscription tier as DirecTV agreed to in its contract.
Must be nice to have an anti-trust exemption...
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Dang ol' Supreme Court.