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08-24-2007, 10:18 AM
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Get Rolle on the field - I wanna see some damage!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cincibuck
I don't know if you're old enough to remember the commercials for Roi Tan cigars. They opened with a guy sitting in a luxury sports car, Ivy League cap, Harris tweed sport coat, ascot, driving gloves... any way the point was that he was saving money by smoking Roi Tans and the quote was, "How do you think a man like me got to be a man like me?" Inferring that by taking care of the nickles and dimes, the dollars were all falling the right way... for him.
From the little I know about Murdoch, he's a mean, shrewd, tough as nails sonuvabitch who could give a [censored] if you ever see an Ohio State football game until he's milked it for all the money he can. The whole industry has really heated up over telephones/cable/internet rights and getting customers on contracts and you have about six major players vying for a [censored] pot full of money and the right to put their hand in your pocket once a month for the rest of your life. BTN isn't even a pebble in Murdoch's shoe even though it sounds like amputation to you and other Big Ten fans.
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Yeah, I get that. And frankly, considering that I JUST MADE the switch from DirecTV to Comcast with full knowledge that I wouldn't get BTN, I'm obviously not feeling the "amputation" that some are.
You're comments are really what I was driving at. There are some here that seem to indicate that Comcast and TW are the villians here. My opinion is that there are no villians and no heroes. We have a new situation created by this new network and Comcast is fighting their fight and BTN is fighting it's fight. The only real positive thing I can say about BTN is that at least they are committed to HDTV. For that, I applaud them. Beyond that, considering that the network is in it's infancy, their pricing structure is immodest - to put it politely.
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College football fans: Constantly in search of a lack of respect.
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08-24-2007, 10:24 AM
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All-American
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Quote:
Originally Posted by matcar
I still don't know why BTN is opposed to allowing TW or Comcast to put this on a sports tier. OK, so DirecTV and Dish may not choose that, but why are the cable companies preventing from doing it that way?
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The BTN doesn't want it on a separate tier for several reasons. First, they won't get the maximum penetration of potential viewers. Second, they don't want fans to have to pay additonal fees. The cable companies would have total control of what they could charge. For example, they could charge $10 or more and put it on their sports package. Third, the BTN is an HD station, and that carries a premium value. It's very expensive to set this network up, much more than a conventional network, so revenue is important.
You have to realize that the cable companies will make plenty of money on this deal. A lot of customers now have HD, and certainly will have in the future. That means they will want to see it in HD. The cable companies will gain a lot of revenue from putting these BTN customers on an HD tier, charging for an HD receiver and if you want an HD cable DVR, you will pay a DVR fee(mine is 9.95). I also pay $6.95 for standard digital dvr service, on my cable bill.
I personally don't care if the Murdoch family or Fred Flintstone is a partner of the BTN, the end result is the same. The proceeds from the BTN go back to the member institutions. With a cable company, it goes in their pocket. I have refrained from getting into these back and forth posts about who is more more credible, because it's an emotional issue with fans. The BTN is a long term business venture and it will be around for the long haul.
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08-24-2007, 10:47 AM
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All-American
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If anyone wants to know about Comcast, scroll down to Controversies and Monopoly Effects. The one thing that cable companies fear is deregulation. Wisconsin is a heavily protected state for cable, and that will change in the future.
Comcast - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
08-24-2007, 10:54 AM
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All-American
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Quote:
Originally Posted by matcar
I still don't know why BTN is opposed to allowing TW or Comcast to put this on a sports tier. OK, so DirecTV and Dish may not choose that, but why are the cable companies preventing from doing it that way?
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If it's not on the basic package here in Cincinnati, that means customers would have to pay $7 a month to get a digital cable box. You would only be able to watch the game on the TV with the digital cable box. You would also need to subscribe to the Sports Package, another $2.95 (current price) a month. So for the $1.10 the Big Ten Network would charge Time Warner, a customer with just basic cable would have to pay Time Warner $10 a month to have the ability watch the game on one TV.
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I'd rather win ugly than lose pretty
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08-24-2007, 10:55 AM
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Get Rolle on the field - I wanna see some damage!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OSU SPORTS
The BTN doesn't want it on a separate tier for several reasons. First, they won't get the maximum penetration of potential viewers. Second, they don't want fans to have to pay additonal fees. The cable companies would have total control of what they could charge. For example, they could charge $10 or more and put it on their sports package. Third, the BTN is an HD station, and that carries a premium value. It's very expensive to set this network up, much more than a conventional network, so revenue is important.
You have to realize that the cable companies will make plenty of money on this deal. A lot of customers now have HD, and certainly will have in the future. That means they will want to see it in HD. The cable companies will gain a lot of revenue from putting these BTN customers on an HD tier, charging for an HD receiver and if you want an HD cable DVR, you will pay a DVR fee(mine is 9.95). I also pay $6.95 for standard digital dvr service, on my cable bill.
I personally don't care if the Murdoch family or Fred Flintstone is a partner of the BTN, the end result is the same. The proceeds from the BTN go back to the member institutions. With a cable company, it goes in their pocket. I have refrained from getting into these back and forth posts about who is more more credible, because it's an emotional issue with fans. The BTN is a long term business venture and it will be around for the long haul.
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I'm not going to get into it any further either. I agree BTN is in it for the long haul, and they and Murdoch are out there to make money just like the cable companies. Cable companies aren't the good guys, but neither is the opposition in this case. It's just a change in the situation that CFB fans have gotten used to over the past several years.
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08-24-2007, 11:16 AM
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All-American
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When I mentioned cable deregualtion, here is another problem for the cable companies. Cable companies spend millions to special interest groups to lobby in their behalf to prevent a la carte programming. This would benefit the consumer and slice the gravy train enjoyed by the cable industry. Consumers could get what programs they wanted and not get stuck with the "bundle" garbage forced upon them by the cable companies.
But now the cable companies have painted themselves in a corner. They are doing the thing they advocate against, forcing the NFL Network and now the BTN into a a la carte situation. They can't have it both ways and now the FCC is starting to notice.
MediaPost Publications - Cable Operators Must Carry Big Ten Or Lose Subs - 08/24/2007 |
08-24-2007, 11:29 AM
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Cognoscente of Omphaloskepsis
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Quote:
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From the little I know about Murdoch, he's a mean, shrewd, tough as nails sonuvabitch who could give a [censored] if you ever see an Ohio State football game until he's milked it for all the money he can. The whole industry has really heated up over telephones/cable/internet rights and getting customers on contracts and you have about six major players vying for a [censored] pot full of money and the right to put their hand in your pocket once a month for the rest of your life. BTN isn't even a pebble in Murdoch's shoe even though it sounds like amputation to you and other Big Ten fans.
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I think this is dead on as far as News Com is concerned. The fans big hope is that the Big Ten does have 51% interest in the BTN. That means guys like Gene Smith, Jim Tressel, Gordon Gee and their equivalents at other schools have a voice. Perhaps that is where we the fan should be applying the pressure. |
08-24-2007, 10:51 PM
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Senior
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Best Buckeye
I dl sopcast and didn't receive any virus threat. I did this thinking that someway I can webcast the games that I get. The problem is that not everyone can pick up the game url or it loads but won't play. One person got it others didnt. I am working on that. I had no problem watching a game while I was broadcasting it.
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Any progress? |
08-24-2007, 11:35 PM
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Junior
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Jax--
Did the guy get up on your roof? I've been looking at my set-up, and I'm thinking they're going to have to put my dish on the roof. Of course, I have an A-frame house from the 1890s....
One other general question... I thought there were rumblings that the first two games might be televised while TW works their negotiations out with BTN. Did I make that up, or is that still a possibility?
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