Good article on Yahoo.com Sports

I saw this excellent article on Yahoo Sports today. It provides some hope for the future:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Ap88vbjLeE2cVbZ4m_EGsVQRvLYF?slug=jp-blackouts040608&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

A lot of people are still having trouble with the Blackouts. Please continue to sign the petition or leave a comment here. You can also continue to email me, and I will do whatever I can to assist you.

Mike

mikespublicemail AT gmail.com

Great news

All,

Great news...New England Sports Network made a call to Dish on my behalf, and they were able to straighten things out! I'm now receiving both the Red Sox and Mets games that I was always supposed to get.

On the www.satelliteguys.us Dish Network forum, there are others that have contacted their regional sports network and gotten them to talk with Dish as well. Some have straightened it out, but I get the feeling there is more work to do.

Keep calling your RSN if you are still getting blacked out on teams that are considered Local to you. Your RSN does NOT like to hear that potential viewers are getting blacked out. Not only is it plain wrong, but it decreases the amount of eyes viewing the advertisements. If advertisers find a certain amount (say 1-2%) of viewers are unjustly getting blacked out, they are going to go to the RSN and ask for money back. Live games is where the advertising spots go WAY up in cost.

If you need help contacting your RSN, send me a message and I will assist you. Just because this seems to be settled for me, does not change the original intent of this Blog and the petition. I fully intend to help out anyone experiencing this crap.

http://www.petitiononline.com/dishblk1/petition.html

Mike

mikespublicemail AT Gmail.com

And so it begins...

Friends,

It's grassroots campaign time. There are WAY too many people spending their hard-earned money on Dish Network subscriptions, only to find that they can't watch their local sports team! Dish claims they follow Major League Baseball policy, yet that is clearly wrong when you enter your Zip Code on MLB.com and find the teams that you are entitled to watch in your area.

Before I go any further, I would like to point out that the reason for this blog is to bring attention to an online petition. I invite Customers that get blacked-out unjustly to sign it. The petition will ultimately be sent to Dish Network (EchoStar), but will be CC'd to ALL television providers (Cable and Satellite). Others copied on the petition will be: Major League Baseball (Corporate, Bud Selig), all of the Regional Sports networks, as well as the FCC and U.S. House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. No subscriber, regardless of provider, should have to tolerate this.


The Petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/dishblk1/petition.html

I have spent hours on the phone with Dish. I hesitate singling them out like this, because I've had similar problems with DirecTV in the past. However, Dish is what I have now, and it's what I hear the most complaints about. Dish always says that blackouts are beyond their control, and that it's up to the provider. So why were Comcast customers in my town receiving the Sox game yesterday, if it was blacked out to me on Dish? Is Comcast breaking MLB policy? If so, wouldn't it be in Dish's best interests to sue them?


For the record, my Zip Code is in Connecticut, and should entitle me to Red Sox, Yankees, and Mets games...yet I get blacked out on all. (Dish doesn't carry YES Network, so it's a moot point on the Yanks). But I am a Sox fan that has lived in this same town with Comcast, and never once was I blacked out for any games besides ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, and Saturday afternoon FOX games.



** UPDATE** I had reached out to the Red Sox and NESN for assistance with this. My contact at NESN says I absolutely should be receiving the games, and they're pissed if MORE of their subscribers are having the same problem. He is contacting Dish to try and straighten things out.


I urge everyone to try calling your Regional Sports Network. Emailing seems to go into a general Inbox that might be read by an intern. I got a response to my call less than 2 hours later.


Hopefully this does the trick for me, but I'm still concerned about others "getting the shaft" from Dish. Please post comments here and sign the petition. In the petition, you should probably comment on what teams you're supposed to receive, and in what area...that might help us when we present the signatures.


Mike

Feel free to email me at: mikespublicemail AT gmail . com