Comcast/Time Warner

[_______]

I'm going hyper-local on this post and apologize to the 95% reading to whom this will mean nothing.

Two years ago Time Warner got taken to the woodshed in negotiations with Guggenheim Partners, the owner of the Dodgers. They signed a horrendous contract for exclusive broadcast rights in SoCal with the idea they would be able to shove a new channel down the throat of other cable companies (and subscribers) to make what they paid a profitable business decision. The figure they have been asking is close to $5/subsciber per month to carry the new Dodger channel.

No one has bitten.

As a result, Time Warner with 30% market share in Los Angeles is the only place you can watch Dodger games. There are a lot of neighborhoods where Time Warner isn't available, even in bars.

I was rooting for the Comcast deal with the idea that after they bought TW, they would write down the cost of the contract and finally start signing up other cable companies. Now I guess, LA has to wait for another bidder.

In the meantime, I'm thinking of subscribing to a DNS spoofing service and the MLB package to be able to watch games. Thought this would be resolved this season but it doesn't look like it will.

[Robert Goren]

I'm going hyper-local on this post and apologize to the 95% reading to whom this will mean nothing.

Two years ago Time Warner got taken to the woodshed in negotiations with Guggenheim Partners, the owner of the Dodgers. They signed a horrendous contract for exclusive broadcast rights in SoCal with the idea they would be able to shove a new channel down the throat of other cable companies (and subscribers) to make what they paid a profitable business decision. The figure they have been asking is close to $5/subsciber per month to carry the new Dodger channel.

No one has bitten.

As a result, Time Warner with 30% market share in Los Angeles is the only place you can watch Dodger games. There are a lot of neighborhoods where Time Warner isn't available, even in bars.

I was rooting for the Comcast deal with the idea that after they bought TW, they would write down the cost of the contract and finally start signing up other cable companies. Now I guess, LA has to wait for another bidder.

In the meantime, I'm thinking of subscribing to a DNS spoofing service and the MLB package to be able to watch games. Thought this would be resolved this season but it doesn't look like it will.You are living in a dream world. No way was this deal going to lower the cost of anything. This deal was about increasing margins or from a customer's point view raising prices.

[_______]

My bill will go up somewhere less than the $5 TW is currently asking for my cable provider to run the Dodger channel. But I'll be able to watch.

Meanwhile, I'm paying $4.95/mo to spoof an out of state DNS and $130 for the MLB stream on Apple TV to watch games. Believe me, I'll save money when a deal gets done and I can skip the expensive work around.

[badcompany]

You'd have a hard time finding anyone who has had to deal with Time Warner for as long as I have, who doesn't hate them. From a standpoint of service and reliability, they suck.

When Verizon FIOS became available in my building, I couldn't sign up fast enough. While Verizon can be a bit annoying with ads for their various extras, I haven't regretted the swich for a single day.