ESPNHD on BHN?

[dvdao]

I saw this article and found it interesting. Since Comcast currently offers ESPNHD to its customers(separate HD tier 10/month in most cases), it looks like this has more to do with Comcast not wanting to pay as much as ESPN wants. This is probably what is hanging up an ESPNHD deal with BHN and will continue to hang it up for a long time to come.

http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/23/commentary/column_sportsbiz/sportsbiz/index.htm

So for all of us that would love to see ESPNHD on BHN soon...I wouldn't hold my breath :roll:

[gmclaughlin]

This one is going to get ugly...


Here's the opening volley from Cox:

http://www.makethemplayfair.com


They even name numbers, which is unusual...

[Zimmy]

All this posturing and now the NFL season is 1/2 over.
I remember buying my TV last year and the sales drone telling me ESPN HD would be available on Time Warner in March.

I hate to sound like Longhorn but I'm getting ready to do some cost analysis on switching over to Direct TV. Because I'm strapped with 2 stand alone Tivos, it makes the decision a little harder.

Now another channel I'm interested in, The NFL Network, comes on DirectTV the first day and BHN doesn't budge.

Z

[dvdao]

I have a feeling that BHN will not budge. I would be suprised to see ESPNHD on BHN before the 04 NFL season. I did the cost analysis when the football season started on whether it was worth it for me to switch over to D*. I ended up sticking with BHN...for now.

[LonghornXP]

What so bad about sounding like me. I hate BHN not for just the last year but for much longer. They took forever to go digital cable where GTE americast had it for almost a whole year before TWC went digital. Plus I couldn't get Americast because they never wired my area. Also when I bought my HDTV set almost three years ago I had to wait almost 8 months to get the TWC HD box. Since then I was asking for all the channels and finally ABC and Faux came along and TWC at that time said NBC and CBS would be added shortly. Well almost 2 years later BHN just got CBS and still doesn't have NBC. Now that WB is going HD and BHN won't carry this because of Sinclair but BHN. But UPN now has enterprise in HD and BHN has no plans to carry this channels from what a couple of friends tell me who can't get satellite because they are in a condo. They haven't added HDNet or HDNet Movies. Still no ESPN HD. No Bravo HD but no company really has this now.

I know I sound harsh but with my past with them they haven't exactly done things for the customers but raise their bills every year.

Hey I hope they prove me wrong but until they do they will always be pissing off customers.

[LonghornXP]

I might check out a DirecTV DRV powered by Tivo which would be the all in one box that you can get for almost free as a new customer as well as getting additional DirecTV Dvrs for 115 bucks plus tax in the future. Also they service fee is 5.00/month for all DirecTV DVRs in the house instead of 13.00/month per Tivo box. Its something to look at. Also you can get the 400 buck deal as an existing DirecTv subscriber for the HD setup which includes the box plus the dish you need as well as installation and multiswitch. You can't choose what box you get but they will either send the Hughes E86 or the Sammy TS160 and from what I've heard almost everyone has received the Sammy box. Hopefully this can help you somewhat but it still comes down to the question is the money you are going to spend worth getting HDNet, HDNet Movies, ESPN HD, NBCHD, UPN HD and WB HD when they go HD. Its a tough question but I finally got sick of paying more money for BHN and getting nothing or at least nothing new.

[bdraw]

I agree that BHN is letting us all down.
I get by with both D* and BHN.
The only reason I can justify this is because I am only paying $40.00 per month for my Cable.
I got a deal for D* customers.
So my total is $84 for RR and 2 Digital boxes, HBO, and showtime.
Then I pay $50.00 per month for D*
So I bill ends up about what it used to be for just BHN.
It is a pain to have so many sources. But I figure it will only last for about 6-12 months.

I would be surprised if BHN doesn't have ESPNHD, WB and NBC by next fall.

Honestly as mad as I am about BHN and ESPNHD I can't blame them.
With only ~7 hours of HD per week it is very expensive.
I would only miss it durning Football season.

I predict that once ESPN starts doing Sports center sometime in the 2quarter of next year, than BHN will pick it up.

As far as NBC.
What is the deal with NBC?

[passedpawn]

What so bad about sounding like me. I hate BHN not for just the last year but for much longer. They took forever to go digital cable where GTE americast had it for almost a whole year before TWC went digital. Plus I couldn't get Americast because they never wired my area. Also when I bought my HDTV set almost three years ago I had to wait almost 8 months to get the TWC HD box. Since then I was asking for all the channels and finally ABC and Faux came along and TWC at that time said NBC and CBS would be added shortly. Well almost 2 years later BHN just got CBS and still doesn't have NBC. Now that WB is going HD and BHN won't carry this because of Sinclair but BHN. But UPN now has enterprise in HD and BHN has no plans to carry this channels from what a couple of friends tell me who can't get satellite because they are in a condo. They haven't added HDNet or HDNet Movies. Still no ESPN HD. No Bravo HD but no company really has this now.

I know I sound harsh but with my past with them they haven't exactly done things for the customers but raise their bills every year.

Hey I hope they prove me wrong but until they do they will always be pissing off customers.

Whooooaaah, hold on there, pardnr. As much as I want everything now, too, we have to remember one thing: it's a business. This is not socialism at work, it's capatilism.

To quote a movie whose name I don't recall: "What is the answer to 99/100 questions: Money".

And I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just business. They maximize their profit by making the most people happy with whatever resources they have. It's a fair plan, but some of us early adopters don't get the attention we want. That will change as our population rises.

You can't make everyone happy. BTW, as I have said too many times, if you can afford a big fat cable bill, you certainly can afford a HD STB. Here is a link to one I just watched sell on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3054378063&category=11072&rd=1

$200, and you get all these stations, FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Forever. Yes, NBC is in there. They have been on the air for years.

Call Actual Virtual
Letters Channel Channel Network Freq (MHz) Ant. Site
------- ------- ------- ------- ---------- ---------
WFLA-DT 7 8 NBC 177 (VHF) Riverview
WTVT-DT 12 12 FOX 207 (VHF) Riverview
WMOR-DT 19 32 IND 503 (UHF) Riverview
WCLF-DT 21 22 CTN 515 (UHF) Riverview
WTSP-DT 24 10 CBS 533 (UHF) Holiday
WFTS-DT 29 28 ABC 563 (UHF) Riverview
WXPX-DT 42 66 PAX 641 (UHF) Riverview
WEDU-DT 54 3 PBS 713 (UHF) Riverview
WTTA-DT 57 38 WB 731 (UHF) Riverview
WTOG-DT 59 44 UPN 743 (UHF) Riverview
WFTT-DT 47 47 UNI 671 (UHF) Riverview

[bubblehd647]

As far as NBC.
What is the deal with NBC?

BHN best get it by next spring. The 2004 Olympics are on NBC, so if they DON'T have it by then, bye-bye BHN, hello OTA and D* for me. If BW is a problem for them, they should consider dropping a few crappy channels on the digital tier.

[bdraw]

BHN best get it by next spring. The 2004 Olympics are on NBC, so if they DON'T have it by then, bye-bye BHN, hello OTA and D* for me. If BW is a problem for them, they should consider dropping a few crappy channels on the digital tier.

Bandwidth is not their problem.
Last I heard it was corporate red tape.
I would think that once you signed a deal with one station (CBS) the rest would be easy.

[dvdao]

I don't really expect ESPNHD anytime in the near or even distant future of BHN. But what I do EXPECT is them to get a deal for NBC. And no I won't go out and buy a OTA receiver for one channel. WB and UPN I never watch anyway so NBC for me would enough to tie me over. I've lost hope in getting ESPNHD... :roll:

[Zimmy]

One Kudo to BHN. They picked the correct station to add first.
CBS is the leader in HiDef broadcasts. I have watched so much CBS HD in the last few weeks, even surpassing ABC HD.

NBC basically has Leno in HD and nothing else.
Even their supposed HiDef sitcoms look like upconverts to me.

Lucky for me I have an OTA option but even then, I never check NBC.

[bdraw]

One Kudo to BHN. They picked the correct station to add first.
CBS is the leader in HiDef broadcasts. I have watched so much CBS HD in the last few weeks, even surpassing ABC HD.

NBC basically has Leno in HD and nothing else.
Even their supposed HiDef sitcoms look like upconverts to me.

Lucky for me I have an OTA option but even then, I never check NBC.

As far as CBS being the best. I agree.

But NBC has Las Vegas, Law & Order(all three) Leno, ER, Frasier, West Wing, ED.

None that look like upconverts to me(don't say frasier does, they did fix it this season).

NBC has alot of other shows, but none I like.

They also do Horse Racing.

But they suck because they don't do Friend, Scrubs, Morning Miami.
Also they suck because they don't do any football even though they do the Notre Dame game every Saturday.

[jaymer]

Zimmy,
read our reviews on "Las Vegas" - I too had never watched anything on NBC, but this show is great!

[Zimmy]

Glad to see they are improving.
I did remember Law and Order as being true HiDef but I haven't watched anything in the new season yet. Now that BH has CBS I'm not turning on my OTA as much.
And I was talking about Frasier, I guess they did fix it.
But where is SNL, Friends, Will & Grace, Conan O'Brien???

The one show they said was going to be HiDef, Coupling, looked zoomed in like last year's Frasier.