TV still unknown - get the game on TV!!

Hey guys...

Last weeks impact on CSTV was impressive. Although they couldn't change it the way we wanted it due to contractual committements, we definitely got their attention...

Likewise, we may be facing a TV problem again this week.

I ask ALL of you to send feedback to the following places to get our game on TV:
info@yesnetwork.com
[msn.foxsports.com] (good for FSNY or NE or Ohio or Pittsburgh - you can submit it multiple times, once for each station)
[www.boston.com] (this is where NESN's feedback link leads)
msgnetpr@msgnetwork.com

and finally, maybe CSTV will help us out this time (hey, Adam, can you comment on this or help at all??)
[www.cstv.com]

Oh, and no harm is emailing ESPN too, to press upon them the interest in selling this game off live:
[sports.espn.go.com]

I was thinking of posting my letter, but I think if they all looked similar, they might not take it so seriously. Just write a paragraph or two about Cornell and OSU having large, passionate fan bases all around the country and this is one of the few games which may not be available. Tell them that there are a lot of people wanting to watch these games. You may want even say "including right here in Boston/NY/etc" customized for whatever station you're writing to. Make sure to emphasize that we want the game LIVE!

Lets get 'em!

Btw, if you don't want to write to all those places, pick 2 or 3. But all would be great!

Specifically, the Fox Sports feedback site lets you pick which local network to send the feedback to. On the "thank you" page, you can then then click "send feedback again" or something, and it automatically fills it out with the same thing you just sent.

Just chose another network, edit a little, and send again. The more the better, but some is better than nothing!

Hey,
I sent an email a couple days ago to ESPN asking them to televise the Cornell - Ohio State game, and this is what I got back:

Thank you for your e-mail.
That game will air on ESPNU which is available nationally through
DIRECTV.
ESPNU is a basic cable network...

Sincerely,
ESPN Viewer Response

So, unless someone made a mistake, the Saturday game is on ESPNU! And, if anyone is in CT and knows a great place to watch the game, please let me know!

Thanks.

It is on ESPNU, but its on ESPNU at 12:30 am

That's why I said emphasize that we want it *live*. ESPNU seems to be acting as if its the same difference to us and its not!

I've already called up Fox College Sports' program director (I get FCS on Adelphia digital cable....), and asked her about the games. She informed me that they would not be showing it since ESPNU had it. I didnt really bother to argue with her but it seemed to me that would be alogical place to show it. They actually broadcast all of the DU and MN games, + some random ones split between their 3 channels.

Oh well, looks like I will be watching it on tape delay on ESPNU. Adelphia just added the channel today!!

Maybe those of us with Time Warner cable should wine to request ESPN U since we aren't getting FOX regional and MSG during the money squabble.

I would not call CSTV if I were anyone ... or e-mail them. They're already fed up with Cornell ... Plus, they have the Women's Frozen Four this weekend.

[Q]marty Wrote: Maybe those of us with Time Warner cable should wine to request ESPN U since we aren't getting FOX regional and MSG during the money squabble.[/q]If that doesn't work, take it to the next step and send hard liquor.

Maybe we'd lighten up on them if they actually listened to us one of these times

Meanwhile, they do have the women's FF, but that's Friday and Sunday. Saturday is wide open

It's "whine" and I doubt they'll listen. Have they listened to reason so far re: their argument with MSG?

Please, lets keep this thread to organizing and discussing the efforts to get this game on tv. Thanks.

CSTV did listen and went out of its way to get on what it got on - including changing the re-air time to 10 p.m. Friday (even though it was eventually run into by the 2nd semifinal). It just couldn't work around a long-time commitment to the programming it had on early last Friday.

But CSTV stepped up big time to get the ECAC games on at all. Please don't lose sight of that.

I don't, and I hope other people don't either. CSTV has been a great channel for us all and has been very nice about listening and responding. We're very thankful for their existance.

I guess that's why I'm thinking of turning to them again... they've been very responsive and I think with their willingness to cater to their viewers, they distinctly may be able to be helpful again. Hey if they can't or don't want to, that's okay, I still love their existance and try to watch them as much as I can. But this would be a big favor, that may be doable, so I felt I had to ask.

Everyone may use their own judgement.

Hi..
I spoke with Charlotte Boxsteller (sp?) from Altitude today. I was quite impressed with Altitude's response time, the two people i left messages with called me back within 90 minutes.

This is what I understood from her, but not having satellite tv in all, i apologize in advance if i get the terminology wrong.

If you have a residential account (via satellite) and you have the full blown sports pack, then altitude, and the alternate feeds, should be a part of that. thus the games on saturday will be on channel 658 (direct tv) and 448 (dish tv). You can sort of pre-test this thursday night. one of their alternate channels will have men's dII basketball on alternate channel 657 at 5pm mst. however, that isn't the same channel carrying the game.

Where it gets confusing is the commericial (sports bars) feeds. Altitude is offered "a la carte" to the commericial feeds (she thinks $30/month), but that isn't a guarantee that the alternate feeds will be available. Unfortunately, she did not have any suggestions on how to verify that the alternate feeds would be included if we could convince our favorite sports bar to pick up altitude for the month (other than the "pre-test" mentioned above).

so, is there anyone in central indiana with the full blown sports pack?

rita

Most sports bars just have DirecTV, not a special satellite system, so it should be the same. Its gonna be a little risky heading down to the bars this weekend, so if people still want to write letters to get it on a more reliable channel, I would not object, but it doesn't seem necessary anymore.

One night the FSN North alternate (Wisconsin) feed just didn't come through.

Due to the discovery in other threads (by Rita and Hillel - thanks for your hard work!) that most commercial establishments will not get channel 657 and 658 for Altitude Alternate, I encourage everyone to continue writing to try to get the games on a more traditional feed.

[Q]dbilmes Wrote:
And, if anyone is in CT and knows a great place to watch the game, please let me know!

Thanks.
[/q]

I watched this year's televised game from Lynah at Rookie's Sports Bar and Grill in Cromwell. If there are a number of people interested, it could be lots of fun! The food was pretty decent, too

Hey all, I have Dish Network and decided to give them a call. I got the extremely informative answer of: "we have no information on this event." I am taking that to mean that us on Dish Network are screwed, especially since we don't have ESPNU. After looking at the Dish Network online programming guide and shooting an airball there as well, I think us Dish Network users need to start looking towards plan a B...

I believe EchoStar = Dish

so... Altitude Alternate... EchoStar Mar. 25, ch. 445 Mar. 26, ch. 448

Just because they don't know what is going on doesn't mean they won't show the games. I have Dish Network also and have been asking them how their negotiations with CSTV are going, and both the reps on the phone and via e-mail have been completely clueless and unhelpful. I've heard via posters on the USCHO board that they are indeed haggling with CSTV over price.

I've never had a problem with the alternate Fox Sports North (Wisconsin) feed. I believe it's 447. So if they have Altitude on 448 it wouldn't surprise me if the game came in, even if the reps don't know about it.

hi deltaone,
I just tried to send my politely worded letters to fs-ny and fs-ohio but i kept getting an error message when i tried to submit. I hope that is due to all the email from cornell fans jamming the server or maybe the site doesn't like my mac. anyways, i ended up sending an email via my mail program to "Feedback@foxsports.com"

Also, Hillel... I sent a thank you email to altitude sports.. they were very helpful and most prompt in their reply. so no need to unscrew my porch light

is here: [www.altitude.tv]

Key paragraph reads:

"Follows are cable systems and satellite operators who will be carrying the secondary Altitude channel on Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26 for Altitude’s coverage of the NCAA Hockey Championships, along with the secondary channel number:

Operator Channel Number

Adelphia – Colorado Springs 32
Bresnan – Cheyenne 64
Bresnan – Laramie 47
Champion Broadband -- Lakewood 98
Comcast -- Denver 5
DirecTV 658
EchoStar Mar. 25, ch. 445 Mar. 26, ch. 448"

Rita, it worked fine from my Mac with Firefox, so I dunno. But its good that you could share that alternate address.

I noticed the only two games that aren't on standard regional networks are Cornell/OSU and UNH/Harvard. And the only reason Gate is is because they're playing CC.

Seeing as the ECAC is getting the general shaft, I'm wondering if the ECAC staff would want to hear our opinion on it, but I don't think a ton of people should do that because those are individual people's mailboxes and we don't want to mail bomb them! Still, its another idea, perhaps pick a number and roll a die, and only do it if you get your #, so that only 1 out of 6 of us do it, or something like that

Delta-

Much as I want to see the game, I don't think that anyone is out to shaft the ECAC here.

The problem is that the dips at the NCAA chose to schedule games at the same time as others. On Saturday afternoon, ESPNU has the choice of broadcasting Minny - Maine or UNH - Harvard since they are at the same time. If I were them, I'd pick the Minny-Maine game too if I am thinking ratings.

And Saturday night, you can pick a regional final, or a first rounder. It makes sense to pick the regioanl final to me. So unless someone placed the teams intentionaly to block the ECAC out, I think it's just bad luck that those games are not on teh primary ESPNU feeds.

The logical network to pick up the UNH Harvard game would be NESN (regioanlly speaking).
But htey have a live Red Sox game scheduled 1-4 and the game is at 330. (Only crap programming after that - so no reason they couldn't grab it in progress though.)

But for Cornell-OSU, is there really a logical regioanl network to pick up thegame? FS New England has the Celtics game. FSNY has an arena league game.

However! Fox sports Midwest only has crap on - darts and boxing! OSU people should be barraging that channel. That's the most likely channel to grab the game. ANd if they get the game, thats a channel any satellite can pick off.

Good luck in the quest. Try posting on USCHO to get the OSU people motivated to attack FS MW

I didn't mean anyone was intentionally giving the ECAC the shaft, just that that seems to be the result. And considering Altitude is showing pretty much all the games on one of their channels, there's no reason that some other channel, even not a 'logical' one, couldn't pick up those games. Some of these games are being aired on local cable channels in St. Louis, OKC, and Kansas City, so there doesn't seem to be a need to stick to the logical choices.

I agree FSN MW makes sense. So do YES and MSG, which also are mainly showing crap at that hour, if I remember correctly. Ditto with CSTV. There are several networks who could pick up this game without hurting this schedule, so please keep writing!

[Q]abmarks Wrote:
Try posting on USCHO to get the OSU people motivated to attack FS MW[/q]

Lobby, not attack. Honey, not vinegar. Let them know there's an audience so they'll consider there to be some reward to show it. If we just convince them that we're a bunch of assholes, they'll try to avoid us.

I got a PM with another suggestion for NESN feedback:
sports@nesn.com

The biggest thing they have going that night is a Red Sox spring training repeat. Certainly a "honey-based" email campaign may be able to convince them otherwise. And according to Hillel in another thread, we may be having an impact already, as some other stations are considering picking it up. Of course, it also may have nothing to do with us, but it can't hurt!

-Fred

bump... keep writing people... got some good feedback on USCHO

it's getting late, but we can't stop now!

Time Warner is showing the games live on Channel 26 in the central and northern NY regions. I wrote to them a couple of days ago and they responded very quickly, sending me the whole schedule which also includes the Colgate game and others. Check my post under the original TV thread. I think asking politely and then thanking them for the information as I did is much more productive than bitching or whining.