2006-7 All-Access

Tub(a) · August 29, 2006, 08:09:47 PM

No way am I paying 99 dollars for the crap that they called All Access last year. I called tonight to cancel and they assured me my card would not automatically be charged.

I'm not holding my breath.

billhoward · August 29, 2006, 08:10:01 PM

As the price creeps up, it could be a viable venture for someone else to compete with All-Access. Remember CSTV Properties gives (sells) Cornell a package that includes the website design and choice of colors (fortunately Cornell uses red, which is available). But it also means when renewal time comes, someone else could outbid CSTV.

Let's recap the technologies CSTV provides:

cookie cutter website design
low res video imaging of games
crappy QOS

How hard would it be to improve on that?

billhoward · August 29, 2006, 08:12:01 PM

This is classic marketing. Most people either don't give a rap about this CSTV webcast stuff or simply must have it. And the must-haves for the most part will stick around at $49 or at $99 year. You are an exception. But the yield management experts know the falloff won't be half.

Al DeFlorio · August 29, 2006, 08:15:08 PM

[quote Tub(a)]No way am I paying 99 dollars for the crap that they called All Access last year.[/quote]
It could be the $99 is for the whole All-Access magilla, and the FAQ does say: "School and Conference products may vary."

We shall see. Soon, I hope.

cth95 · August 29, 2006, 08:42:47 PM

Until I see what kind of "improvement" they have made over the summer, I plan to pay by the month like I did last year. At least I think that's what I did, and I certainly hope that is an option this year.

Sorry about the Mac stuff. That sucks for those of you who don't have PC's if it is true. I hadn't noticed that part.

P.S. If I want a slide show of a hockey game, I will look through Age's pictures. They are far better quality and I won't get ticked off since I won't expect the players in the images to be moving.

Liz '05 · August 30, 2006, 03:13:55 AM

[quote Chris '03]After receiving this email, I went to check out the "new and improved" platform to find a slew of broken links and no All Access page. In reviewing the FAQ's I noticed that the service will now cost $15/mo or $99/yr! That a far cry from the $40 I remember paying last year for crummy service.

Maybe the new security still allows users to be logged in on multiple machines at once... who wants to split the subscription with me and 97 other folks?[/quote]

I'll split it with you!

Just sent an email to CSTV's customer support outlining my problems with the service last year and asking specifically what improvements they'd made. (Also, if they'd made it possible for me to watch away games, assuming the other team was also a CSTV partner. I could never figure out why that wasn't possible or even preferable.) We'll see how they respond.

Trotsky · August 30, 2006, 03:48:52 PM

Would someone please post the CSTV Customer Service (sic) email? Thanks in advance.

DeltaOne81 · August 30, 2006, 05:29:09 PM

[quote Trotsky]Would someone please post the CSTV Customer Service (sic) email? Thanks in advance.[/quote]

Ya lazy bum...

Email:
customersupport@cstv.com

Toll-Free Customer Support Hotline:
888-870-CSTV

jtwcornell91 · August 31, 2006, 05:11:03 AM

What a load of fucking horseshit. They break their product so that it only works on one platform, and then offer you instructions on how to install Windoze on your Mac?

I suppose there's no hope for those of us who use Linux. Because god forbid everyone should just be able to choose their own operating system.

Rita · August 31, 2006, 06:46:00 AM

Do not waste the effort emailing CSTV. You will get a letter/email back that is cut and pasted from the initial email and the FAQ on installing windows on a Mac. Any particular concerns or questions raised are completely ignored.

Has anyone tried talking to a human at CSTV?

Liz '05 · August 31, 2006, 11:00:52 AM

[quote Rita]Do not waste the effort emailing CSTV. You will get a letter/email back that is cut and pasted from the initial email and the FAQ on installing windows on a Mac. Any particular concerns or questions raised are completely ignored.

Has anyone tried talking to a human at CSTV?[/quote]

No, but I'm considering it. Their email to me was also cut and pasted (without even editing to clean up the random question marks that appeared when the pasting messed up the characters). I suppose the response was remotely relevant to one sentence in my email... I kept on hoping that they'd send me another email, though.

Liz '05 · August 31, 2006, 11:31:08 AM

Sooo... The guy I talked to had NO IDEA what he was talking about. Hopefully he was taking notes, though.

- He thinks we'll have access to both home and away games. He checked with someone, but he still didn't sound sure, and I don't trust him.

- He says they've been working on resolution and presence/continuity of the feed, but they've still been hearing complaints about it. He agrees that most of the so-called improvements are actually of the "more games, more sports, more schools" variety.

- He has no idea what happened to the All-Access webpage.

- When I asked about whether it was really just a need to have Windows Media Player 9/10, he said, "Um, yeah, I think...Yeah, we don't support Macs."

- He agreed to pass on to the appropriate people my wish to hear pre-game shows, but told me there wasn't really any plan in place to show them unless "there's some big interview, or press conference or something." I reminded him that it's often a simple matter of turning on the radio feed 10 minutes earlier.

I suspect I'm going to be the "caller from hell" story he tells at lunch, because he was completely out of his depth during this call.

RichH · August 31, 2006, 01:56:04 PM

Not a freaking chance I'm paying $99 (or even $15/mo.) for this POS. With all the problems they had last year at $50 ($8/mo), what makes me think things will be any better, especially with the great signs they've shown so far this year.

This crap service exists to service the football/squeakball fans, and the rest of us are 3rd-rate citizens. In addition to demanding a certain OS, they also restrict you to using a certain browser. Unacceptable.

I would spend $50 for an all-hockey plan, which they did not offer last year. (But boy howdy, if you want to watch Big-Pro College FOOTBALL!! YEE-HAW!)

Cornell Athletics...dump this shitty CSTV service and their freaking annoying web site partnership. It sucks.

Jacob '06 · August 31, 2006, 02:29:05 PM

We just need to get WHCU to do an online broadcast so we can at least get audio without having to pay CSTV.

Trotsky · August 31, 2006, 11:37:45 PM

[quote Jacob '06]We just need to get WHCU to do an online broadcast so we can at least get audio without having to pay CSTV.[/quote]
That would likely violate the No Access contract.

It's really a shame that a great technology is being squandered by technical incompetence and a lousy business model. Consider that Age working alone for no pay did a far better job than these jackasses. Cornell Athletics should be ashamed.