Uverse could black out up to 20 Cardinals games

[costanza]

I live in St. Louis and just visited STL Today website. There is a story there saying beginning Sunday up

to 20 Cards games could be blacked out due to a contract dispute with FSM. FSM is carrying 150 Cards

games this year, that is every game other then those carried by a national network. Therefore FSM is

asking for more money, Uverse doesn't agree. Why does Uverse always go the cheap route?

Obviously Chartercable,, Direct TV and dish are paying the increase. Will not be a happy customer

if this happens.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

Do you have a link to this article?

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

Never mind.  I found it.  It looks like U-verse is the only providers involved in this dispute.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_16903232-623d-11e0-84dd-0019bb30f31a.ht...

[costanza]

Sorry, I'm not tech savvy, don't know how to do links. If you go to stltoday.com the story is there.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

Reading the article, it looks like you should share some of the blame with the Cardinals.  Those 20 games were originally scheduled to be shown on a local broadcast station, but they moved them to FSN Midwest.  FSN Midwest wants more money from the providers for those 20 games above what the existing carriage agreements call for.  This would upset me as a provider also.

[costanza]

Oops sorry,  I didn't see others were involved. But you have to admit, those others are minor players.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

True, they are minor.  As a business owner, I would not be happy if a supplier came back asking for more money after we had already reached as agreement for the season.

[donmc]

I have been happy with U-verse up til now.

Most of my TV watching is local sports and most

of it is on Foxsports midwest. So I will be one

unhappy customer, who should have stayed with Charter,

if baseball on Sundays is blacked out.

[milkman]

I can understand your frustration. You just want to see the games. But you must understand, if FSN can get more money from one provider, then it's a matter of time until they get more money from them all. Rarely do price increases on programming ever impact just one provider. Suppliers negotiate one at a time.

  Easier to play providers against each other that way. Switching providers for content only. A no win proposition. IMHO.

Edit: I watch Brewers on FSN. If FSN pulled these games, I too, would be livid!

[Goldmed]

All of the other major providers picked up the additional cardinals games.  You may blame the cardinals, but it appears that only Uverse has an issue and I have an issue with that.  We really need to pressure them to not black those games out.  Please add your voices to the cause.

[birds4u]

Add my voice to the cause.  FSMW is providing my programming and expects more revenue for it.  Charter, Direct TV and Dish do not have a problem. Why does U-Verse?  I wish I could find an email address for U-Verse to express my displeasure.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

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birds4u wrote:

Add my voice to the cause.  FSMW is providing my programming and expects more revenue for it.  Charter, Direct TV and Dish do not have a problem. Why does U-Verse?  I wish I could find an email address for U-Verse to express my displeasure.

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Since U-verse would be paying to provide you with 20 more games on FSMW, would you be willing to pay more for your service?

[HogsNCards]

I DO pay extra to watch FSMW. I, too, would like to find an email address to express my feelings on this.  It is not okay with me. The ability to get Cards' games was one of the main reasons we chose UVerse; however, there are other options that carry them also for a fee. This will be the second time that a blackout of one of my most- watched channels has occurred because ATT can not play well with others. They are about as popular with me as Ryan Franklin.

[donmc]

If the game is not on U-verse today I am going to e-mail all of the

sponsors of Cardinals baseball and tell them If we don't get

Sunday baseball I am not buying their products.

[dwinth]

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donmc wrote:

If the game is not on U-verse today I am going to e-mail all of the

sponsors of Cardinals baseball and tell them If we don't get

Sunday baseball I am not buying their products.

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The twenty games are not all Sunday games; they are spread out over every day of the week. Here is the article from ithe St Louis Post-Dispatch web site about the matter.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_16903232-623d-11e0-84dd-0019bb30f31a.ht...

What do the sponsors have to do with the blackout? The dispute is between Fox Sports Midwest and U-Verse. The Cardinals and the sponsors are not involved as far as I can see. I do not think your individual boycott of the sponsors's products will make one difference to them.

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Owning a computer and not having the internet is like buying a refrigerator and not stocking it with food.

[donmc]

The sponsors can put more pressure on FoxSMW than I can.

They are only getting 90% of viewers.

[cmgamble]

What a shame. 

The competition is not blocking. This is regarding some 20 STL Cardinals games. We are a very loyal bunch of fans. The guide shows it will be broadcast, but, alas, NO. It is not.

Please be aware MLB fans. You may have a more friendly provider choice. I'm already exploring and the game started less than 10 minutes ago!

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_16903232-623d-11e0-84dd-0019bb30f31a.ht...

[kjbrian65]

Dude I feel your pain, I just finished posting a long comment, that I broke down in thirds, on the AT&T facebook page stating my displeasure with the FOX Regional sports blackout crap, I live here in Chattanooga TN and the Atanta Braves were on TBS but AT$T blocked that out but I was able to watch it my FOX sports channel but my point was what if I did not have the sports package, then I would have missed the game, the point I made if a customer is paying for the sport package you should able to enjoy the channels

[cbkruse]

Currently looking to get on board with Charter since they don't seem to have any issues with FSMW.  This is ridiculous.  The only reason that I have this UVerse plan was so that I could watch FSMW. 

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

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kjbrian65 wrote:

Dude I feel your pain, I just finished posting a long comment, that I broke down in thirds, on the AT&T facebook page stating my displeasure with the FOX Regional sports blackout crap, I live here in Chattanooga TN and the Atanta Braves were on TBS but AT$T blocked that out but I was able to watch it my FOX sports channel but my point was what if I did not have the sports package, then I would have missed the game, the point I made if a customer is paying for the sport package you should able to enjoy the channels

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Several of your comments are not correct.  AT&T has nothing to do with the blackouts that you see on TBS or the out of market RSN's.  Per MLB rules, games on the out of market RSN's are blacked out in markets outside of a team's territory.  Thus, if you are in the Braves' territory, the game on TBS is blacked out per MLB rules.  You will need to watch the Braves' game on your local RSN.  The local RSN's are not included in the Sports Package.  They are included in your base package.  You can see a list of your local RSN's by entering your zip code in the link below:

http://www.att.com/gen/sites/iptv?pid=13716

[Charlie911]

This really sucks!!  I LIVE for Cardinals basball.  Looks like I will be going back to Charter.  They won't mess with my Cardinal baseball and get away with it.  I hope to take as many U-Verse customers with me as I can.  I have been a strong supporter of U-Verse until now.

[donmc]

If some of you will join me in emailing the

sponsors to complain maybe we can see some movement.

[Skitt5]

Not true! I live in Arkansas, and FSMW wrote the following across the bottom of my screen: "Your carrier has opted not to show the Cardinal/San Francisco game." I called AT&T, and they tried to blame it on the Cardinals. The fellow told me that there was a dispute between FSMW and the Cardinal team. I told him what it said at the bottom of my screen. It is obviously between AT&T and FSMW. I assume AT&T doesn't want to pay. Forever, I have paid for the sports package and have been blacked out of most games. My neighbor has Comcast, and my other neighbor has Dish. Both could get the games that AT&T swore to me were blacked out in my area. They take our money and then refuse to pay for the different games. Then, they lie to us about it. I've had it. I am leaving this group. They pay more attention to the bells and whistles than they do to the basics.

[Skitt5]

I would love to join you in emailing, but what is the blasted address?

[Skitt5]

I'm going back to Comcast and will take as many AT&T people as possible, too.

[dreamerlsk]

I am so upset. I have my home phone, my cell phone (since 1988) and U-Verse with AT&T. I have always been loyal to them - as loyal as I have been to my Cardinals and now I feel like I am going to have to choose. Well, bottom line is this...the Cardinals may be a little stinky this year but they have never tried telling me what I can and can not do (or watch on TV). I just cannot believe they are going to block these games. I am sure some of these Sunday games are the games that KSDK showed last year but during the week those games were never on any other channel other than Fox Midwest, so what's the deal. To makes matters worse I didn't see anything on this until today and after working outside I came in to watch the game and had to watch Rick Fox and some basketball players (probably something I would have enjoyed any other time) instead of the Cardinal game that should have been televised based on the guide. I am NOT happy and will be calling AT&T tomorrow.

[SueEbner]

I cant believe this is happening again.  I switched from Charter because of these same issues with programming. AT&T needs to fix this.   I want my Cardinal baseball!!!

[costanza]

Why does Uverse feel the rules don't apply to them? Would it be fair to direct and dish if uverse got

a special deal cheaper than what the others pay.? They're a buch of arrogant $%&#$%

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

LOL.  If you re-read the article, apparently it is not just U-verse that does want to pay extra to carry those 20 games. Maybe arrogance is epidemic?

[dwinth]

We are talking about 20 out of 162 games being blocked at this time. People here seem to be taking this personal. It is business, not a personal vendetta against you by U-Verse.

As Texasguy pointed out, it is not just U-Verse that is blocking the games, but many other providers in Missouri and in the adjacent areas of Illinois.

Can you truthfully tell me that you were planning to watch all 162 of the Cardinals schedule this season? If so, that is pretty sad. To me that means you have nothing else to do in your lives. Don't you have spouses and/or   children and/or families to do activities with,  friends where you can have a social life, a job where you need to be working?

If so, you would have missed some of those 20 games anyway.

A boycott of sponsors called for by an anonymous person on the internet? Let us see how successful that works out. The only thing that I can think of that actually worked started by someone from the internet was the petition to get Betty White to host Saturday Night Live.

I would have liked to have watched the game today since the Cardinals beat the Giants 6-1. Instead, I worked outside on my landscaping while listening to Mike Shannon and John Rooney on KMOX.

It looks like we are going to have another Hallmark, HGTV type flood of One Post One and Done Wonders with their threats to leave U-Verse.

I am willing to be patient. I have faith that something will work out. U-Verse does not want unhappy customers. They are not intentionally trying to get people mad so that they seek other providers.

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Owning a computer and not having the internet is like buying a refrigerator and not stocking it with food.