FSN/Sinclair/regional sports network streaming

[MoreTrife]

Direct tv has piss poor customer service, that is well known.

 

I'm not sure why so many are fighting cable.

 

While everyone else stresses out over being able to watch the Brewers play ball, I'm sitting here watching every game, and if I can't watch, it is dvr'd to watch later.

 

The price "might" be a bit higher, but all the things I am seeing says it isn't much more expensive than all the streaming stuff.

 

I can understand playing stubborn, not planning to ever go back to cable, but to me, as I am watching Brewers games worry free, it is worth the peace of mind.

 

Right now I have a hidden power cord to my TV. That's it. I stream everything wirelessly through the TV apps - Netflix, Amazon, etc. And previously YTTV where I watched Brewers and Bucks. With cable I'd have to get a box with additional wires and find a place to put it. I like the minimalist approach. And that's in addition to terrible customer service experiences over my life with cable companies.

[Vgmastr]

Direct tv has piss poor customer service, that is well known.

 

I'm not sure why so many are fighting cable.

 

While everyone else stresses out over being able to watch the Brewers play ball, I'm sitting here watching every game, and if I can't watch, it is dvr'd to watch later.

 

The price "might" be a bit higher, but all the things I am seeing says it isn't much more expensive than all the streaming stuff.

 

I can understand playing stubborn, not planning to ever go back to cable, but to me, as I am watching Brewers games worry free, it is worth the peace of mind.

 

Right now I have a hidden power cord to my TV. That's it. I stream everything wirelessly through the TV apps - Netflix, Amazon, etc. And previously YTTV where I watched Brewers and Bucks. With cable I'd have to get a box with additional wires and find a place to put it. I like the minimalist approach. And that's in addition to terrible customer service experiences over my life with cable companies.

 

This, plus with YTTV I have unlimited cloud DVR. I just subscribe to a show and I get all the episodes recorded for me. No worrying about storage space and deleting a show in order to record a new one. I can watch them when I have time to get to them. YTTV is simply a much better product than cable.

[areacodes]

Some stats on how much cable costs a family.

 

Not a real high percentage of people paying $150+ and streaming services just keep creeping up and up.

 

The difference doesn’t need to be big to make a difference though. According to that stat shown 66% of people pay $100+ (I didn’t make a free account to see detailed stats). YouTube TV is $65, so 2/3 of people would pay at least $420 more a year. I calculated cable (after the cheap first year) and it was about $135 all-in to get three TVs hooked up with DVR per month, a hefty $840 difference.

 

I’m not surprised people don’t want to pay $500+ to watch the Brewers every year. I surely won’t, I just mooch off someone’s spectrum account. If that wasn’t possible I just wouldn’t watch on TV.

 

What do you pay for internet? I pay $130/mo for my cable, internet, DVR, my sports channels and all the channels my wife/kids want. I have the Spectrum app on the TV’s I don’t have a cable box on and anybody can watch live TV (with a small delay) on our other TV’s.

[brooks_quichenick]

Social media is flooded with comments from Wisconsin residents who can't watch Brewers games this year, and refuse to switch back to cable or whatever (I'm in that camp). It's insane that MLB teams are so fine with actively disengaging tens of thousands of their fans from their product. This would be like if Harley-Davidson decided to remove all their dealerships in Wisconsin, or if Miller decided to no longer distribute their products in Wisconsin grocery stores. Just lunacy.

 

What can the teams do about it? Not sell their broadcast rights so no one can watch the games?

 

It sucks, I agree, but I think a lot of this is that we as a society have been so used to getting things for free (usually illegally) over the internet that we don't know how to handle it when we actually have to pay for something.

 

Huh? If you want to watch the game for free, you can absolutely still do that. There are plenty of illegal streaming sites to use. The complaints are primarily coming from people who were paying for a service (YoutubeTV, Hulu, etc etc) that used to carry FSWI/Bally and no longer does. Many of these people dropped cable for those services because cable is largely superfluous, overpriced, and a pain to deal with customer service-wise. I personally have Spectrum cable right now, and I literally only use it to watch Brewers and Bucks games. I don't care about any other channels. It is far too expensive for that purpose, so if there were a cheaper streaming option, I would drop it in a heartbeat. I still may drop it soon and go back to "illegal" streaming, because I may not be able to continue to afford it.

 

It shouldn't be that difficult to understand why people are upset about the lack of options for watching baseball. It's a communal leisure activity, it shouldn't be so difficult or cost-prohibitive to a large segment of the population.

[TURBO]

Some stats on how much cable costs a family.

 

Not a real high percentage of people paying $150+ and streaming services just keep creeping up and up.

 

The difference doesn’t need to be big to make a difference though. According to that stat shown 66% of people pay $100+ (I didn’t make a free account to see detailed stats). YouTube TV is $65, so 2/3 of people would pay at least $420 more a year. I calculated cable (after the cheap first year) and it was about $135 all-in to get three TVs hooked up with DVR per month, a hefty $840 difference.

 

I’m not surprised people don’t want to pay $500+ to watch the Brewers every year. I surely won’t, I just mooch off someone’s spectrum account. If that wasn’t possible I just wouldn’t watch on TV.

 

What do you pay for internet? I pay $130/mo for my cable, internet, DVR, my sports channels and all the channels my wife/kids want. I have the Spectrum app on the TV’s I don’t have a cable box on and anybody can watch live TV (with a small delay) on our other TV’s.

 

wait, so I can get the spectrum app on tvs with no box, and still watch spectrum channels?

[MrTPlush]

wait, so I can get the spectrum app on tvs with no box, and still watch spectrum channels?

 

You should be able to. Their site now requires one HD box when signing up, but I think you can call and go around that.

 

However, their app is somewhat limited to what you can get it on. Right now it is only available on Samsung Smart TVs from the last few years. You would have to go buy Apple TVs or something to get it streamed on something else.

 

Not sure how DVR works in that scenario. I have seen the app before and while a bit wonky compared to other streaming services it isn't overly bad.

[SeaBass]

Cable hasn't earned my business. I actually did explore adding cable again just a few days ago. My terms were I would not accept a cable box and the $8/month fee that came with it and the additional price could not exceed the $65 I would otherwise spend on a streaming service like YTTV or Hulu w/ Live TV. The rep I spoke with actually had gotten permission to meet my terms but when it came time to activate my subscription she couldn't because the technology they use requires the stupid $8 box. I said I would accept the box without the fee but they wouldn't do that so no dice. I really didn't want to deal with the hassle of their equipment and fees.

[BillScottCanRake]

wait, so I can get the spectrum app on tvs with no box, and still watch spectrum channels?

 

You should be able to. Their site now requires one HD box when signing up, but I think you can call and go around that.

 

However, their app is somewhat limited to what you can get it on. Right now it is only available on Samsung Smart TVs from the last few years. You would have to go buy Apple TVs or something to get it streamed on something else.

 

Not sure how DVR works in that scenario. I have seen the app before and while a bit wonky compared to other streaming services it isn't overly bad.

 

We had the Spectrum App earlier this year without a box when we were between using Hulu Live and Youtube TV. We had it installed on our Roku.

 

We ended up cancelling because we had some weird issues with Accessibility and Language Services which couldn't be corrected. We had several shows which had voiceovers describing the action, and some shows were only available in Spanish. We made sure accessibility and language options were set appropriately, and Charter support worked hard, but they couldn't solve any of the issues. We didn't really have it long enough to know if the limited channel lineup affected us.

[tmwiese55]

Anyone else not like the layout on the TV yesterday? Basically with it all being a line at the bottom instead of a box in the corner. I'm sure I'll get used to it but I prefer the boxes in the corner we've gotten accustomed to.

[dlk9s]

Anyone else not like the layout on the TV yesterday? Basically with it all being a line at the bottom instead of a box in the corner. I'm sure I'll get used to it but I prefer the boxes in the corner we've gotten accustomed to.

 

I thought it looked really good and was very easy to read.

[Outlander]

When I got Spectrum around December I called and told them I didn't want a box and they were fine with it. At the time I had the app on Roku but I guess you can't download it anymore there but it works fine. I can also go on my computer and watch Spectrum TV as I did that yesterday while working from home.

[Oxy]

Anyone else not like the layout on the TV yesterday? Basically with it all being a line at the bottom instead of a box in the corner. I'm sure I'll get used to it but I prefer the boxes in the corner we've gotten accustomed to.

 

I thought it looked really good and was very easy to read.

 

Yeah, I actually liked it better than the box in the corner too.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I took the plunge and signed up for AT&T TV this morning. $85 a month is quite pricey, but when it's the only real choice, you gotta do it. The platform is still clunky, and actually signing up for the service was a whole separate adventure, but I appear to be good to go now. The service does not offer a typical free trial, but if you cancel service within 14 days of sign-up, they refund your credit card the full $85 ... or at least that's what I was told. I'll give it a shot because there is little risk if it doesn't work.

 

RRB, is this a streaming over an app service or do you have to get a box and coaxial cable?

 

OH, and do you get any premiums for that $85? HBO, etc?

 

Just downloaded the App on my Roku. Works just like YouTube TV, Hulu Live TV or Sling. Easy peasy. Quality was pretty good too.

 

Yeah, I think it comes with HBO Max, but I haven't really looked into that yet.

 

Haven't decided yet if I'm going to hang onto it, though. $85/month is a tough pill to swallow for basically one channel I'm going to watch.

[tmwiese55]

Anyone else not like the layout on the TV yesterday? Basically with it all being a line at the bottom instead of a box in the corner. I'm sure I'll get used to it but I prefer the boxes in the corner we've gotten accustomed to.

 

I thought it looked really good and was very easy to read.

 

Yeah, I actually liked it better than the box in the corner too.

 

Fair enough, I'm sure I'll get used to it. To me it seems the box puts everything in one spot instead of kind of having to go left to right, but once I'm used to it I'll know where to look for what i want. Just comes from ESPN and everyone using the boxes so it'll take some time.

[young guns]

I didn't like the outs coloring. I turned the game on when Freddy had the bases loaded two outs, but the outs were black or gray circles so I wasn't sure of the outs when I tuned in. Something I will get used to, but I still feel like they could have gone with something other than black/white. I would have gone with red for an out because to me that would be a better indicator and it would match their color scheme.

 

As for my "choice" to not have cable, is it really my choice when I would have to get the vastly, in my opinion, inferior option just because they have sports? To me it feels more like blackmail.

[TURBO]

Depends on how you look at it.

 

Is it blackmail that you need to own a vehicle?

 

Is it blackmail that you have cell phones and service?

 

Is it blackmail when you go into a restaurant?

 

It's all about choices, either you like Brewers baseball enough to pay for it, of you don't...

 

My personal choice is that I have to have it so I pay up.

[Vgmastr]

Depends on how you look at it.

 

Is it blackmail that you need to own a vehicle?

 

Is it blackmail that you have cell phones and service?

 

Is it blackmail when you go into a restaurant?

 

It's all about choices, either you like Brewers baseball enough to pay for it, of you don't...

 

My personal choice is that I have to have it so I pay up.

 

The issue is they're making it more difficult to watch games when they should be doing everything they can it make it easier to watch games. I would happily buy MLB.TV on a yearly basis if I could watch Brewer games on it. What I won't do is drop a service I love in YoutubeTV for a much more expensive and much worse product in cable. Heck, YoutubeTV has MLB.TV integrated into this season, they had a free preview in spring training, it was great, each team has a separate feed that's listed right with all the other channels. If the Brewers were included I'd happily plunk down the cash.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Depends on how you look at it.

 

Is it blackmail that you need to own a vehicle?

 

Is it blackmail that you have cell phones and service?

 

Is it blackmail when you go into a restaurant?

 

It's all about choices, either you like Brewers baseball enough to pay for it, of you don't...

 

My personal choice is that I have to have it so I pay up.

 

 

If I don't like almost any of those choices, I can go somewhere else to get a different vehicle. or cell phone, or eat at a different restaurant. I guess it's not really "blackmail" to only provide MLB games to cable subscribers, as everyone has the choice to simply not watch. Watching baseball isn't essential. but it also doesn't make sense to cut out a huge chunk of your possible subscriber base and ad revenue by not making SOME kind of deal with streaming services. But, to each their own.

[logan82]

Social media is flooded with comments from Wisconsin residents who can't watch Brewers games this year, and refuse to switch back to cable or whatever (I'm in that camp). It's insane that MLB teams are so fine with actively disengaging tens of thousands of their fans from their product. This would be like if Harley-Davidson decided to remove all their dealerships in Wisconsin, or if Miller decided to no longer distribute their products in Wisconsin grocery stores. Just lunacy.

 

What can the teams do about it? Not sell their broadcast rights so no one can watch the games?

 

It sucks, I agree, but I think a lot of this is that we as a society have been so used to getting things for free (usually illegally) over the internet that we don't know how to handle it when we actually have to pay for something.

I have no problem paying but I want some choices. Not pay $85/month or nothing when literally the only reason to get it is for baseball.

 

I went from watching and attending 150+ games a year a few years ago to 0 games last year. I want the Brewers games but it is getting more and more difficult to find ways to watch them. I would think we would be getting more not fewer options as time goes on. I am honestly not sure I will come back as a regular fan until they start making the games easier to get online.

[areacodes]

I hate that I feel like I’m defending Sinclair/cable here, but I haven’t really seen anybody who is complaining about not being able to watch the Brewers on Hulu/YouTube TV/etc say anything about their role in it. I’m sure Sinclair is trying to get max dollars from the streaming services, but it takes two to tango and it seems like most are putting the blame solely on Sinclair instead of both parties.

[MrTPlush]

People hated cable already. Hence why things like Hulu/YouTube TV are legit players in the market now. People also hated Sinclair before any of this happened. People also hated MLB before they watched their product get less and less viewers.

 

 

I’m more surprised Sinclair hasn’t found a way to get back on streaming services. Seems they have a lot more to lose in all of this. Of course if their long term goal is a standalone product they probably don’t care about these short term losses as much.

 

For YouTube TV etc. I think most of their consumer base doesn’t care about baseball (and to some extent basketball). If you are just a football fan (or not a sports fan at all) YouTube TV is still a stellar product...it really is only killing people who watch RSNs. They probably saw little decline in users due to dropping RSNs. They would probably have to hike everyone’s bill $15 just to break even on the RSNs. Wouldn’t shock me if they would lose more non sports fans jumping ship for a cheaper streaming option without RSNs than they would gain sports fans subscribing for the RSNs.

[DuWayne Steurer]

A funny thing to mention as we talk about watching live sports, is whenever my wife will go to the Live section on YouTube TV, she without fail mentions that the first one third of the channels is just sports stuff. So for YouTube TV subscribers who want to watch sports, there is plenty of it. Apparently the only thing we aren't going to get is baseball for hometown fans because it's blacked out. I've never had a problem finding football games, basketball games, any kind of sports. I know they've been cracking down on illegal streams, so I probably won't even go that route this year, I'm just going to listen on the radio. It is what it is until Sinclair and these streaming services find a way to meet in the middle. I'll watch the highlights on the Facebook rewind

[logan82]

$25-30 a month to stream directly from Sinclair I could do. I think MLB if they are going to stick to their archaic blackout rules then we need some local streaming options. I get why they have their blackout rules. It drives up the price they can sell TV rights for and that would be otherwise lost revenue. It just does not seem very forward thinking to make their games harder to watch. I think for me this is going to go the way of College hockey when they went to the Big Ten Network. Games were pulled off Fox sports and I didn't get Big Ten for a year there. My viewing habits changed and I have barely watched a game since. I enjoy both sports but when it comes down to it, I have many options and it isn't worth the effort.

[ewitkows]

VPN and MLB.tv and problem solved

[xisxisxis]

The insane thing is that live media - "television"/cable - are working on a model that is completely unique. They force bundling without choice and you can't buy individual items.

 

Imagine walking into Sendiks or PikNSave and being forced to buy tripe, cows tongue, kidneys and liver if you wanted to buy hamburger. Or wanting to subscribe to the Journal, but having to take USA today and 5 other Gannet Papers or NOTHING. How about your subscription to Bon Appetit and you have to take 10 Conde Naste publications to get 1. At some point consumers should have the same choice with TV/Cable/Streaming as for every other consumer option. ALA CARTE or choice.

 

GASP!

 

I stopped subscribing to any "live" delivery before the pandemic started and my household works completely with on demand streaming and an OTA device. Almost all news can be consumed online. It limits sports events, but I'm getting too old to sit through an entire game. My bill is better as I don't need to subscribe continually to many of the streaming options since they have all their content available all at-once. I just subscribe to HBO for 3 months and binge then cancel and subscribe to Showtime for 3 months, Starz for 3 months, Epic for 3 months and restart. Same with a lot of the "Channels". The only full-time is Disney+ for kids and at the next renewal I will go back to monthly then cancel. Netflix and Hulu go on vacation. Nothing has to be constant subscription (Mubi being one exception as they add 1 move each day and take 1 movie away - now there's a model for continual subscriptions, same with Criterion TV, but I am fine supporting them to keep the model going then not and lose them like Filmstruck).

 

 

The correct VPN and MLB.tv and problem solved

Fixed that for you. MLB is blocking some VPN now, but I think that isn't universal as I was able to watch opening day using the VPN I pay for separately on MLB.TV without an issue (my VPN service rhymes with "Gord" and is from a Scandinavian company), but the VPN my company uses kept throwing errors during the validation phase.