An open letter to FOX Sports Net

Watching the Broncos play on KTVB is like playing xbox 360 on an old analog black-and-white TV, it makes even the most exciting games seem lethargic and diluted.

I was watching last week’s game and flipping between that and the Ohio St.-USC game. Geez, what a difference a national broadcast setup makes: better cameras, better announcers, beter color, better everything…

I watched the BSU-ISU game on BroncoVision, because I live in Southern Utah. It was horrible. First, it took almost 30 mins to log in and get the feed going. Then, there was no Paul J. The camera work was worse than any broadcast I have seen on KTVB. Finally, you get all the stupid advertisements they put on the BroncoVision screen at the stadium. It’s a gawddamn ripoff at $10 a month.

However, I watched the BSU-BGU game at Bronco Stadium last week. I shelled out $140 for four nose-bleed tickets and only got $70 worth of a game out of it. Sigh…

Guess I’ll be watching the BroncoVision again this week.

Bronco fans:
This is not a FOX Sports issue. This is a Pac-10 / Oregon issue. The WAC may actually have a better television deal than the Pac-10. The bottom line is that ABC went with the best game (at least at the time) in ASU vs. UGA. FOX then elected to pick up the Arizona / UCLA game as a national broadcast. This one is a coin flip for me. It is a conference game while the UO / BSU game is more of a regional draw. Regardless, I believe VS. Network then had the option to pick up the game and declined.

Oregon has an agreement with Comcast Sports Net Northwest to broadcast the games. The issue is that CSN is only distributed on Comcast. No satellite company has picked up the network yet. As an Oregon fan, I won’t even be able to watch the game in Portland. If you do have the tools, CSN is broadcast in HD.

FSN has even gone so far as to embargo Oregon from appearing on the ESPN Game Plan this year after we signed on with Comcast. The whole situation is a mess and fans are getting upset.

CSN is a bad word around Portland. They hold the rights to the Blazers also and with the team turning around, nobody in town can watch the games. You can’t even go to a bar to watch as most bars have DirecTV, not cable. Please direct your frustration to Tom Hansen, Pac-10 Commissioner (lame duck, finally!)

If you really want to get technical, this is ESPN’s fault, too. If no PAC-10 network picks up the game, as in this case, ESPN has every right to broadcast the game. ESPN is also dropping the ball on this one.

I should take some blame as well. I had the option of videotaping the game off of KTVB and streaming the footage on a five-minute delay through the OBNUG website, but I declined due to the fact that I don’t own a video camera and I don’t know how legal that would be. I am as culpable as anyone.

Thanks MJ and cexeko for the knowledge. Looks like we have a lot of email petitions to send around.

Kevan,

I’ll gladly send you $10 a month if you ever get that stream feed figured out. LOL!

I watched the last two games on gameplan. This one should definitely be a nationally televised game. OCT. 1 aginast La Tech is on ESPN but not this one? CRAZY.

I got excited when I heard the game was covered on Comcast Sports Net but then when I went to the website to try and request the network, I got this message:

Unfortunately, Comcast SportsNet Northwest is not available through Comcast!

Tell Comcast you want Comcast SportsNet Northwest – request it now

How does that happen?

Hi, I found your blog on this new directory of WordPress Blogs at blackhatbootcamp.com/listofwordpressblogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, i duno. Anyways, I just clicked it and here I am. Your blog looks good. Have a nice day. James.

Thank you for contributing to the conversation, James.