How bad do we want Nats TV?

[Wordman]

Lets us all begin with the fact that the Nationals have the worst TV deal in the history of sports. MLB sold the team out to make Peter Angelos happy and that is a fact.

OK that deal is done and there is nothing that we as fans can do about that deal.

So what can we do?

We who subscribe to cable can call our cable companies and say we want the Nationals games on MASN!

The only way we will get to see the games this season on Comcast, Cox or other TV is to make sure our cable company carries MASN.

The interesting thing here is next season the Orioles will also have to battle Comcast for MASN in the greater Baltimore area.

IF we get Comcast and Cox to carry the Nats that still does not help out the O' s -- so there is a bit or irony here.

We want the Nats on TV so we need to let the cable companies know.

Forget about the bad deal we were dealt and move on, we must make what we have work for the fams!!

Call your cable company and tell them you want your Nats!!!

[Kenz aFan]

Actually the Expos had the worst TV deal in the history of sports... They went without a TV deal for way too long, and by the time they did get a TV deal, they were in Washington and playing at RFK.

[Wordman]

Ken - The Expos did have a rotten deal, I agree. However, my point here is what are Nationals fans going to do? Sit on the sidelines and moan about what a terrible deal our team got or try to make to the best of the bad deal...

So that is my point.

Have a good day

[Dave B]

Until Comcast starts losing customers they are not going to do anything. So the only thing you can do is change your provider.  The phone call will be less effort than writing a letter and will get you much more satisfaction

[Kenz aFan]

A meaningful TV deal will never get done as long as MLB owns the team. All the questions as to what to do, or even complaining, wont change that fact. Fas got 81 games last season, to help Peter Angelos and the MASN deal look better than it was.

MLB has shown everyone on the planet, that it cannot be trusted, that greed is its number one motivator. They (the Nats) get the same amount for TV rights no matter how few games are on TV. If MLB was a tree, it would have been uprooted or snapped in two long ago, because it's unwilling to bend to accommodate anyone, except one of its own, and as we have all seen, certainly not a city or its fans. If anyone ran their business like MLB does their's, they wouldn't last very long.

If you want a TV deal that has more umph to it, you can either try and convince the Lerner or Malek groups to increase their offer to $500 million to take over the team right now, or more practically, approach Comcast, Cox or whoever, en mass, and I do mean en mass, not a few hundred people, because the people (subscribers) have the power, after all, companies here the voices loudest and most clearly when there's fear that money might be lost.

MLB is in no hurry to sell the team, why should they be. They saw last season, they have a gold mine on their hands, and the selling price of the team wont be going down anytime soon. From their perspective, there's no rush. They can wait until everything is as they want it, not the DC council, not the players, coaches or management, and not DC fans.

The one thing that does nothing to help improve things, is sitting around and grumbling about what a lousy TV deal they have. Gather all the Nats fans who have cable, and show up "en mass" with demands that they carry not just the same 81 games they had last season, but the 150+ that MASN is producing...

There are thousands of cable subscribers who are also Nats fans. Use that to make your voices heard, use that to give your voices power.

[DelNatsFan]

Until Comcast starts losing customers they are not going to do anything. So the only thing you can do is change your provider.  The phone call will be less effort than writing a letter and will get you much more satisfaction

   Also a good time for another DirecTV Commercial. I know there are some places, rare though they be, where you can't get the signal, but overall it's light years better than it was years ago. Contrary to popular belief, you don't lose the signal everytime the wind changes direction. On a very rare occasion during a monsoon you might lose it for 30 minutes, but those occasiona are few and far between. You pay probably close to the same for digital cable depending on what program package you get and how many rooms you get wired. And I also mentioned a while back that in addition to the programming, there are up to 65 xm stations as well in lieu of digital music (MLB Home Plate included) And there is a program where existing subscribers get a month of service free for every new customer they refer. I know there are folks So if any of you folks in the area get together regularly outside the board, help each other out.

[TextileWolf]

I am a current Cox subscriber in an Apt, but I am moving in April to another apt.  I am pretty sure I won't be able to get Directtv.  On top of that I am moving from Cox to Comcast.  I will still be in NoVa.

[The Chief]

The only problem for me when it comes to DirecTV is that I have cable internet, and (correct me if I'm wrong) I'm pretty sure Cox does not offer an internet-only package.  If you have their internet, you pretty much have to have their TV, and even though you don't have to use it, it seems stupid to pay for two TV subscriptions.

[TextileWolf]

I might be wrong, but I am pretty sure you can have just the internet.  I was able to do this with another provider a few years ago.  I would be suprised if that was the case.

The internet might become more expensive after though ($10 bucks I think), since you are not "bundling"

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

The TV situation sucks, but it's not likely to improve (this year, at any rate), so you might as well get the dish if you can.  Except for a couple of boomer t-storms last summer, I never had much of a problem w/ reception (and, the nice thing is that the reception is there or it isn't, i.e. no snow or other annoying interference).  Might have lost reception for a total of 3 or 4 hours in all of calendar year 2005 (way, WAY less than we lost in a typical month in downtown DC with those twits at Comcast).  I watched almost every game I didn't actually attend last year, except for a couple of thursday day games I followed here on the 'net)

[DelNatsFan]

Here in Wilmington I had Comcast analog cable and High speed internet. We switched from cable mainly because they kept screwing around with channel locations and wouldn't offer us the same channels that you can get if you live 5 minutes up the road in PA. About 6 months after we switched to sattelite my internet went up fron $43 to $61 a month. I want to switch to Verizon DSL, but i'm waiting to hookup another phone jack and waiting for it to become available in my area.

 And DirecTV does offer an internet service called Direcway, but it's expensive as all get out.

[Montcobaseball]

I tried an experiement recentely.  I called Comcast three times, from three different phones, and innocentely asked what the procedure was from switching from Comcast tv to satellite and yet keeping my Internet.  Without hesitation three different cusomter reps repeated the same instructions, never once asked me why I would want to drop cable tv, and wished me a pleasant day.  It is obvious that their call takers are not under any instructions to ask customers why they want to change.

[The Chief]

^^^ Wow, that's really surprising, montco.  I was under the impression that the first priority of any call center was "loss prevention."  Maybe they figure that you're not worth bothering with if you're keeping the internet?  

[DelNatsFan]

I'll bet they really are supposed to ask the question but didn't. As a former customer Service rep for a bank, I used to get that call about closing accounts quite a bit. Most of the time you pretty much knew what the answer would be and your hands were tied as far as what we could do. Most of the time we agreed with the customer, but couldn't say so on record.  They're probably getting that call twice out of every 10 and probably get tired of opening up that can of worms. Not to excuse it, but I completely understand it.

[UMDNats]

i really, really hate peter angelos