Comcast Deal To Be Probed

[ABM]

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/02/oregon_legislature_will_hold_h.html

Oregon Legislature will hold hearing on Blazers-Comcast dispute
By Mike Tokito, The Oregonian
February 17, 2010, 5:48PM
The Oregon Legislature will take a stab at the stalemate involving the availability of broadcasts of Trail Blazers games.

The Consumer Protection Committee of the Oregon House of Representatives will hold a public hearing at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday on the lack of availability of Trail Blazers games and other programming, including some University of Oregon events, on some satellite systems.

The Blazers have a 10-year deal, signed in 2007, with Comcast to broadcast games on Comcast Sportsnet Northwest, which is part of a series of regional sports networks owned by the cable giant. Under the deal, 60 of the Blazers' 82 games this season are slated for CSN.

However, Comcast has not reached a deal to make Blazers games and other CSN programming available to DirecTV, Dish Network, Charter Communications and other systems.

The Consumer Protection Committee will invite representatives of the cable and satellite systems and the Blazers to testify, said Geoff Sugerman, communications director for the Oregon House Majority office. The committee is finalizing whom to invite. Members of the public also will be allowed to testify.

A House resolution that would ask Oregon's congressional delegation and the Oregon Attorney General to oppose the merger of Comcast and NBC is expected to be introduced today.

 

[Wheels]

F comcast!

 

[Eastoff]

how is this more appropriate use of time by our representatives than the NCAA football national championship stuff?

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

I'd be there, bitching with the rest of you, sticking up for my rights....

But fuck.... I got Verizon FIOS (the best provider you can get here on the West Coast according to most ratings services) and I get (let's be honest as to what it really is) The Blazers Channel. So fuck the rest of you, I can't say i care.

But I can say... Fuck Comcrap. I hate you. Bought the new pad, waited 2 months until Verizon would deliver, just so I didn't have to deal with your sloppy ho ass.

 

[Wheels]

F comcast!!!

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

I heard the President of Comcast asked to be probed, rather than the Company itself.

He appears quite excited.

 

[TehChad]

Should be interesting to see what comes from this.

I no longer hate Comcast *quite* as much, just because of all the lost revenue I've cost them lol

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Any update on this?

 

[Wheels]

Any update on this?

not good

"Legislature offers sympathetic ear, but little else, to Blazers fans frustrated with Comcast"

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/02/legislature_offers_sympathetic.html

 

[Wheels]

I'm starting to think I need to uproot my wife and life just to be able to watch Blazer games. F you comcast!

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

I'm starting to think I need to uproot my wife and life just to be able to watch Blazer games. F you comcast!

LMAO. I hate Comcast. We recently moved. While looking at houses, we found a couple we liked. My wife and I couldn't agree on a house. She was really stuck on a particular house, which I liked, but I still hadn't found the house I really wanted. She discovered that her house had Verizon FIOS, and suddenly, that house became my first choice. Can't say I'm disappointed one bit in FIOS. They hooked up everything for free, including wireless internet. They were supposed to move a TV jack for me, and couldn't put it where I wanted, so they moved it to another spot I was okay with, but since it wasn't where I really wanted it, they did it for free.

Oh, and I get all the Blazers games, without dealing with Comcast.

 

[Wheels]

LMAO. I hate Comcast. We recently moved. While looking at houses, we found a couple we liked. My wife and I couldn't agree on a house. She was really stuck on a particular house, which I liked, but I still hadn't found the house I really wanted. She discovered that her house had Verizon FIOS, and suddenly, that house became my first choice. Can't say I'm disappointed one bit in FIOS. They hooked up everything for free, including wireless internet. They were supposed to move a TV jack for me, and couldn't put it where I wanted, so they moved it to another spot I was okay with, but since it wasn't where I really wanted it, they did it for free.

Oh, and I get all the Blazers games, without dealing with Comcast.

I wish Fios was offered here in Hood River believe you me.

 

[<-=*PdX*=->]

I wish Fios was offered here in Hood River believe you me.

For such a nice city, they have a BS cable provider IMO. You would think that a bigger company such as Comcast or Verizon would have tried to move into that area. There is a lot of wealth in HR.

 

[Wheels]

For such a nice city, they have a BS cable provider IMO. You would think that a bigger company such as Comcast or Verizon would have tried to move into that area. There is a lot of wealth in HR.

oh yeah totally.. its surpirsing how stuff hasnt moved in. Unfortunately HR suffers from a small town mentality on a lot of stuff.. I wonder if that has to do with anything on the Comcast deal.

 

[mgb]

The good

"I'm not persuaded that (we) should do nothing," Rep. Jefferson Smith, D-Portland, said. "I'm not persuaded that this is merely a private sector fight and we should leave it up to the private sector. There is a role for us to ask the kind of question that this raises. And if there is nothing an Oregon Legislature can do, then who does?"

The bad

However, Smith seemed to be in the minority. Virtually every member of the committee acknowledged that many of their constituents have been affected by the negotiation stalemate surrounding the broadcast of Blazers game by Comcast SportsNet. But they all made it clear they were uncertain if the Legislature had any legal standing to get involved in a private business manner.

The ugly

Four people, including David Manougian, the General Manager of Comcast SportsNet Northwest, testified before the committee Wednesday. Manougian said Comcast has reached an agreement with 11 separate distributors to carry Comcast on their cable platforms, which has helped Comcast reach 1.1 million households in Oregon and Washington. Comcast, Manougian said, has offered "comparable" terms to the satellite providers with no success.

No representatives from the satellite companies or the Blazers attended the meeting.

Fucking pisses me off that not one person from the satellite companies or the Blazers bother to show up! Obviously they could care less.

 

[chris_in_pdx]

Fucking pisses me off that not one person from the satellite companies or the Blazers bother to show up! Obviously they could care less.

Of course not. The Blazers don't care, they already got their money from Comcast, and their marketing people have already told them that the vast majority of Blazer fans have not changed their buying patterns due to the lack of TV exposure. They give lip service to the vocal minority who are pissed off for good P.R., but in reality, the only people the Blazers are looking out for are themselves.

The Satellite people have already given up on dealing with Comcast. Hell, DirecTV pulled Versus off their network (also a Comcast-owned channel) due to Comcast's lack of good-faith bargaining. Tell me things won't be different when Comcast owns NBC.

 

[Ed O]

Would the legislature step in and force the team to broadcast its games, if it chose not to? What about if it cost the team a million dollars a year (in losses) to do so... would they force them to? Losing a million dollars seems like a bad business decision, although an argument could be made the franchise would be better off in the long run operating at a loss with their broadcasts.

If not, why would they step in and force the Blazers to make a bad business decision in terms of who covers their games?

I can understand the frustration of those who can't see the game, but getting the government involved in this sort of thing is not something I could ever support.

Ed O.

 

[Masbee]

Would the legislature step in and force the team to broadcast its games, if it chose not to? What about if it cost the team a million dollars a year (in losses) to do so... would they force them to? Losing a million dollars seems like a bad business decision, although an argument could be made the franchise would be better off in the long run operating at a loss with their broadcasts.

If not, why would they step in and force the Blazers to make a bad business decision in terms of who covers their games?

I can understand the frustration of those who can't see the game, but getting the government involved in this sort of thing is not something I could ever support.

Ed O.

It certainly is an odd situation.

Here you have a very large corporation that bases it power and cashflow upon the hundreds of local monopolies that are granted to it by the government.

Yet, those very same governments are "powerless" to interfere in "private" business.

Here is how right this "wrong":

Eliminate Comcast's monopoly.

If they can't be bothered to give due consideration to the public good that is ostensibly the rationale for being granted said monopolies - then they should be striped of this government granted right.

I maintain that Comcast (and others in similar situations) takes completely for granted it's business model and abuses it monopoly to charge more for their product than an actual free market would offer, does not offer much to the community at large, fails to deliver a decent low cost TV product for low-income homes, etc.

So, to restate, government may not have the power to do anything directly about this situation, but they do have the power to reevaluate what it is that Comcast does, how it got all this power to act like dicks and not give a shit, and if they (and similar) deserve a government franchise to be protected from direct competition.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

[video=youtube;YKEDZuqJwsY]

 

[Ed O]

It certainly is an odd situation.

Here you have a very large corporation that bases it power and cashflow upon the hundreds of local monopolies that are granted to it by the government.

Yet, those very same governments are "powerless" to interfere in "private" business.

Here is how right this "wrong":

Eliminate Comcast's monopoly.

If they can't be bothered to give due consideration to the public good that is ostensibly the rationale for being granted said monopolies - then they should be striped of this government granted right.

I maintain that Comcast (and others in similar situations) takes completely for granted it's business model and abuses it monopoly to charge more for their product than an actual free market would offer, does not offer much to the community at large, fails to deliver a decent low cost TV product for low-income homes, etc.

So, to restate, government may not have the power to do anything directly about this situation, but they do have the power to reevaluate what it is that Comcast does, how it got all this power to act like dicks and not give a shit, and if they (and similar) deserve a government franchise to be protected from direct competition.

I'm rarely in favor of monopolies, and even less often in favor of government-granted ones.

Unless and until there's a reason to discriminate against Comcast, though, and other monopolies are treated the same was as Comcast, then I think it's tough to say that the government should pick on Comcast, in particular.

I don't know how or why Comcast has the monopoly--did they invest in infrastructure? I honestly don't know how (or WHY) they have it.

Ed O.

 

[jlprk]

Comcast goes to each City Council and demands a 10 or 15 year monopoly before laying down fiber optics. Often, someone else is simultaneously burying some anyway. The suspicion sometimes is that a councilmember has been paid off, or at least swayed by restaurant meals with a friendly lobbyist.

Because of the word Comcast repeating, I'm getting a green bar at the bottom of this page advertising a Comcast $99 deal for phone, TV, and internet.

 

[jlprk]

Bush staffer testifies at Comcast hearings.

http://www.blazersedge.com/2010/2/25/1326288/former-bush-senior-staffer-on

 

[barfo]

I don't know how or why Comcast has the monopoly--did they invest in infrastructure? I honestly don't know how (or WHY) they have it.

Ed O.

I don't have firsthand knowledge, but I assume they, or a predecessor company, did invest in infrastructure - laying/stringing cables around Portland.

barfo