Comcast Hits The Huffington

[ABM]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-frederick/comcast-is-holding-trail_b_681627.html

Comcast is Holding Trail Blazers Fans Hostage, You Could Be Next

People in Portland love their beer. At last count, Portland had more breweries than any other city in the country. But Portlanders also love their Trail Blazers. The city has one of the most passionate fan bases in the NBA. Yet, for the last few years they've been getting a raw deal. And not just at the hands of the Lakers.

Comcast is the biggest villain in Portland right now.

While Portland may seem pretty distant for those of us on the East Coast, the situation in Portland is actually a cautionary tale for the rest of the country. If the Comcast-NBC merger is successful, sports fans around the country may end up feeling like Blazers fans.

In 2007, the Trail Blazers signed a 10-year, $120 million agreement with Comcast, giving the company the rights to show Trail Blazer games on Comcast Sports Network. Not surprisingly, Comcast then jacked up the fees for other cable and satellite carriers in the region to show Blazers games. In effect, Comcast is forcing customers to switch to Comcast in order to see Blazers games. (Comcast has signed agreements with local cable carriers who don't compete with Comcast.)

Nevermind that Blazers fans in rural areas can't even get Comcast service (or local cable service) if they wanted to.

And bear in mind that fans in Portland kicked in $35 million to help build the Rose Garden.

While the Trail Blazers themselves are certainly not without fault, they are not happy about the situation and are fighting back against Comcast.

Blazers team president Larry Miller wrote the FCC stating that Comcast has broken its promise with the team to increase the Blazers' exposure. Miller complained that the Blazers fans were being "held hostage."

Without an NFL, MLB or NHL team, Portland fans - and fans around the state of Oregon - have only the Trail Blazers. Their fans are called Blazer Maniacs for a reason. It's crucial that all those Blazer Maniacs join SFC Portland chapter chair Sarah Moon and demand that Comcast quit holding Blazers fans hostage.

As for the rest of us, Portland should serve as a wake-up call for what can happen when content providers and cable/satellite providers merge. If the Comcast-NBC merger is ultimately allowed to go through, sports fans around the country who don't subscribe to Comcast may lose NBC Sports - NBC Sunday Night Football, the NHL, the Olympics, etc.

And if Comcast withholds The Office and 30 Rock ... watch out.

Join us in the fight against blackouts and high ticket prices at sportsfanscoalition.org. All you have to do is sign up -- no spam and no dues. Let your voice be heard!

Brian Frederick is the Executive Director of Sports Fans Coalition. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication and lives in Washington, D.C. His favorite teams are the Kansas Jayhawks, North Carolina Tar Heels, and whichever team his brother is coaching for. And the underdog. Email him at sportsfanscoalition@gmail.com

 

[ABM]

Comcast's reply...

http://a.longreply.com/3266616

Flagrant foul by the “Sports Fans Coalition!”

While Brian Frederick’s comments question our willingness to make Comcast SportsNet Northwest available to non-affiliated cable and satellite providers, he deliberately overlooks a few fundamental facts, and by doing so, misleads sports fans.

Comcast launched this locally-based network in 2007 because we saw that Portland fans, among the most passionate in the country, were being underserved. Before we created Comcast SportsNet Northwest, 21 Blazers games per season went completely untelevised and only 10 games were delivered in HDTV, glaringly bad coverage in our prolific media environment. Today, because of Comcast SportsNet, every game is televised and every game is in HD.

All of Comcast’s networks – more than 20 national and regional networks – are available to television providers that compete with Comcast, and Comcast SportsNet Northwest is no exception. Comcast SportsNet Northwest is and always has been available to every local TV provider on fair terms, including DBS. Not only are we required to make it available by law, but it is also good business since the network’s advertising and affiliate revenues grow with its distribution, enabling us to cover the high cost of the Blazers’ TV rights.

But don’t take our word for it. The best evidence that Comcast SportsNet Northwest is available at a fair price is found in the market itself. To date, a total of 12 local TV providers have agreed that the network’s price reflects its value and have contracted to carry it. The network is carried by local cable companies including Comcast as well as those that compete directly against Comcast. For example, when Verizon launched their video service in the Northwest they did so with Comcast SportsNet on their lineup.

And although the network is not fully distributed – and no one is more frustrated about this than us – we are unfortunately not in a position to make companies like DirecTV, Dish and Charter carry it if they do not want it. We have repeatedly offered proposals to carry Comcast SportsNet Northwest on terms comparable to those that others have already accepted, to no avail. When standard negotiations failed, we spent millions on local call-to-action marketing, hoping that these holdouts would listen to their customers and add the channel. Fans generated more than fifteen thousand requests to add the network. Again, no luck. We even made our case before the Oregon legislature without producing any improvements.

The old adage about leading a horse to water has never been truer than it is here. We simply cannot force DirecTV, Dish or Charter to let their fans see our Blazers coverage if they don’t want to add our network to their lineup. Comcast SportsNet Northwest is based in Portland and run by Oregon sports fans. We remain committed to full distribution and continue to seek solutions to break this impasse.

-- Tim Fitzpatrick Vice President of Communications Comcast Sports Group