A few days back, I posted the following as a Facebook status message:
“Kat thinks the only things on TV worth watching are on her digital sports tier. Who needs CNN and MTV when you can have Fox College Sports Central and the like?”
That may be the truest Facebook status message in the history of status messages.
I adore my digital sports package like my cat adores shiny objects. I took the plunge a year ago and subscribed to a Comcast digital sports tier. I don’t have Netflix, I don’t go to movies, I rarely go out to bars, and one of my hobbies involves rolling every penny I ever find, so I felt I could handle the expense within my student-loan-repayment-consumed budget.
The digital sports tier I am a proud subscriber of is the Comcast “Sports Entertainment Pack.” Here are the channels:
The Speed Channel
Outdoor Channel
Fox Soccer Network
NBA TV
NHL Network
MLB Network
TV Games
CBS College Sports (the late CSTV)
Fox College Sports (FCS) Atlantic
Fox College Sports (FCS) Central
Fox College Sports (FCS) Pacific
NFL Network
Tennis Channel
Steve Young likes TV, just like me! (gratutous Steve Young mention of the post)
Out of these channels, I watch NHL Network and NFL Network the most, followed by the FCS channels and CBS College Sports. The FCS channels are great in the variety of sports they cover -last evening, I fell asleep watching Division II women’s basketball from Wisconsin. Sure, the camera work was out of the Blair Witch Project, but heck – the fact that it was an option for me to watch? That was kind of cool.
The “Sports Entertainment Pack” is severely lacking when compared to other sports channel packages offered by the likes of Direct TV and Dish Network. Call me a geek, but I would love the regional Comcast Sports Networks and/or Fox Sports Networks. I also would like MSG and Time Warner Sports so that I can keep up with the sports of Western New York. I know some other cable/satellite companies offer these channels – just not Comcast. Maybe the market isn’t there for them up here in Boston.
Besides my “Sports Entertainment Pack,” I have the normal sports channels interspersed throughout my cable: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPN Classic, Comcast Sports Network (CSN), NESN, and Versus. I don’t get to watch a ton of television because of the long hours I tend to keep at work, but when I do, 97.5% of the time it is one of the sports channels I have. The other 2.5% consists of my weekly viewing of “The Office,” my weekly viewing of a show on E! that I will not mention, and the morning news. What makes up that 2.5% of my viewing could easily be watched online. I really don’t need the rest of the 200 channels I have.
Given all of that, here is my proposal to Comcast – let me have “Cable A La Carte.” I get to select 20-30 channels I actually want. No MTV, no Lifetime, no Military Channel. I don’t watch them, thus I don’t need them. Let me have all the sports channels I want, and none of the WE, Oxygen, Bravo, Fuse channels I don’t. None of this Current TV – what the heck is that anyway? No more QVC, HSN or ShopNBC – I don’t need any Marie Osmond dolls. Just give me my sports and my local channels. That’s all I need.
In today’s advanced technological age – one in which I can text or Twitter a Comcast Representative to fix a problem or subscribe to my “Sports Entertainment Pack” – why can’t I have a la carte cable?
So, my dear readers, tell me: If “a la carte cable” was possible, what 15, 20, or 30 channels (including local channels) would you pick? They don’t have to be all sports – I’m just interested in what others would choose.
I’ve been calling comcast to get ESPNU forever! I pay for all the channels, but that’s the one I’m peeved about. I have to go out whenever there is something I want to watch there. Talk about stimulating the economy…. those bars probably love me. haha.
Can’t wait for tomorrow…
I cant believe you’re not an MTV fan! But the tennis channel does sound amazing.
I remember somewhere I had ESPNU when I moved to Boston, or was able to see it somewhere…and I can’t remember where. Bummed that it isn’t available now, especially because they have begun to cover college hockey full force.
Honestly, I never watch the Tennis Channel. I wish we had had that channel in college though, because my college roommate would have watched that channel every waking moment.
The only MTV show I’ve ever liked is “Rich Girls,” with Tommy Hilfilger’s daughter. Now THAT was quality television.
Good site. You’re definitely added to my (RSS) reading list. Good to read blogs from teams that aren’t the WCHA blogs I usually read (I write a UMD hockey and other sports one)
I’ve thought, wanted, a-la carte for a long time. Between my wife (Lifetime, ABC family) and myself (Fox Soccer Channel, other sports) we’d have no problem finding 30 channels should be fine.
I may be wrong, but seem to recall the reason why they can’t do a-la carte is because of those darn contracts with the different channels. ESPN wouldn’t allow them have ESPN on their system if they were a-la carte. Of course sadly, that is also how they got their channels as well; they wouldn’t let the cable company have ESPN, unless they also added their new channel (ESPN2 back in the day).
Despite my not understanding 99 words out of 100 for the commentary, I enjoy having GoalTV and Univision for their showing football (soccer) matches.