This last weekend as I flipped through the channels I ran across the Toledo CMU game on Time Warner College Sports. I have to say, I was impressed with the broadcast. The production quality was excellent and the announcing was wonderful. In fact, I ended up watching OU/Akron on Sunday and even a little bit of EMU/WMU last night. I plan on watching at least a little of the OU/Ball state game tonight.

I assume many of us live in an area with Time Warner (for good or bad...). If you haven't had a chance to watch a MAC game on their sports channel, you really should. I wasn't all that excited when the MAC signed this deal, but I admit I was completely wrong.

Just thought you all would want to know, like I said, I just ran across the channel somewhat randomly.

The telecasts are also usually available via DirecTV's FullCourt package (a subscription package of dozens of 'out of market' games each week).

What I found fascinating is that the ESPN3 and TWCS telecasts were not the same last night.

I had the TWCS game on television and the ESPN3 version on my iPad.

Interestingly, TWC and TWC SportsChannel are the subjects of take over by Charter and/or Comcast who wants TWC's Sports Channels for themselves.

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01...cable.html

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(01-15-2014 07:26 AM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  Interestingly, TWC and TWC SportsChannel are the subjects of take over by Charter and/or Comcast who wants TWC's Sports Channels for themselves.

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01...cable.html

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Curious how this could affect MAC's coverage going forward?

It could only improve. I hope. TWC is the worst provider imaginable, and it's no surprise with more and more options available, subscribers are abandoning ship as soon as they have alternatives. It's unfortunate the MAC aligned itself with a cable company in decline. We can only hope they get bought out and the MAC is able to maximize its audience at least within its footprint.

And while watching over the internet has increasingly become the best option, the MAC really needs to get its games available to more TV's.

(01-15-2014 09:57 AM)axeme Wrote:  It could only improve. I hope. TWC is the worst provider imaginable, and it's no surprise with more and more options available, subscribers are abandoning ship as soon as they have alternatives. It's unfortunate the MAC aligned itself with a cable company in decline. We can only hope they get bought out and the MAC is able to maximize its audience at least within its footprint.

And while watching over the internet has increasingly become the best option, the MAC really needs to get its games available to more TV's.

That may be true, but aren't the number of telecasts up significantly from the past?

We get zero MAC coverage here in Chicago and the league has yet to announce when Chicago will get the games even though it was in the original announcement. With Chicago being the biggest city in the footprint by far you would think that would be a priority. We get plenty of Horizon and MVC games though (football and basketball)

All the MAC home games have been available to stream for a couple of years. As for the cable broadcasts, I think marginally more, it appears, traded off for more availability outside Ohio, and much less inside Ohio.

Do Direct TV and DISH subscribers outside Ohio have access? What other cable companies are carrying the TW Sports channel?

Still seems to me like the MAC moved backwards with this deal. Perhaps they anticipated someone bigger and better taking over TWC. I doubt they did, but it could be a happy consequence.

(01-15-2014 10:42 AM)axeme Wrote:  Do Direct TV and DISH subscribers outside Ohio have access? What other cable companies are carrying the TW Sports channel?

Even though SportsTime Ohio was picked up on DirecTV and Dish nationally, all STO games were blacked-out outside the MAC unless you also paid for ESPN's Full Court and Game Plan packages. ESPN held the national rights so they weren't allowing STO to broadcast the game via DirecTV/Dish unless they got their cut.

Also, even though TWC-SC isn't directly carried on DirecTV/Dish, ESPN Full-court is, so all the MAC TWC-SC games are carried on DirecTV/Dish nationally via Full Court subscription the same as they were before with STO.

Anybody in Ohio who has TWC, Buckeye Cable (Toledo) or Charter (Cleveland) have these games to watch. The only people effected are the DirecTV/Dish customers in the state of Ohio only. The lack of Dish customers in Ohio is supplemented by free MACDN coverage and also the picked up coverage by TWC-SC in New York and NYC as well as Comcast Michigan picking up the games that the Michigan teams play in and various cable companies in Indiana picking up Ball State games. The MAC is still working on getting Comcast SportsNet Chicago on board (There was a couple live volleyball games on ComcastSN Chicago)

All in all, the coverage area has increased along with the number of broadcasts.

MORE IMPORTANTLY - This has nothing to do with the MAC choosing this, this is all stemming from when Fox Sports Ohio bought up STO. Fox and ESPN could not work out and agreement so STO had to be replaced with TWC-SC. Once Fox bought STO, Fox would not allow ESPN to broadcast the MAC package via Full Court or ESPN3. ESPN would also not allow Fox to broadcast the MAC package outside the region via Fox Sports Go and/or the FCS channels.

The MAC came out of this pretty good and if Comcast SportsNet or Charter increase coverage via buyout then it will get even better. All this will be worked out in the enhanced ESPN contract on the way.

(01-15-2014 11:28 AM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  

(01-15-2014 10:42 AM)axeme Wrote:  Do Direct TV and DISH subscribers outside Ohio have access? What other cable companies are carrying the TW Sports channel?

The MAC is still working on getting Comcast SportsNet Chicago on board (There was a couple live volleyball games on ComcastSN Chicago)

I think the upcoming Kent and Miami men's bball games against NIU will be on either Comcast or Comcast Plus here in Chicago which would be a major win. We have yet to get any live MAC hoops games here. I hope this is true. I have no problem with Comcast Plus getting games as the MAC is never going to win against the Bulls and Hawks in Chicago.

(01-15-2014 11:28 AM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  

(01-15-2014 10:42 AM)axeme Wrote:  Do Direct TV and DISH subscribers outside Ohio have access? What other cable companies are carrying the TW Sports channel?

Even though SportsTime Ohio was picked up on DirecTV and Dish nationally, all STO games were blacked-out outside the MAC unless you also paid for ESPN's Full Court and Game Plan packages. ESPN held the national rights so they weren't allowing STO to broadcast the game via DirecTV/Dish unless they got their cut.

Also, even though TWC-SC isn't directly carried on DirecTV/Dish, ESPN Full-court is, so all the MAC TWC-SC games are carried on DirecTV/Dish nationally via Full Court subscription the same as they were before with STO.

Anybody in Ohio who has TWC, Buckeye Cable (Toledo) or Charter (Cleveland) have these games to watch. The only people effected are the DirecTV/Dish customers in the state of Ohio only. The lack of Dish customers in Ohio is supplemented by free MACDN coverage and also the picked up coverage by TWC-SC in New York and NYC as well as Comcast Michigan picking up the games that the Michigan teams play in and various cable companies in Indiana picking up Ball State games. The MAC is still working on getting Comcast SportsNet Chicago on board (There was a couple live volleyball games on ComcastSN Chicago)

All in all, the coverage area has increased along with the number of broadcasts.

MORE IMPORTANTLY - This has nothing to do with the MAC choosing this, this is all stemming from when Fox Sports Ohio bought up STO. Fox and ESPN could not work out and agreement so STO had to be replaced with TWC-SC. Once Fox bought STO, Fox would not allow ESPN to broadcast the MAC package via Full Court or ESPN3. ESPN would also not allow Fox to broadcast the MAC package outside the region via Fox Sports Go and/or the FCS channels.

The MAC came out of this pretty good and if Comcast SportsNet or Charter increase coverage via buyout then it will get even better. All this will be worked out in the enhanced ESPN contract on the way.

Excellent info.

BTW, as I understand it from someone who used to be in that business, but ESPN and Fox are bitter business rivals.

That is the context for trying to understand the transactional nature involving sports programming, Fox and ESPN don't do favors for each other.

(01-15-2014 11:28 AM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  

(01-15-2014 10:42 AM)axeme Wrote:  Do Direct TV and DISH subscribers outside Ohio have access? What other cable companies are carrying the TW Sports channel?

Even though SportsTime Ohio was picked up on DirecTV and Dish nationally, all STO games were blacked-out outside the MAC unless you also paid for ESPN's Full Court and Game Plan packages. ESPN held the national rights so they weren't allowing STO to broadcast the game via DirecTV/Dish unless they got their cut.

Also, even though TWC-SC isn't directly carried on DirecTV/Dish, ESPN Full-court is, so all the MAC TWC-SC games are carried on DirecTV/Dish nationally via Full Court subscription the same as they were before with STO.

Anybody in Ohio who has TWC, Buckeye Cable (Toledo) or Charter (Cleveland) have these games to watch. The only people effected are the DirecTV/Dish customers in the state of Ohio only. The lack of Dish customers in Ohio is supplemented by free MACDN coverage and also the picked up coverage by TWC-SC in New York and NYC as well as Comcast Michigan picking up the games that the Michigan teams play in and various cable companies in Indiana picking up Ball State games. The MAC is still working on getting Comcast SportsNet Chicago on board (There was a couple live volleyball games on ComcastSN Chicago)

All in all, the coverage area has increased along with the number of broadcasts.

MORE IMPORTANTLY - This has nothing to do with the MAC choosing this, this is all stemming from when Fox Sports Ohio bought up STO. Fox and ESPN could not work out and agreement so STO had to be replaced with TWC-SC. Once Fox bought STO, Fox would not allow ESPN to broadcast the MAC package via Full Court or ESPN3. ESPN would also not allow Fox to broadcast the MAC package outside the region via Fox Sports Go and/or the FCS channels.

The MAC came out of this pretty good and if Comcast SportsNet or Charter increase coverage via buyout then it will get even better. All this will be worked out in the enhanced ESPN contract on the way.

It's more than just DISH/DTV customers in Ohio who were affected. All of the other cable providers, which includes the other national cable companies who have some share in Ohio, but also all the regional/local cable providers who have decent coverage in their areas. It really was a big drop in people in Ohio who could watch the game on a tv channel. The online access hasn't changed for anyone, I don't think.

I agree that the MAC was backed into a corner when STO got dumped. Maybe TWC was the only option. We can only hope things get better with the deal in the future. It's crazy that the biggest concentration of MAC schools/alums (Ohio) gets blacked out if they don't have the one (really poor) cable company.

If the main concern here is that there is less exposure and availability in Ohio I would think the trade off of having games on in more markets outside of Ohio would be worth it. I know the Ohio (state not school) fans don't want to hear that but the MAC will benefit from appealling to a broader base within the footprint than just the heavily concentrated area and taking steps to get beyond the Michigan Ohio bus league image. Getting games on in Chicago would be huge as there was zero coverage there with STO and thus far under the TWC deal. Teams like Cleveland State currently get air more time in Chicago than any MAC team.

The problem is that all we are doing is shuffling availability from one area to another. MAC games need to be available across the footprint and available in some form around the country in some package or another. So we lose a large chunk of Ohio viewers and don't gain Chicago either! Some deal. What did we gain? Buffalo? Parts of Michigan?

(01-15-2014 02:31 PM)axeme Wrote:  The problem is that all we are doing is shuffling availability from one area to another. MAC games need to be available across the footprint and available in some form around the country in some package or another. So we lose a large chunk of Ohio viewers and don't gain Chicago either! Some deal. What did we gain? Buffalo? Parts of Michigan?

Can't argue with that. MAC needs to get a regional plan that covers everybody.

(01-15-2014 02:31 PM)axeme Wrote:  What did we gain? Buffalo? Parts of Michigan?

And a huge chunk of NY, both Upstate and Downstate. I checked out Siena's basketball forum the other day and there is a thread questioning why they were seeing MAC games in the Hudson Valley. They weren't privy to the MAC deal but some fans thought it was good ball to watch.

(01-15-2014 08:20 PM)RecoveringHillbilly Wrote:  

(01-15-2014 02:31 PM)axeme Wrote:  What did we gain? Buffalo? Parts of Michigan?

And a huge chunk of NY, both Upstate and Downstate. I checked out Siena's basketball forum the other day and there is a thread questioning why they were seeing MAC games in the Hudson Valley. They weren't privy to the MAC deal but some fans thought it was good ball to watch.

All the TWC-SC games are available here in Washington DC on ESPN Full Court.

Picture quality looks really good in these broadcast.

(01-16-2014 12:27 AM)OhioBobcatJohn Wrote:  Picture quality looks really good in these broadcast.

Yeah, nothing says "quality" like an improper white balance.

(01-16-2014 05:56 PM)JSF Wrote:  

(01-16-2014 12:27 AM)OhioBobcatJohn Wrote:  Picture quality looks really good in these broadcast.

Yeah, nothing says "quality" like an improper white balance.

That is quality if you didn't go to school for it, or are getting paid crap.