Columbus Crew new TV deal, WTH?

May just be one of the worst TV deals in the history of televised sports. If Fulham get relagated we might be able to see more FFC matches then their fans will be able to watch. Their fans are pissed to say the least.

Columbus Crew fans revolt against team's terrible new television deal

The 2 lowlights

1. On on Time Warner Sports- no other cable or Sat, only Time Warner
2. 75 mile blackout from wAtching on MLS Live etc

Can you say shooting themselves in the foot?

 

Comical in it's stupidity. Blackout rules will be a thing of the past in all sports within a decade (even the NFL). The theory that people will go to the games or switch tv providers to avoid a blackout is so illogical and doesn't mesh with any study done on the subject. Did anyone in Crew management actually read the contract??

 

I have no respect for the Crew organization so I am enjoying this. I thought things might change with the new ownership but this is not a positive sign. Maybe Precourt is trying to alienate and piss off the fans so he has a reason to move the team to San Fran. I like the sound of San Francisco Crew and I like the idea of this franchise getting the hell out of Ohio. While I would feel bad for their die hard fans, Ohio State is the only thing that town cares about. it's embarassing. The Crew have a couple of players from the Cleveland area that I enjoy watching, along with Higuain, but since I live further than 75 mi, I'll still get them on MLS Direct. So far Berhalter has been doing a great job as coach; they had a really good preseason. Lots of fans were probably enthusiastically looking forward to a new Crew and that feeling has likely been largely squandered. :laughing-rofl: :laughing-rofl:

 

Well the Crew is playing DC United in DC. I pay $15/mo extra to get MLS live so I can watch all the MLS games I want - including DC United games. I cant get the match right now. Not 100% I'm being blacked out but it certainly is a bit too coincidental that it came on my TV and then went blank. I live 150 mi from Columbus; twice the black out distance. I cant believe MLS is allowing this. Time Warner Cable isnt even an option in the city where I live.

 

Sports and local team TV coverage

{The following was missposted. pf}
How's this for marketing your team!
Sign a deal with Time Warner so TV is only on that network's digital lineup {set top box} and blackout coverage on the league's streaming service.
If you live within 75 miles of Columbus and don't have TW digital lineup, Crew game coverage home OR AWAY is not available PERIOD!

Worse.. after firing {"Agreed to part company with", I mean} the idiot who signed the deal, the owner continues to claim "THERE IS NO BLACKOUT, .... you can follow the game on social media.'" {let's look at the Crew BS thread on it... page 71 will suffice to start}
Obviously when you attain a certain status/role, you know longer pay attention to Joe Public and the long running hatred of Time Warner {and cable providers, generally} for their myopic business practices.
Example: In the late nineties, I got the lower 77 channels (standard) package for $35. Now it's $77. Unfortunately, a good chunk of that wasnt inflation it was due to two things: Disney carriage fees {ESPN} and infrastructure to provide 'On-Demand' and 'start over' ie; switched digital. Even though neither of the latter benefits standard subscribers. I say that because when you look at the additional charges for Digital service, there is no way it would cover the costs of bandwidth or server overhead needed for those functions.
Not to mention the fact that in the nineties there was still a significant # or viewers who only used over the air. Look it up. Now at about 2010, there were almost none who used antennas. Of course now it's turned again with people goign back to antennas.
http://awfulannouncing.com/2014/columbus-crew-fans-revolt-against-team-s-new-television-deal.html

 

D'OOH!!!!
Cant explain why I didnt see this. Almost posted in this subforum, but thought it was more a general subject as it's been done before.

But, for Mo, we need a litle 'splainin' here. Precourt has said and is demonstrating that he is investing locally.
More than that, he absolutely can not flame McCullers for the TV deal as much as he would like to. It's now a contract and if he wants to get it changed for the fans he has to sweet talk Time Warner. He's between a rock and a hard place. McCullers has said it was a dumb move, and that's about as much as can be said, for business reasons.

Remember this when you complain about Owners getting micro involved. In this case he definitely should have been.

But McCullers had been there a long time and had a fair record in marketing the team. Even the McCullers haterz on the BS crew forum admit that.
I'm reckoning this will become a textbook example, in more than one academic environment.

And what makes this worse, personally, is that I was about to get a cable card for my PC tuner {and subscribe to digital again.}
Since I had refused to text -on principle that texting costs verizon less than voice calls- until it was ABSOLUTELY FREE - Now I'm torn.