New TV Possibilities?

[Proudiddy]

I noticed when the schedule got released that there wasn't any listing for local tv. Anyone know what's going on with that? I'm hoping as a DTV customer in the RDU area that they worked something out with Fox Sports South, and not "Sportsouth," so I can finally watch games on my actual television.

Anyone know what's going on with this?

[bbh2020]

I have asked Bonnell 2 times on twitter if he knew anything about the TV situation and he is too cool to answer.

I'm with DTV as well.

[ziggy]

I'll give it a try to see if I can coax a response out of slick rick.

[ND22]

I have Time Warner. Since the Bobcats arena is "Time Warner Cable Arena" is there any chance the Bobcats will be broadcasted on the provider named after their stadium? Maybe News 14 Carolina?

[BlockParty]

I have Time Warner. Since the Bobcats arena is "Time Warner Cable Arena" is there any chance the Bobcats will be broadcasted on the provider named after their stadium? Maybe News 14 Carolina?

Not a chance..the evolution of the debacle goes back to Bob Johnson. He contracted with TWC to broadcast his CSET network which failed miserably the very first year. The next few years the Bobcats were on TWC via News 14 Carolina, but their footprint wasn't big enough in Carolina Markets (yeah I know that's an oxymoronic statement to what Fox currently does), then the Cats signed with Fox, but were still in their 10 year contract with TWC on News 14 Carolina, hence the naming rights for the then-unnamed Arena was pretty much an offset for breaking their contract with TWC.

[bozzy]

Well, they will be on FSN again this year. Since the schedule was just released, they are probably still working out the tv schedule. I wouldn't expect anything until closer to opening night. The real question will be if FSN will actually carry the Bobcats games on more than just a few cable systems in the Carolinas. Many of the cable systems have balked at the carriage fees FSN is charging for the Bobcats.

[spectre]

The worst thing? That TNT game vs NY...last on the schedule. I know deep down they're going to cancel it, but they'll keep it on the schedule all season long and I'll start to think maybe...just maybe I'll get to see my first Bobcats' game on my new 55" HDTV. Then about 2 days before it's time they'll cancel us and schedule some big market team that's already had like 25 national TV games already.

I HATE THIS CRAP.

[SWedd523]

Oh you better know they'll flex us out

[teej]

I looked at the schedule for that day, and the only one that could be flexed in is a New Jersey game. But remember, NYK is a "big market" team. We got flexed last year because it was us and Atlanta. If it was us and the Lakers, it would've stayed.

Also, the TV deal is probably going to be the same as last year. They just haven't had a chance to work out the TV sked with Fox yet.

[ND22]

At least I get NBA TV. That's two I'll get to watch.

I can't wait though to turn to FSN each night only to see the Carolina Hurricanes or Poker Stars 2012 playing instead.

[spectre]

At least I get NBA TV. That's two I'll get to watch.

I can't wait though to turn to FSN each night only to see the Carolina Hurricanes or Poker Stars 2012 playing instead.

You are lucky. NBATV Bobcats' games are blocked for me too.

[Chef]

You are lucky. NBATV Bobcats' games are blocked for me too.

me too. choppy streams here i come.

[Talent]

I never understood the blackout rules. We live in 2011 and the internet is a large vast resource. Yet, if I want to LEGALLY watch the Bobcats there is literally no options. If I want to illegally watch them there are literally hundreds of options. Maybe get with the program?

[Proudiddy]

That's why I'm hoping they take care of it this year. When I was a kid, we even got Hornets games on TV - NOT from the RDU markets either. We got Hornets games on Fayetteville's only TV station's channel. Fayetteville had ONE, count it, ONE TV station, and it was cheap. Yet, we got to see Hornets games on it.

A couple years back, that station converted solely into a Univision station. That's the kind of channel we had in Fayetteville, yet we still got Hornets games. Bobcats need to take care of this ASAP. It's part of the reason the team has struggled in growing their fanbase.

[sprtsguyshowonyoutube]

Hi everyone the Bobcats TV Schedule is out .All the games including the two preseason will be broadcast on Fox sports Carolina expect the last game of the season which will be showing on TNT. http://www.nba.com/bobcats/schedule/ (http://www.nba.com/bobcats/schedule/)

[millst2]

Yeah all we get with Windstream is FS South and SportSouth. I am guessing this Bobcats fanbase will never grow outside the Queen City area. Another Year of streams and hopefully a few on NBA Leaguepass that forget to be blacked out.

So pathetic.

[CaptainJack1]

I remember back in the day the Hornets flagship TV channel was Action64 aka WAXN and those games were televised on local channels (like WB, UPN, etc.) throughout the Carolina's. I miss that sometimes and would like to see the Bobcats try their hand at it. I liked the old-school feel of watching the Hornets on local TV than on FSN.

[kickazzz2000]

I remember back in the day the Hornets flagship TV channel was Action64 aka WAXN and those games were televised on local channels (like WB, UPN, etc.) throughout the Carolina's. I miss that sometimes and would like to see the Bobcats try their hand at it. I liked the old-school feel of watching the Hornets on local TV than on FSN.

I remember watching a Hornets game on a local channel in KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE when I was visiting my cousins (back in like 92).

And once in Charleston, SC (though I was too busy banging my gf in the hotel room) :biggrin:

[Toocool]

Real men watch streams.

Living and dying by the stream since 09.

[ND22]

Real men watch streams.

Living and dying by the stream since 09.

Streams are the reason I got a laptop-to-TV hook up. I sat back and sucked in that 2 bit frame rate on my 32 inch TV. Glorious.

[mj4life]

as i remember fox sports owns the cats tv rights & games are made available to every cable & sat. provider in the carolinas. some chose to pay fox sports fee to carry games & some don't

[Chef]

as i remember fox sports owns the cats tv rights & games are made available to every cable & sat. provider in the carolinas. some chose to pay fox sports fee to carry games & some don't

and it is up to the fans to grassroots organize and request them on tv andy dufrane style. god forbid the organization put pressure on the providers to just go ahead and do it. that would make too much sense business-wise.

[bozzy]

as i remember fox sports owns the cats tv rights & games are made available to every cable & sat. provider in the carolinas. some chose to pay fox sports fee to carry games & some don't

The problem is the Bobcats organization has done ZERO to make it happen. All they say is call your provider. Since it's inception, the Bobcats have failed miserably at handling the tv contract and they still do today. They don't want to work with Fox and the providers to help their fans. They just take their fat check and say F YOU to the fans.

[mj4life]

The problem is the Bobcats organization has done ZERO to make it happen. All they say is call your provider. Since it's inception, the Bobcats have failed miserably at handling the tv contract and they still do today. They don't want to work with Fox and the providers to help their fans. They just take their fat check and say F YOU to the fans.
the c-set failure really hurt the bobcats & then the news 14 carolina deal only helped a little, most of that has been corrected. they have tried to make games available but there are many stumbling blocks in the way like the nba's rule that anybody outside of 75 miles of TWCA are considered out of market so once you get past greensboro the carriage fee becomes a major issue for some cable/sat companies because the bobcats don't generate enough ratings in their mind to justify carrying games

[spectre]

the c-set failure really hurt the bobcats & then the news 14 carolina deal only helped a little, most of that has been corrected. they have tried to make games available but there are many stumbling blocks in the way like the nba's rule that anybody outside of 75 miles of TWCA are considered out of market so once you get past greensboro the carriage fee becomes a major issue for some cable/sat companies because the bobcats don't generate enough ratings in their mind to justify carrying games

It's not just for the Bobcats...so the ratings aren't the reason. It's more of a fear of "market saturation"...which in my mind is bullshit. Portland has the same issue and experimented streaming games on their own last season.

Why in the hell someone didn't bring up eliminating the "circle" during the revenue sharing meetings I'll never know. That would infuse more money into the small markets from day 1.

[millst2]

as i remember fox sports owns the cats tv rights & games are made available to every cable & sat. provider in the carolinas. some chose to pay fox sports fee to carry games & some don't

Well the issue, and I have posted on here for years with correspondence from the cable providers. The issue they claim is the amount of money Fox wants to charge to show the games. I had even asked about a paid package to allow me to watch and they stated that it couldn't work due to the fact that FOX and the NBA base it off of Population and Number of Cable Customers per provider.

I would rather them put the games back on channel 14. Atleast that way I could watch. What really pisses me off is that I can watch the hawks all the time, how hard is it to stop showing them and show the cats games. Hell I can watch more Chicago bulls games on WGN than I can bobcats games. Something is really F@#$*D up with the way the games are televised.

Hence the stagnant or non-existent fan base growth. Nobody can watch so nobody cares outside the die-hard fans.

[BBQNut]

If I buy the Time Warner Cable league pass, how many Bobcats games could I see?

[Chef]

If I buy the Time Warner Cable league pass, how many Bobcats games could I see?

all of them if you don't fall into the blackout rules.

[defaultroute]

all of them if you don't fall into the blackout rules.

So I'm guessing RDU falls into the blackout rules. :(

[spectre]

So I'm guessing RDU falls into the blackout rules. :(

Yep...welcome to the dark side.

[Chef]

So I'm guessing RDU falls into the blackout rules. :(

twc carries the cats channel 540 i believe in the triangle. it is direct tv and all others that don't

[BlockParty]

For those of you that aren't blacked out (and maybe even you guys) the NBA is offering a free preview of NBA league pass through January 8th

http://www.nba.com/leaguepass/

[Chef]

For those of you that aren't blacked out (and maybe even you guys) the NBA is offering a free preview of NBA league pass through January 8th

http://www.nba.com/leaguepass/

i can't wait to try getting the bobcats through the blackout with hidemyipaddress.com

[enigmaboy89]

Wow you all have a lot of trouble getting Bobcats games on TV, guess many of you are in the same boat as me and I live NY!! Really looking forward to watching Bobcats games during the free preview of League Pass.

[BBQNut]

Yep...welcome to the dark side.


I'm in Myrtle Beach...soooo?

[spectre]

I'm in Myrtle Beach...soooo?

I couldn't tell you about Myrtle Beach. Did either of the dish providers pick up anyone outside the circle? Some of the cable groups picked them up...pretty sure AT&Ts service shows them in Raleigh.

I just know from around east of Greensboro eastward past Raleigh neither DISH nor Direct TV shows the Bobcats.

[Chef]

I couldn't tell you about Myrtle Beach. Did either of the dish providers pick up anyone outside the circle? Some of the cable groups picked them up...pretty sure AT&Ts service shows them in Raleigh.

I just know from around east of Greensboro eastward past Raleigh neither DISH nor Direct TV shows the Bobcats.

direct tv is a no. i keep emailing them trying to get them to show them here.

[defaultroute]

So I'm logged into the TWC website and looking at the channel lineup for Raleigh for Monday night's preseason game and I see it on channel 1527 NBA TV HD. Hmm...

[enigmaboy89]

So I'm logged into the TWC website and looking at the channel lineup for Raleigh for Monday night's preseason game and I see it on channel 1527 NBA TV HD. Hmm...

Awesome, the first preseason game will be available nationwide on NBA TV!

[Chef]

Awesome, the first preseason game will be available nationwide on NBA TV!

except to 2nd market blackout zones like oh i don't know the entire states of north and south carolina!

[spectre]

except to 2nd market blackout zones like oh i don't know the entire states of north and south carolina!

It always strikes me how ironic those NBA-TV games are. They make it available to the entire world where 99.99999% could care less...but they keep the very people who want to see it in the dark.

[defaultroute]

For all the RDU people, can you tell me what channel 1522 is on TWC? It's not in the guide and not on the website, but when you turn to it, you get a TWC special events channel with the Bobcats schedule on it? Anyone see this or know what this is?

[Chef]

For all the RDU people, can you tell me what channel 1522 is on TWC? It's not in the guide and not on the website, but when you turn to it, you get a TWC special events channel with the Bobcats schedule on it? Anyone see this or know what this is?

when i had twc the special events channel stayed that way until right before game time then it switches over to the game. only bad thing about it is that it makes it tough to record on dvr. the games will be there though.

[Wolfpackbobcat]

I wish there was a better alternate to FSN Carolinas here in Raleigh. Canes get the preference when games are on at the same time. I only have the basic 70 something channels. I wish they could put it on the alternate channels, like the fox subchannels 50-2 or something like that.

[bbh2020]

I'm not sure if it was a fluke or what but the bobcats game was not blacked out for me last night. I live in Sanford and have Dtv. This is the first time it has not been blacked out for me since they moved to spots south. Anyone else able to see it that normally cannot?

[Chef]

I'm not sure if it was a fluke or what but the bobcats game was not blacked out for me last night. I live in Sanford and have Dtv. This is the first time it has not been blacked out for me since they moved to spots south. Anyone else able to see it that normally cannot?

i got it too. in durham. first time, even from monday. let's hope our collective letter writing campaign worked.

maybe the cats took the excitement from kemba and said let's get this too the whole market.

[spectre]

Don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but (if you can) go ahead to Monday's game in the schedule...mine on DISH is showing that one blocked.

For the first time FSS must have been showing a free preview of the preseason games; I'm pretty sure they've never done that before. FWIW I'm going to call DISH next week and say something like "Hey...it sure was nice getting Bobcats' games! How do I continue to get them?". I fully expect to be talking to some Cuban guy who has no idea what I'm talking about for a couple hours...but it's all I know to do.

[spectre]

Don't look now (just kidding...LOOK) but DISH is showing the game tonight vs. Miami UNBLOCKED.

Of course they can change that right up til game time and they probably will...but if it stays like that this is a very good sign.