Still no Bobcats for me this season

[Bobcat4Ever]

I live 30 f*ckin minutes away (Rock Hill), and we haven't gotten the Bobcats on TV in years. Absolute bullsh*t

[IshHappens]

Join the club. I'm in upstate South Carolina - about 50 miles away from Charlotte - and we're denied as well. Unbelievable to me that you can have a professional "big 3" franchise within an hour's drive and you can't watch them. Didn't the Hornets come on basic cable? WJZY or whatever? This is garbage.

[Shrimpy_Jackson]

Same here, I think I might have been able to watch but Fox pulled the channel because of the whole new contract thing with the providers. Anyway it says it'll be on here tonight.... http://www.atdhe.net/ also I don't know if the blackout restrictions will apply but nba.com will stream the games for free until next week so you may be able to watch it there as well.

[K!NG Wacko]

honestly the only thing there is for you guys to do is start emailing people and making a big deal. Try emailing fscarolinas@foxsports.net and your cable service provider expressing that you want to see the games.

[bbh2020]

True, their support people will be of no help and have no idea what’s going on with this situation. But they do record your complaint and that gets put into a daily or weekly customer service complaint report which eventually makes its way to the people who negotiate with regional sports networks like FSN over carriage of specific sports programming. The goal is to fill that report with complaints about not having the opportunity to watch the Bobcats play simply because you’re in the outer market.

There are other avenues where you can be heard as well. Twitter is forcing every major corporation in America to monitor the online conversation and react to it or risk having their brand trashed in a very short amount of time. Use platforms like Twitter and Facebook to start a groundswell of support for getting satellite operators to change their decision on outer market fees and see what kind of response you get.



From: Brad Hunter [mailto:Brad@schooldude.com]
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 10:55 AM
To: Michael Thompson
Subject: RE: Bobcats on SportsSouth

Thanks for getting back to me Michael.

I was relayed the same information last year when I posed the same question.

My follow up question that I had last year and still have now is: Who do I contact at Direct TV?

When I talk to their support people they have no idea.

Is there a corporate office you guys deal with over this?

I can get lots of people to express their displeasure but we have not been able to find anyone to express it too that actually have power.

Thank You,


From: Michael Thompson [mailto:mthompson@bobcats.com]
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 10:49 AM
To: Brad Hunter
Subject: RE: Bobcats on SportsSouth

Brad,

Thank you for reaching out to me regarding the Bobcats on satellite. We've received hundreds of phone calls and emails from fans who can't see our games on SportSouth (SPSO). Let me share with you the facts regarding distribution of our game broadcasts on satellite in the Carolinas:

- This season FSN South will distribute 81 Bobcats broadcasts on SPSO to every cable and satellite operator in North and South Carolina
- Satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network have opted to limit their carriage of the Bobcats on SPSO to the NBA-designated inner market: a 75-mile radius around the city of Charlotte
- It should be noted that neither DirecTV nor Dish Network has the ability to perfectly define a 75-mile radius in their geo-coding of subscribers
- Neither DirecTV nor Dish Network will make Bobcats games available on SPSO beyond the NBA 75-mile inner market radius because they both decided not to pay the fee necessary to cover the NBA's outer market fees
- Regardless of a cable or satellite operator's decision to carry the Bobcats on SPSO, all of our games are blacked out on NBA League Pass in North and South Carolina per NBA rule to protect the team’s broadcast partner
- The best course of action to remedy this situation is to contact your satellite operator directly and express your desire to watch the Bobcats on SPSO

I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear today, but we’re learning that the most effective way to create change in the cable/satellite industry is to make yourself heard. The number of cable providers that are now carrying our games has increased every year because subscribers are making their wishes known. I hope you can use the information above to make your voice and the voices of others heard in this situation.

If you have any other questions regarding carriage of the Bobcats on SPSO by satellite operators, please let me know and I will do my best to answer them.

Sincerely,

Michael Thompson
Director of Corporate Communications
Bobcats Sports & Entertainment

[Chef]

True, their support people will be of no help and have no idea what’s going on with this situation. But they do record your complaint and that gets put into a daily or weekly customer service complaint report which eventually makes its way to the people who negotiate with regional sports networks like FSN over carriage of specific sports programming. The goal is to fill that report with complaints about not having the opportunity to watch the Bobcats play simply because you’re in the outer market.

There are other avenues where you can be heard as well. Twitter is forcing every major corporation in America to monitor the online conversation and react to it or risk having their brand trashed in a very short amount of time. Use platforms like Twitter and Facebook to start a groundswell of support for getting satellite operators to change their decision on outer market fees and see what kind of response you get.



From: Brad Hunter [mailto:Brad@schooldude.com]
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 10:55 AM
To: Michael Thompson
Subject: RE: Bobcats on SportsSouth

Thanks for getting back to me Michael.

I was relayed the same information last year when I posed the same question.

My follow up question that I had last year and still have now is: Who do I contact at Direct TV?

When I talk to their support people they have no idea.

Is there a corporate office you guys deal with over this?

I can get lots of people to express their displeasure but we have not been able to find anyone to express it too that actually have power.

Thank You,


From: Michael Thompson [mailto:mthompson@bobcats.com]
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 10:49 AM
To: Brad Hunter
Subject: RE: Bobcats on SportsSouth

Brad,

Thank you for reaching out to me regarding the Bobcats on satellite. We've received hundreds of phone calls and emails from fans who can't see our games on SportSouth (SPSO). Let me share with you the facts regarding distribution of our game broadcasts on satellite in the Carolinas:

- This season FSN South will distribute 81 Bobcats broadcasts on SPSO to every cable and satellite operator in North and South Carolina
- Satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network have opted to limit their carriage of the Bobcats on SPSO to the NBA-designated inner market: a 75-mile radius around the city of Charlotte
- It should be noted that neither DirecTV nor Dish Network has the ability to perfectly define a 75-mile radius in their geo-coding of subscribers
- Neither DirecTV nor Dish Network will make Bobcats games available on SPSO beyond the NBA 75-mile inner market radius because they both decided not to pay the fee necessary to cover the NBA's outer market fees
- Regardless of a cable or satellite operator's decision to carry the Bobcats on SPSO, all of our games are blacked out on NBA League Pass in North and South Carolina per NBA rule to protect the team’s broadcast partner
- The best course of action to remedy this situation is to contact your satellite operator directly and express your desire to watch the Bobcats on SPSO

I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear today, but we’re learning that the most effective way to create change in the cable/satellite industry is to make yourself heard. The number of cable providers that are now carrying our games has increased every year because subscribers are making their wishes known. I hope you can use the information above to make your voice and the voices of others heard in this situation.

If you have any other questions regarding carriage of the Bobcats on SPSO by satellite operators, please let me know and I will do my best to answer them.

Sincerely,

Michael Thompson
Director of Corporate Communications
Bobcats Sports & Entertainment

again, i am very appreciative of MT but this is complete crap. the bobcat's are supplying a product, therefore they are the business. THEY need to ensure we have access. we have michael "Greatest Of ALL TIME, MOST POPULAR ATHLETE ON THE PLANET" jordan as an owner. he can't do some commercials for direct tv? come on. the answer is not for us to form a bobcats tea party to get access. we have tried for three years now. we need some help from the big guns.

[IshHappens]

Thanks for the e-mail addy. Just shot them an e-mail. I'm not holding my breath though.

[bbh2020]

Read my post above from bottom to top to see the conversation I had with Michael Thompson from the Bobcats about this.

I'm stuck in Sanford, NC with no games either. I'm with DirectTV.

They should at least give you the option to pay for these games through League Pass if DTV does not want too. Pretty lame!

[IshHappens]

Yeah, I e-mailed Michael about Charter as well and got basically the same response. They should offer one of two alternatives:

1) Pay a little extra monthly for Bobcats games.
2) Allow the games to be shown on League Pass instead of blacking them out. It's not our fault our providers won't show the games!

Completely preposterous!

[teej]

I live 30 f*ckin minutes away (Rock Hill), and we haven't gotten the Bobcats on TV in years. Absolute bullsh*t

You and Ish can both get games on Directv...