I don't know whose bright idea it was to have "blackouts" of sports events in certain markets, but it sucks. Hard.
I live in Dallas, and I've been trying to watch the first round of the NHL playoffs. I caught the first game on a local channel (27) and the next couple on ESPN2. With the series tied up at two games apiece, I settled in for a not-very-relaxing evening to watch game five on Thursday night. Then, at 6:30pm Central time, the channel went black. It was replaced by a pop-up box courtesy of Dish Network explaining that the channel had been blocked out.
I suppose theoretically I should pay the extra $whatever each month to get the upgrade dish package that includes Fox Sports Southwest. That's all I can think that they might have blocked the game for. Every Stars game for the last five or more years has been sold out, and that's the main reason I've heard in the past for regional blackouts, so it must have been a contract with FSSW. Right?
Either that, or they're conspiring to make my life miserable. I'm glad we won the game. Of course, now I have no idea whether I'll be able to watch game six tonight.
Article comments
1 - san
Phil: It's scheduled on both FSSW and ESPN at 7pm. I'm looking at local listings and it's there. Now whether or not we will actually get to see it, I don't know.
2 - RJ Elliott
As a Red Wings fan, I really wish the powers-that-be had been thoughtful enough to blackout those games!
3 - Steve Rhodes
Blackout are self-defeating.
We almost never get to see Oakland Raiders home games, so we rarely saw them on their way to the Superbowl last year.
Yet, baseball doesn't have blackouts so we can see both Giants games (which often sell out) and A's games (which never do).
4 - Phillip Winn
I believe that the rule for blackouts that is affecting me now has to do with Fox Sports Southwest. Specifically, all the games that have been blocked out have been scheduled to appear on both FSSW and some national channel, and that national channel has been blacked out each time.
Sadly, as I mentioned, I don't have FSSW. So it looks like I'll be missing Monday's game. Then again, since the Stars have now lost two in a row, maybe I don't want to see it!
5 - Phillip Winn
Assuming we aren't eliminated by then, I probably won't be able to see game 6 either, as it is also carried on FSSW. Argh!
6 - Phillip Winn
How much is the next level of Dish service again?
7 - Phillip Winn
Apparently for $9 more a month, I can get FSSW. Along with a bunch of other stuff, some of which I might actually watch. I wonder how fast I can have it activated?