With the release of the failed Xbox Live ESPN3 update, I am looking to get a television subscription so that I can watch sports without paying out the ass for TWC. That is, watch NFL games, NC State football/basketball...and that's about it. I was looking to also buy a sports package. However, I'm reading reviews of each online and finding that even if you buy sports packages, you run into a ton of blackout problems, like this for Dish Network:

Quote :

"The Multi-Sport Package has about 15 or so regional Fox Sports networks, NESN, and one additional CSN network. Every single game is blacked out. I'm not exaggerating. With literally one exception, we have yet to watch any out of network game. We've watched a Dallas FSN pre-game broadcast, that ended with an announcement from the anchors asking local viewers to lobby Dish Network because they were about to blackout the game to their local viewers."

Anyone have experience with either of these? I am located near Charlotte.

11/1/2010 8:09:14 PM

and we don't want to spend a shitload of money for it either :/

11/1/2010 8:10:48 PM

if it is NFL games you are serious about watching (i.e. an entire game that would normally be out of market as opposed to NFL highlights in real time), than you really have no choice other than DirecTV. I've been a customer for 6 years now and absolutely love them.

11/1/2010 8:11:22 PM

can you watch Chargers games?

11/1/2010 8:12:59 PM

Yeah, looking to get out of market games like Chargers and Falcons. Do you have a sports package?

11/1/2010 8:13:43 PM

NFL Sunday Ticket for DirectTV is expensive but very sweet.

11/1/2010 8:17:05 PM

Quote :

"failed Xbox Live ESPN3 update"

How did it fail?

11/1/2010 8:17:32 PM

if your a comcast customer, the nfl redzone is tough to beat, only 5$ extra month for me...

11/1/2010 8:19:04 PM

Quote :

"even if you buy sports packages, you run into a ton of blackout problems,"

Well, yeah. If you could watch Red Sox games on NESN or Lakers games on FSN, there'd be no need for Extra Innings or League Pass. If you want to watch out of market games, you gotta pony up for the package. For Chargers games, that means Sunday Ticket on DTV.

[Edited on November 1, 2010 at 8:20 PM. Reason : and ^^]

11/1/2010 8:20:05 PM

We can't get comcast

[Edited on November 1, 2010 at 8:24 PM. Reason : maybe if the chargers actually won I'd pay $200 extra to watch their games ]

11/1/2010 8:20:29 PM

Quote :

"How did it fail?"

Just in how TWC did not let it go to internet-only subscribers, but that's a subject for another thread. For us the TWC TV plans are too expensive for what they give.

Seems like a lot of people have DTV. Anyone know how Dish Network is?

11/1/2010 8:23:48 PM

Moving to DirecTV was the best decision of my life -- in terms of sports viewing of course. Growing up around NYC I get all my local stations (even though to watch the games you have to get the subscriptions) and all the local shows.

All the FSN's for college fball/ball too, and they aren't blacked out.

[Edited on November 1, 2010 at 8:26 PM. Reason : x]

11/1/2010 8:26:19 PM

I'm not a TWC fan by any means, and it's my only option in Greensboro. I pay $70/month for 10 Mb down RR, digital cable/HD + sports tier. Can you get better pricing through DTV/Dish?

11/1/2010 8:27:51 PM

i really looked into switching to directv from twc and i just couldn't justify it. aside from nfl network, there isn't really anything on directv that i can't get on twc that i'm interested in. plus, roadrunner is the only show in town and it's cheaper to bundle with cable.

and i'm a panthers fan, so sunday ticket is useless to me.

oh, and you'd have to get dsl or some shit to get access to espn3 because directv doesn't offer it.

[Edited on November 1, 2010 at 8:35 PM. Reason : .]

11/1/2010 8:34:11 PM

ive tried to watch bobcats games on DirecTV but they are always blacked out for some reason ... the SportSouth channel is only picking up Hawks games

11/1/2010 9:00:16 PM

the NBA really annoys me for some reason.

11/2/2010 12:53:31 AM

^^Blacked out for me as well and we have Dish....not sure what the reason is.

11/2/2010 2:15:17 AM

The answer to your question is DirecTV. /thread.

11/2/2010 8:42:22 AM

I had Dish from late 2007 until 2009, and it blew ass. Customer service was universally terrible, and even though they had a few nice pieces like MASN, it really wasn't worth the headache.

It also seemed like we'd lose the entire signal every time the weather decided not to cooperate, which was maddening (although I'm sure this is a complaint that applies to a lot of satellite customers).

Perhaps they've made a big change to stay competitive in the last 12 months, but I doubt it, and even though I fucking hate TWC, I wouldn't go back.

11/2/2010 10:26:21 AM

If you're wanting complete out of market NFL games, you have to go Direct TV.

I have Dish, but RedZone is all I need/want....it's awesome and only 7 bucks a month for the package w/ it and all the local sports channels from across the country. The catch w/ that is you're still screwed for pro sports because of blackouts. You do get SD college fball/bball, but not HD.

They all have pluses/minuses....just depends on what you want.

11/2/2010 11:46:33 AM

yeah, i have sunday ticket this year, and i find myself mostly watching the red zone channel.

I probably won't get sunday ticket again next year. This year i'm paying almost nothing for it since i switched from TWC, and got badass intro rates.

11/2/2010 12:41:32 PM

Quote :

"I had Dish from late 2007 until 2009, and it blew ass. Customer service was universally terrible, and even though they had a few nice pieces like MASN,"

FWIW we get MASN in Raleigh with DirecTV. All the games, no blackouts.

11/2/2010 1:35:37 PM

^^^Huh? What college football/basketball do you only get in SD (that would be HD otherwise), outside of ESPNU?

Bobcats games would be on Fox Sports Carolinas, which isnt a fulltime channel on either provider. You get Fox Sports South fulltime, with the Hawks/Thrashers/Braves games blacked out, and the Hurricanes/Bobcats games come on an alternate channel which is available for games only. As for Dish (and maybe DirecTV), they do not pay the fee required to carry the Bobcats in the extended market, so only people living within 75 miles of Charlotte are not blacked out.

As far as sports, heres some of the pluses over the other guy (other than the out-of-market packages):
DirecTV: ESPNNewsHD, ESPNUHD, MASNHD, MLB Network, Versus available in a lower tier, (some) full time HD RSNs
Dish: NFL RedZone available without Sunday Ticket package, UnivisionHD, ESPN Classic available in a lower tier, Multi-sport package is cheaper.

I agree on the RedZone thing, unless you are a diehard fan of an out-of-market team and only want to watch that teams games, RedZone is the way to go.

[Edited on November 2, 2010 at 2:51 PM. Reason : -]

11/2/2010 2:50:39 PM

^With all the FSN's etc that I get w/ the sports package ALL of the pro sports (HD/SD) are blacked out for the channels out of my area, but for some college football games on FSN West, etc I've gotten in SD but definitely not HD.

11/2/2010 3:21:14 PM

Check the "HDAlt" channels (441-446)...for college games, if the game is being broadcast in HD, its usually available somewhere around there...its been awhile since Ive had FSN on Saturdays obviously, but I dont recall missing out on any FSN-HD games before that (all of this weekends FSN-HD games are available).

11/2/2010 3:30:16 PM

I get the local RSN's in HD....just not my out of market RSN..only SD.

11/2/2010 3:33:35 PM

I think we are going to go with DirecTV

11/2/2010 5:36:00 PM

Quote :

" Hawks/Thrashers/Braves games blacked out, and the Hurricanes/Bobcats games come on an alternate channel "

Not relevant to ThePeter's interests, but Braves games wouldn't be blacked out in Charlotte

11/2/2010 9:40:10 PM

just piggybacking on this thread since I didn't want to make a new Dish vs Direct thread...

Looks like we will be going with either Dish or DirectTV (probably Dish though) soon and ditching our crappy cable. We don't watch a ton of TV, but definitely want to be able to watch our HBO and Showtime shows in HD and have a DVR and with those goals in mind, cable can't come close to the price we want for that. Charter keeps feeding us a line about how we are getting many more channels and a more "stable" service with their package and both are just laughable. I just have a few questions:

1) I know they require 2 year contracts, but what does the contract specifically tie you to? To me it seems that it is just the channel package. The way I am looking at it, we could add HBO for a few months for a TV show and then drop the HBO portion of our package without a penalty. Is this generally correct?

2) I'm assuming "free installation" includes the dish itself?

1/4/2011 8:32:02 AM

yes and yes

I'm with DirecTV. Hit me up if you need a referral.

1/4/2011 8:36:21 AM

^What he said.

I looked at both pretty in-depth when I bought my first house...and I just couldn't see how Dish was better. Directv has better sports, more HD channels, and just more and better overall channels on the basic package. Dish is just cheaper...which is why I almost went with it. I don't watch a ton of TV, but there are some smaller channels that have a lot of programs I like to watch that Dish doesn't have in their basic package.

Plus, if you sign up before football season, they usually give you every channel under the sun (including the NFL package), free for the first 6 months. That shit was amazing...but was sad to see it go when the deal ran out.

1/4/2011 8:46:00 AM

love me some directv

1/4/2011 8:51:51 AM

Yeah, I'll keep looking into comparing the two. I was leaning toward Dish because they seem to have the better deals when it comes to the receivers and receiver upgrades and one of my big problems with cable right now was simply the price vs the amount of cable TV I watch.

The two packages were pretty similar until I stated that I wanted 1 TV with HD+DVR and 1 TV with HD. Dish is offering new customers 1 HD box with DVR and up to 2 more HD boxes at no additional monthly charge or upfront cost (of course $6/month DVR service charge which is a wash). At that point the price is about $10 more per month plus $99 equipment fee upfront with DirectTV to get the same equipment for the first year. Then after the first year when the prices go up there is a $20 difference per month - making DirectTV more expensive than what I pay for cable now.

DirectTV definitely has more channels but one of the reasons I am looking to get rid of cable is that I don't regularly watch any cable channels enough to want to pay as much as I currently do. I basically want access to ESPN/ESPN2 for some sports and then HBO/Showtime and Dish seemed to be the cheapest route to go to get that. Everything else I watch [live] is network. We watch DVDs/netflix a lot more than live TV.

[Edited on January 4, 2011 at 9:10 AM. Reason : .]

1/4/2011 9:06:01 AM

Quote :

"Dish is offering new customers 1 HD box with DVR and up to 2 more HD boxes at no additional monthly charge or upfront cost"

That's funny...because I got that deal with Directv when I signed up. Oh well...that stuff changes all the time. I've noticed you can haggle with them a little as well (I got a "moving" deal when I moved after telling them I was going to cancel).

I thought I was the same way about cable, but I went up watching a lot of the National Geographic/Discovery type channels as well as all the Foodie and Home Improvement type channels.

I think Directv might also have more of the Fox Sports channels than Dish, which means you're able to catch more NC State basketball games on TV.

1/4/2011 9:36:32 AM

^ thanks for the input. I bet as far as the equipment deals go, that stuff probably changes all the time. Deals with these companies probably just have a lot to do with timing.

1/4/2011 10:03:34 AM

I went direct tv this fall and I'm not going back. I fucking adore it.

1/4/2011 10:14:44 AM

Dish offers a basic plan that is cheaper and the satellite equivalent of basic cable. Direct TV has more sports options including exclusive NFL Sunday Ticket, some exclusive first release shows like Friday Night Lights, and more HD channels. Main disadvantage for both is there is no real competition to Roadrunner.

1/4/2011 10:56:24 AM

Quote :

"I went direct tv this fall and I'm not going back. I fucking adore it."

1/4/2011 11:39:51 AM

I've been on DirecTV for about 1.5 years and I've been extremely happy with it. We do sometimes have dish flakiness in bad weather, and if the receiver has to be completely rebooted it takes forever. But I'll deal with those two small annoyances for what has otherwise been an excellent experience. Pricing is reasonable, lots of sports channels, good programming, good program guide/DVR design. The only things I miss are some out of market NFL games (not going to pony up for Sunday Ticket) and the occasional NCSU game on ESPN3.com, but I have verizon DSL so I can just watch those on the computer. If you happen to be in an area where that is available, the two are a good combination for the NCSU fan.

1/4/2011 12:20:27 PM

i <3 direct tv. yay for no TWC.

[Edited on January 4, 2011 at 1:49 PM. Reason : ]

1/4/2011 1:49:40 PM

We ended up going with Dish in the end. Talked to some neighbors around us who said they have hardly any problems with their service.

$30/month for their 120 channel package in HD including local channels of course.
Setup for 2 TVs with DVR service to both TVs.
HBO+Showtime free for 3 months
$25 statement credit on the first month's bill

Basically over the 24 months of the contract our bill will average $12 cheaper than our cable bill now (even after calling them and getting them to lower it 2x after threatening to cancel) and it should be noted that we currently don't have DVR and the Dish package includes it. Finally glad to be able to get rid of overpriced cable TV.

1/30/2011 11:25:35 PM

Congratulations. You just made the wrong decision.

1/31/2011 12:23:02 AM

you done fucked up, you get smacked by this shield:

1/31/2011 12:41:44 AM

I've heard you can barter with directTV salespeople for a lower rate regarding sunday ticket if you make a fuss.

The good thing about the NFL is there's a handful of bars in Raleigh or just about anywhere that probably show all the games. You're less likely to find out-of-market NBA/MLB/NHL games at a bar. I know its not as convenient/cheap as watching it at home, but the option is there.

1/31/2011 1:05:51 AM

^ yup, I have got a lot knocked off every year

1/31/2011 1:28:21 AM

Quote :

"Congratulations. You just made the wrong decision."

I guess my posting in this thread probably gave the wrong impression. I wasn't really comparing the two for sports; I just chose to use this thread instead of making a brand new one. This was the most recently active dish vs direct related thread.

I could definitely see that direct is better for sports than dish but we got the channels and services we wanted for a price that direct couldn't match (and our cable provider wouldn't even attempt to match, even with a contract).

1/31/2011 8:13:02 AM

Dish Network: DirecTV for poor people

1/31/2011 9:29:50 AM

Quote :

""The Multi-Sport Package has about 15 or so regional Fox Sports networks, NESN, and one additional CSN network. Every single game is blacked out. I'm not exaggerating. With literally one exception, we have yet to watch any out of network game. We've watched a Dallas FSN pre-game broadcast, that ended with an announcement from the anchors asking local viewers to lobby Dish Network because they were about to blackout the game to their local viewers.""

This package (for Directv) blacks out every single professional sport game that is normally covered by the networks in this package. Unless you are just looking for a package to watch college sports, don't waste your time.

1/31/2011 9:53:20 AM

^yeah, that's not going to change on any provider unless you buy the league ticket for whatever it is. It's just pro sport rules. On dish, w/ that package, I watch lots of college out of market games, but you never get pro sports. Occasionally a game will go long and you'll catch the last 15-30 minutes of a baseball game or something.

1/31/2011 9:57:30 AM

Quote :

"Dish Network: DirecTV for poor people"

Or people who don't like to pay extra for channels they won't use

[Edited on January 31, 2011 at 10:45 AM. Reason : .]

1/31/2011 10:45:07 AM