Posted on 04/05/2020 11:43:51 PM PDT by L.A.Justice
Joyce Sanz recently called Comcast hoping to reduce the $164 each month her family pays for cable television and internet. An after-school program manager at an elementary school in Miami, Sanz wanted to trim expenses in case the economic fallout related to the coronavirus pandemic lasts months.
Sanz said she asked the Comcast customer service representative for a discount or deferred payment options. No dice. She asked to be charged the prices offered to new customers. No can do.
Finally, she spotted a specific line on her bill. “I am paying a sports fee,” she told the representative, recalling the conversation later during an interview.
“Oh, we can’t take those out” was the response, leading Sanz to the obvious question:
“If you are not giving the service, why do I have to keep paying for it?”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I have HULU because I want to watch sports...Mainly baseball and soccer...
Right now...All the leagues are shut down...ESPN and Fox Sports 1 are just showing old games...
I am watching PLUTO tv very frequently...I watch SKY NEWS frequently...I also watch Bond movies on PLUTO tv.
Nascar is running ‘pro invitation’ series where they get all the pros together to race online with iracing game- watched one tonight- wasn’t too bad- the pros were havign a good time- joking around- wasn’t the real thing for sure, but still fun to watch- the iracign game is pretty realistic handling- was better than a sharp stick i n the eye anyways-
Colleges should offer tuition refunds/credit they are charging full tuition for in person instruction and now just online which can be had at a fraction of the cost-e.g. AZ state and many others offer online at much cheapers rates-of course not one liberal professor has lost a dime of salary
We have Ruku. Watching Iracing yesterday. Not the real thing, but nice and it was funny... Clint Bowyer is not an iRacer, and he everything but the pace car. William Bryan won with Jon Hunter Neimeneck coming in second.
Optimum does not even answer the phone when you want to cancel your plans.
Rights fees for sports are baked into your cable bill. Every time you hear about a new contract for your carrier with Disney (ESPN), Viacom (CBS) or Fox (Fox Sports), you’re paying part of those mega-millions to the NFL, NBA, MLB and various college sports conferences.
Advertising is one way these networks pay for these contracts but cable subscription fees is the other.
If you have a streaming cable service, you too are paying to watch sports. There’s one (Philo) that has no sports and it is quite cheap but, remember, no sports.
Fortunately, I was on Playstation Vue which decided to fold its tent right before the Super Bowl and I haven’t replaced it. So, I’m just not spending that $70 a month I had spent prior to that. I don’t think I’ll be buying a streaming service until the sports leagues return.
My advice to anyone who has cable - drop your service down to the minimum basic if you don’t want to pay while sports is on hiatus. My advice to anyone who has a streaming service - drop the sports tier and possibly add a movie channel. Or you can simply cut off your streaming service during the hiatus and sign up for it again when they are back. Almost all the streaming services have no contract.
Fortunately, I was on Playstation Vue which decided to fold its tent right before the Super Bowl and I haven’t replaced it. So, I’m just not spending that $70 a month I had spent prior to that. I don’t think I’ll be buying a streaming service until the sports leagues return.
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I had Playstation Vue also...I tried Youtube Tv. But, Youtube Tv dropped my local Fox sports stations...No Angels baseball...I moved to HULU. Youtube TV also had buffering issue.
I’m considering a streaming company called Vidgo which does have a lot of sports channels (including NFL Red Zone and ESPN Goal Line) but they do not have MLB Network or the regional sports channels (so likely no Angels). Specials right now are $29.99/mo for “core” and $39.99 for “premium”. There’s not much you will miss if you just have core. Vidgo is available through Roku and other carriers.
Incidentally, I monitor the majors with MLB At Bat for just $19.95/yr. I don’t get live video but, if you’re patient, you get live radio, a bunch of video highlights and condensed games. I get that through my phone.
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