Dispute could result in Cox losing ESPN, Fox Sports

AZ Central ^ | David D. Kirkpatrick and Geraldine Fabrikant

[hsmomx3]

Miami and West Virginia were tied 10-10 in the third quarter of their college football game Thursday night, and many eyes in the crowd at the Draft House Sports Cafe in Phoenix were trained on a big television set tuned to ESPN, the only channel showing the game.

[hsmomx3]

Will our rates go down? Probably not. Our Cox Cable rates have remained the same since we got cable, which was over two years ago.

[Support Free Republic]

CHEAP THRILLS - $1 (the first one's free!)
	If every FR member gave a buck a month, we wouldn't need fundraisers. Donate Here By Secure Server Or mail checks to FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794 or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD- It is in the breaking news sidebar!

[NittanyLion]

Time to buy stock in DirectTV.

[Mr. Bird]

I'd love it if my cable company would break down my bill by cost-per-channel. It would make a lot of sense, and go a long way toward deflecting criticism of the cable company for rate increases. Of course, that is only if they aren't gouging us to begin with...then disclosure would be quite uncomfortable, wouldn't it?

I'm very close to going with satellite, primarily because my viewing habits are focused on news and sports, and I can get a whole lot more of that with a dish. If cable keeps going up, I'm gone...

[ravinson]

"It would be terrible" to be without the sports networks, Eric Dahrling, manager of Yogi's Sports Bar in San Diego...

What an idiotic statement. Sports bars would benefit substantially from this dispute if Cox Cable takes ESPN and FOX Sports off the air as a result of a contract dispute.

[Rightly Biased]

ESPN Wants $2.50 a Subscriber from us just to carry them at my Company here in Texas. So I say hold yer ground Cox.

Regards
RB

[kb2614]

THERE ALL A BUNCH OF STINKING WEASALS!!!

Thats my well though out analysis :)

[petitfour]

I agree with y'all. Weasels!

We cut our cable down to the local channels and C-SPAN. It's a whole lot cheaper, and we don't watch tv as much. We love sports, but we don't miss watching ESPN that much. We listen to Bama football via internet radio broadcasts. That's enough for us. We listen to baseball via the radio. Hubby likes that best anyway.

[Uncle Hal]

I have never understood why the cable companies included the sports channels in their basic service. I would say 50% of the people could not care less about sports. I am a sports fan so I would take all the sports I can get and I would pay extra for it. But if I did not care for sports I would hate to pay for channels I never watch.

[azsportsterman]

We have both Cox and DirecTV.

Cox is our internet provider (cable modem, 3000 kps, great for downloading those pop-up ads). The rate is $10 a month less with TV cable service included.

We get DTV for the NFL Sunday Ticket package, can't get the Packers games in Arizona without it.

[azsportsterman]

We have both Cox and DirecTV.

Cox is our internet provider (cable modem, 3000 kps, great for downloading those pop-up ads). The rate is $10 a month less with TV cable service included.

We get DTV for the NFL Sunday Ticket package, can't get the Packers games in Arizona without it.

[eyespysomething]

We listen to the Dawgs with Larry Munson on Bulldog Radio Network (local radio) and the ATL Braves (not any more this year) on local radio. That's my sports. Oh, occasional soccer, and occasional other college games.

Gotta have my FoxNews though (and MSNBC). And SouthPark. And Survivor. And the History Channel. And the Travel Channel. And the local news channel. Oh he-double toothpicks, I'll just keep my cable.

[Crusher138]

Just hooked up my Samsung HLN473W DLP widescreen HDTV monitor to my Samsung HD Satellite receiver this weekend. While the DirecTV HD programming is great, the receiver I bought also picks up the digital broadcast signal which had an AWESOME picture.

I was an early adopter of DirecTV (1996) and this was my first equipment replacement/upgrade.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with DirecTV. Lot's of channels, cheaper than cable with a consistently good picture. There are two downsides to DirecTV: heavy rain/snow and digital broadcasting.

The heavy rain bit is only a minor annoyance. If we get a REALLY heavy rainstorm, I loose the satelite signal for a couple of minutes. It usually comes back pretty quick. This is to be compared to my old cable company where the signal would go away for hours for no apparent reason.

Digital pictures is something we will all have to get used to because that is the way broadcasting is going. You get digital artifacts, kinda like on your computer monitor, that can be annoying. On some programs, generally the local channels that are pretty compressed, you can see boarders between two areas of color that are close but not the same. Analog does these transitions much better than digital.

Anyway, GO SATELLITE! Tell the cable operators where they can place and twist their rate increases. BTW, I get the "premium" package (all regular channels), local channels, HBO, Starz, Showtime, and Encore in three rooms for less than $80 a month.

[SengirV]

I'd love it if my cable company would break down my bill by cost-per-channel. It would make a lot of sense, and go a long way toward deflecting criticism of the cable company for rate increases. Of course, that is only if they aren't gouging us to begin with...then disclosure would be quite uncomfortable, wouldn't it?

You answered your own question.

[Crusher138]

Gotta have my FoxNews though (and MSNBC).

Got it on DirecTV

And SouthPark.

Comedy Channel on DirecTV. No problem.

And Survivor.

Local channels. Got it on DirecTV.

And the History Channel. And the Travel Channel. And the local news channel.

Got it, got it, and got them!

Get satellite! Cheaper and better!!!!

[hsmomx3]

I don't see where DirectTV is cheaper than Cox. On Cox Cable we get channels 2-99 and with the tax, it is $40.15/month. If we were to get the locals and up to channel 23, it is about $18/month. Would love to see a cable company who gives us a choice in what channels we want.

[petitfour]

We don't do DirectTV. We have the $9.00 Cox package for local channels and a few other things such as C-SPAN1 and 2, WGN, and a few others. We would subscribe to a few children's channels and FoxNews if we could only get those extras.