FSN-AZ adds second channel for D'backs game - but not on Cox Cable

[KeithE4]

Both satellite services, Qwest, and other cable companies in Arizona will get the D'backs' game in full, with the end of the game carried on FSN-AZ Plus, an alternate channel set up for this purpose. But if you're with Cox, you're SOL if you're a baseball fan since the main FSN channel (34) will cut the game off at 6 to carry the Suns. Cox refuses to carry the alternate channel.

Memo to Cox Communications: If TMISU can carry both teams at the same time, so can you. No excuse for not putting their backup channel someplace, like Channels 7 or 22, since it's only a one-time thing. It's not like it involves anything resembling real work, other than the strenuous activity involved in plugging the FSN feed into a modulator.

Link: AZCentral.com

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Just another example of why I've referred to this outfit for years
as the "Stupid Cable Company."

I don't know what's on the Headline News wheel anymore, but
back when they offered :25 and :55 for local cut-ins, the SCC
would regularly screw up the taped drop-in and have it air at
:00 and :30 which of course covered the beginning of hard news
segments.

When one called the SCCCS (CS = "customer service") they'd
either have no clue or try to tell you the problem is at CNN and
you'd have to call Atlanta!

No wonder the SCC has a love affair with left coast feeds in the
winter (Pacific time plus one hour)--they're afraid they'd screw it up
switching transponders twice a year at 2:00 on a Sunday morning.

 

[justthenumbers]

No wonder the SCC has a love affair with left coast feeds in the
winter (Pacific time plus one hour)--they're afraid they'd screw it up
switching transponders twice a year at 2:00 on a Sunday morning.

While Pacific Time plus one hour is far from what the cable networks' programmers intended, it would probably harm viewership more than help it (at least initially) if they were to switch to East Coast feeds in the winter.

Viewers are accustomed to adding an hour once the rest of the country is off DST. Switching to East feeds would result in programs airing two hours earlier than they do in the summer. This may be easy for us TV geeks to comprehend, but it might be too much for the average viewer to understand, especially after so many years of simply adding an hour.

In addition, this "subtract two hours in the winter" mindset would apply only to networks that have dual feeds in the first place; single-feed networks (like CNN, ESPN, etc.) would continue to be "add an hour in the winter". That is definitely way too much for the masses to understand...it's much simpler to stick with "add an hour in the winter" for all cable networks.

Also, with 4 extra weeks of DST now, it means that Phoenix is on Pacific Time for something like 34 out of the 52 weeks of the year. It makes even less sense to switch feeds to account for the remaining 18 weeks.

Of course, the other option is to go East feed year-round. But then you have high-profile shows like TNT's "The Closer" airing way too early (6pm) in the summer. And would FX or Cox really want controversial programs like "Nip/Tuck" or "The Shield" to air at 7pm or 8pm?

With more and more people engaging in time-shifted viewing - whether it's via DVR or video-on-demand - the time that a program initially airs is becoming less relevant (although we are still a long way from the point of irrelevance.) Live sports is the exception, of course...and sports networks have only feed to begin with.

Or if Arizona went to Pacific Time year-round (including the observation of DST), this wouldn't be an issue. The primary argument against DST in Arizona is that the sun would be up too late...but we are already the equivalent of Pacific Daylight Time in the summer, so that wouldn't happen if we went to Pacific Time 24/7/365!