Marquee Sports Network

[Diehardfan]

I just recently retired after working for Comcast for more than a dozen years. I'll bet you any money that this is what is happening:

Marquee wants to charge Comcast about $4 a month per customer as a carriage fee, and wants Comcast to put the network in its Starter package, to get it to the maximum households, so they can sell their ads at the highest possible rates. Other carriers are jumping at it, because they will get new customers from the carriage agreement.

Comcast is in *no *way in need of taking a $4 hit on every bill where customers have at least the Starter package. They will not lose a statistically significant amount of total revenues if a regional sports network decides to hold its breath until it turns blue. They can wait out Marquee. Where I live, in Minnesota, they went through the same process with Fox Sports North, and it ended up that FSN lowered their price per customer in order to get themselves into the Starter package. And in Colorado, as of the time I left Comcast, there was no continuing agreement to carry the Altitude Network, which carries the Rockies. I guarantee that will get resolved by opening day, as well.

This happens all the time, it's business negotiations with hostages. Not at all unheard of.

What will likely end up happening is that the Marquee Network will be added to the Xfinity Sports and Entertainment Package, which costs $10 a month (at least in West Division) but includes other sports networks (such as the NFL Red Zone channel) as well. In other words, Comcast will put it into a side package that you have to pay extra for, but that adds more value than just the one network. And when it comes down to the 90% of people out there who want to watch the Cubs without paying an additional $130 for the streaming package pressuring Marquee into taking whatever deal gets them their Cub games, then it will get done. It's not good for the community or the Cubs to withhold the games from a large majority of the people who want to watch them. It's a great way to commit suicide as a profitable franchise, of course.

At least, that's my take on it. I worked in West Division, so I will admit I have more insight into their policies and thinking than the central division folks. But I'd bet that Marquee will be on Comcast by opening day, and that you'll have to add the Sports and Entertainment Package to get it.

-Doug

Very well could be but I'm betting they want to hook Cub fans first......give everyone a look see for a season and then move it to a pay package. It's also possible that they give out a few "free looks" over the season while putting it into the pay package early. Either way, I'm not paying and by this time next year with the exception of their broadband.....I will be cutting the cord.

 

[CubsFaninMN]

Very well could be but I'm betting they want to hook Cub fans first......give everyone a look see for a season and then move it to a pay package. It's also possible that they give out a few "free looks" over the season while putting it into the pay package early. Either way, I'm not paying and by this time next year with the exception of their broadband.....I will be cutting the cord.

Go for it, I don't work for them anymore, it's not like I take it as a threat. I don't have to defend them. But keep in mind that, with this kind of sports package, Comcast actually has to sign a contract with Marquee that defines exactly how Comcast will present the network throughout the course of the agreement. They will often include clauses with most content providers that allow Comcast to move any network to any plan, but the sports packages are different in that their content is literally hundreds of times more expensive to produce than, say, a Turner channel running movies out of their extensive rights-owned catalog.

The sports network business plan is to get a higher percentage of their revenues in carriage fees than most networks, because they can't sell enough ads at high enough rates to pay for all the technical infrastructure and high-priced on-air talent they have to pay for just to bring you the live sports events. And like I say, Comcast has no reason to play "the first one is free" with this. They will just wait until Marquee holds its breath, turns blue, passes out, comes back to consciousness, and signs a carriage agreement that works for both parties.

-Doug

 

[SilentLurker]

I have had Comcast last 12 years.

Best internet speed is only reason I keep it. Channel package is so so.

I don’t pay and won’t pay for a sports package. I think a lot of ppl won’t either.

I’m out of market so if cubs are in mlb tv good enough for me. I really don’t need to see the 100th documentary on the 69 cubs on Marquee. . And I want more cubs coverage - I Can just stream cubs post game on the score radio app or tune into espn 1000 the next day thru my phone.

guy who made the comment about the dodgers. Yup exactly right. What a mess. Most dodger fans did not pony up. Most dodger fans where they saw the dodgers more than 1 National Espn game was during the playoffs last year.

i think same will be with cubs fans.

 

[CubsFaninMN]

I’m out of market...

And so, like me, you'll never have the option from *any* carrier, streaming or cable or satellite, of getting Marquee. At any price. Again, it's just not allowed by the advertiser region rules. So saying "I won't pay for it" is sort of fatuous, since you'd have to move into the Cubs' advertising region to even have the option. You're just indulging in me-too Comcast bashing, with no thought behind it. Trust me, I've seen an awful lot of that in my time.

Don't believe me that you're not allowed to run another city or state's local programming when you don't live there, that it's not Comcast's fault? Then why does the online MLB TV package completely black out all commercials, and the Extra Innings package offered on all cable and satellite services, not just Comcast, either blacks them out or replaces them with MLB's own promos for the MLB Network? It's because you're not allowed to see those commercials. And think about it, no one is gonna sit there and replace all the commercials 24/7 on Marquee just so it's legal for you to watch it in Alabama, or California, or wherever...

Oh, and just to get it out there, I will *never* pay extra for a Zombie Apocalypse rider on my insurance plan, no matter what! Because all insurance companies are evil and don't deserve any more of my money! So there!

-Doug

 

[SilentLurker]

According to Tom Ricketts Marquee will be available on all streaming packages. If I want to get it that's the way I'm getting it, not thru comcast. I understand where I live it's not going to be available thru comcast.

I get MLB TV for free since I'm w/ T Mobile. They have had free mlb tv if youre a subscriber and I am hoping that deal still comes up in 2020. So if I can just get the cubs on mlb tv for free, that's good enough for me.

 

[CubsFaninMN]

Yeah, you'll be able to get MLB.TV anywhere. You will only be able to get Marquee within the Cubs advertiser region. The two things are entirely different.

And just to be clear, Marquee available "on all streaming services" doesn't mean I can move to Arizona and get it through Hulu or Sling. The games themselves are allowed to be viewed from anywhere in the country using the MLB,TV (website or app) or Extra Innings (cable or satellite) services, and that's legal only because, for each game, a live person has to sit there and override the commercials being played on each game's video source with MLB Network promos. To make the whole deal conform with the local area advertiser rules.

It gets more silly -- if you had the Xfinity Stream app and lived, say, in Chicago and wanted to watch the Chicago NBC affiliate, Channel 5 through your app while on vacation in Florida. Say you want to watch winter weather forecasts while sipping a pina colada poolside.

You're not allowed to do that. It's not Comcast (or Time-Warner, or DirecTV) who doesn't allow it, it's the FCC's advertiser region rules that don't allow it. The Chicago affiliate would be blocked on the app and you would see a message that you need to use whatever sources you have available to tune into the local NBC affiliate in your current geographic area. Same network programming, but different ads. Since you can't go to Jewel-Osco in Chicago while down in Florida, it's anathema to the advertising-based media industry to let you see the programming with Jewel-Osco ads while in Florida. It is required that, while in Florida, you can see ads for their local Piggly-Wiggly, but NEVER the ads for a Chicago-based business.

So, yeah, these are two completely separate things. No matter who is running Marquee, if you are out of market you will always be able to see the games with MLB.TV when you're literally, physically out of the local advertising area.

If *any* carrier in the Chicago area is carrying Marquee, though (and at least one will, I'm sure), be aware you won't be able to see Cub games while in Chicago using MLB.TV. Whether you have Marquee or not, if it's available through *any* carrier, the Cubs games will be blacked out as long as you're in Chicago and/or its local advertising area. Found that out when traveling to Illinois on the train last Opening Day and found that my MLB At-Bat app had the Cubs blacked out as soon as I got into the Cubs local area...

-Doug

 

[zack54attack]

I just recently retired after working for Comcast for more than a dozen years. I'll bet you any money that this is what is happening:

Marquee wants to charge Comcast about $4 a month per customer as a carriage fee, and wants Comcast to put the network in its Starter package, to get it to the maximum households, so they can sell their ads at the highest possible rates. Other carriers are jumping at it, because they will get new customers from the carriage agreement.

Comcast is in *no *way in need of taking a $4 hit on every bill where customers have at least the Starter package. They will not lose a statistically significant amount of total revenues if a regional sports network decides to hold its breath until it turns blue. They can wait out Marquee. Where I live, in Minnesota, they went through the same process with Fox Sports North, and it ended up that FSN lowered their price per customer in order to get themselves into the Starter package. And in Colorado, as of the time I left Comcast, there was no continuing agreement to carry the Altitude Network, which carries the Rockies. I guarantee that will get resolved by opening day, as well.

This happens all the time, it's business negotiations with hostages. Not at all unheard of.

What will likely end up happening is that the Marquee Network will be added to the Xfinity Sports and Entertainment Package, which costs $10 a month (at least in West Division) but includes other sports networks (such as the NFL Red Zone channel) as well. In other words, Comcast will put it into a side package that you have to pay extra for, but that adds more value than just the one network. And when it comes down to the 90% of people out there who want to watch the Cubs without paying an additional $130 for the streaming package pressuring Marquee into taking whatever deal gets them their Cub games, then it will get done. It's not good for the community or the Cubs to withhold the games from a large majority of the people who want to watch them. It's a great way to commit suicide as a profitable franchise, of course.

At least, that's my take on it. I worked in West Division, so I will admit I have more insight into their policies and thinking than the central division folks. But I'd bet that Marquee will be on Comcast by opening day, and that you'll have to add the Sports and Entertainment Package to get it.

-Doug

Can you still lower my Comcast bill? I'm paying way too much.

 

[zack54attack]

I've been with Comcast for a long time and I kind of know how they work.....my guess would be that for next season, it will just be another station added to most packages. They'll nail you the following year with increases across the board.....how much? That depends on how popular it is.

I don't know what Comcast you have but they usually remove channels from packages and up the bill. lol

 

[CubsFaninMN]

Can you still lower my Comcast bill? I'm paying way too much.

I can give you this advice: Call in and say you want to cancel your service, whether you want to or not. Then when you get to Loyalty, state very emphatically that they need to come up with a way to keep you as a customer, or else you'll happily go with a competitor. Keep stressing your willingness to cancel, even if there are early termination fees.

The Loyalty agents have, as a big part of their metrics, the number of calls they get where the customer cancels service, you see, and if that number isn't incredibly tiny, they get put on a performance plan. The easiest way to get fired as a Loyalty agent is to let too many people cancel service. You get the best cost reductions by pressing that button.

Also, as with shopping for any goods and services, it helps to be clear on what you need vs. what you just want, and to be flexible. Have fallback positions. Pay attention to specials and deals, as with any other shopping. And be realistic; you will no more get every service Comcast offers for $25 a month just by demanding it than you will get a brand new Porsche for $300 and a few full books of S&H Green Stamps.

In the final analysis, Comcast doesn't exist to offer you the cheapest prices for their services. They exist to provide services and make a profit doing it. They don't owe you anything more than any other company providing you a service, you're not entitled to a better deal just because you think your own needs are more important than anyone else's.

And here's a little secret most people don't believe -- Comcast is not, on paper,a profitable business. They're in red ink all the time because of the nature of the business involving literally millions of miles of cable and tens of thousands of expensive channel consoles, plus tons of other high-tech equipment and tools to manage and diagnose it, all of which need constant repair and upgrading. Just to maintain the expected level of service, it costs more to provide it than they could ever charge for it. But they have one of the healthiest revenue streams in the country, so banks are more than happy to fork over billions in loans every year to keep them charging forward...

-Doug

 

[zack54attack]

I can give you this advice: Call in and say you want to cancel your service, whether you want to or not. Then when you get to Loyalty, state very emphatically that they need to come up with a way to keep you as a customer, or else you'll happily go with a competitor. Keep stressing your willingness to cancel, even if there are early termination fees.

The Loyalty agents have, as a big part of their metrics, the number of calls they get where the customer cancels service, you see, and if that number isn't incredibly tiny, they get put on a performance plan. The easiest way to get fired as a Loyalty agent is to let too many people cancel service. You get the best cost reductions by pressing that button.

Also, as with shopping for any goods and services, it helps to be clear on what you need vs. what you just want, and to be flexible. Have fallback positions. Pay attention to specials and deals, as with any other shopping. And be realistic; you will no more get every service Comcast offers for $25 a month just by demanding it than you will get a brand new Porsche for $300 and a few full books of S&H Green Stamps.

In the final analysis, Comcast doesn't exist to offer you the cheapest prices for their services. They exist to provide services and make a profit doing it. They don't owe you anything more than any other company providing you a service, you're not entitled to a better deal just because you think your own needs are more important than anyone else's.

And here's a little secret most people don't believe -- Comcast is not, on paper,a profitable business. They're in red ink all the time because of the nature of the business involving literally millions of miles of cable and tens of thousands of expensive channel consoles, plus tons of other high-tech equipment and tools to manage and diagnose it, all of which need constant repair and upgrading. Just to maintain the expected level of service, it costs more to provide it than they could ever charge for it. But they have one of the healthiest revenue streams in the country, so banks are more than happy to fork over billions in loans every year to keep them charging forward...

-Doug

Did that last year. Locked me into a plan. It was $165 for it. DVR, good tier package that included some channels I wanted minus Red Zone. However, their fees, taxes, and package plan went up. So now I'm being charged around $188 a month even though I'm still in the locked in plan. Called a few times and they tell me the same thing "Our fees went up.. blah blah blah"

 

[CubsFaninMN]

I don't know what Comcast you have but they usually remove channels from packages and up the bill. lol

Also, with very rare occasions, Comcast doesn't charge you per channel, they amalgamate channel costs -- which are sometimes negative, some networks pay handsomely to have their content run, while others charge a lot -- to come up with channel packages that cost in the same ballpark to provide as what they charge to provide them.

There are rare exceptions, for instance in specialty channels that have very narrow interest audiences, like the main Russian language channel, or the Bollywood channel, etc. But those are special cases.

-Doug

 

[CubsFaninMN]

Did that last year. Locked me into a plan. It was $165 for it. DVR, good tier package that included some channels I wanted minus Red Zone. However, their fees, taxes, and package plan went up. So now I'm being charged around $188 a month even though I'm still in the locked in plan. Called a few times and they tell me the same thing "Our fees went up.. blah blah blah"

I get it. Like I mentioned, they are always behind the cost curve; they are adding charges in other areas than the main package pricing to try and keep up with it, but there's a ceiling to that, you know? You can't keep shoving it up someone's ass and expect them to just bend over and take it every time it happens.

There are whole graduate-level degree programs churning out MBAs who are trained solely in plotting the curve between what you need to charge for goods and services, and the maximum amount people will pay for those goods and services. They're the people, usually also with sales backgrounds, who have a hard on to jack it up into you, but are trained to know how far they can go without committing corporate suicide. Please, everyone, keep in mind, you will never EVER be able to speak directly to those MBAs. None of the people you can speak to will ever be able to speak directly to the MBAs, either. Their decision making, as in every large corporation in existence, is done in complete isolation from direct contact with the people their decisions impact.

Welcome to the real world, kid...

-Doug

 

[Diehardfan]

According to Tom Ricketts Marquee will be available on all streaming packages. If I want to get it that's the way I'm getting it, not thru comcast. I understand where I live it's not going to be available thru comcast.

I get MLB TV for free since I'm w/ T Mobile. They have had free mlb tv if youre a subscriber and I am hoping that deal still comes up in 2020. So if I can just get the cubs on mlb tv for free, that's good enough for me.

I don't know why it wouldn't. They offered it free to me two years ago... thought it was a one year thing. For grins, I went to re-up last year and was surprised that it was still up and running. I didn't have to do a thing. It appears to be a lifetime deal as long as you stick with T-Mobile.

 

[SilentLurker]

I don't know why it wouldn't. They offered it free to me two years ago... thought it was a one year thing. For grins, I went to re-up last year and was surprised that it was still up and running. I didn't have to do a thing. It appears to be a lifetime deal as long as you stick with T-Mobile.

ya they have had it the last 3 years i think . i didnt know about it until 2 years ago and have had it free for the last 2 years and it's been great. Now even if it wasn't free, I would pay for it. It's really cheap compared to NBA and NFL. $115 for nearly 5000 baseball games is a great deal.

I enjoyed watching the Cubs but I really dug watching other games too. And it's cool how you can watch more than 1 game at a time on it w/ the double play feature.

 

[Omeletpants]

Can you still lower my Comcast bill? I'm paying way too much.

I have already told you how you can cut your mobile phone bill 66% by using Comcast mobile. If you mods werent so busy banning me you might have seen that

 

[Omeletpants]

Fuck Comcast cause I dont care if you clowns see the cubs games

All I care about id how Dishnetwork will handle this

 

[zack54attack]

I have already told you how you can cut your mobile phone bill 66% by using Comcast mobile. If you mods werent so busy banning me you might have seen that

My comcast cable bill. Not mobile.

 

[kerrywoodwins20]

Networks and Cable companies often have standoffs, and always resolve them in time.

I don't care about Comcast since I am out of Comcast's area, but I want to know details of how I can get Marquee where I am .

If more $ than MLB At bat, I'll just keep that.

Always? Lots of LA still can't get the Dodgers.

 

[SilentLurker]

Always? Lots of LA still can't get the Dodgers.

and for the last 6 years.

 

[Diehardfan]

and for the last 6 years.

Like the typical LA fan really gives a shit. The ones that get the games probably don't turn on their TV till the 3rd inning and are heading out for a drink by the 7th.