No Soccer For You
November 12th, 2006
In a fitting end to a frustrating season trying to bond with Major League Soccer, I am not able to watch the championship game on TV. This is what I see on my screen. I think a better caption would be, "Don’t bother complaining, it won’t help you. No soccer for you." I don’t blame Directv or the MLS — it’s the local ABC channel, WBND.
I know technical issues happen — of course I know this is true. I can relate, and I imagine some very stressed-out people are scrambing to fix the problem. But, as a consumer, this really is a tough pill to swallow. Last year I went HD and of course, the only local affliliate in South Bend, Indiana not to offer HD over-the-air (OTA) is the local ABC channel, WBND. So, I gladly called Directv to apply for a waiver. Denied. WBND said “no” because they want me to get ABC content from them and not from New York or Los Angeles. This way I get impressions from local advertisements and such. I understand the business. No complaints. That is the agreement. I get content, you serve ads. But, we are not talking apples to apples.
I know from scouring the message boards that WBND is trying to get OTA in HD to work (it’s an FCC thing) — and there are people there working hard to do so. So, my question is, why not allow people like me — high-end consumers of content — to have a waiver until then, or reach out to these people and communicate with them? Then, welcome me back to the local feed when they are HD ready OTA, cable, and dish. By not doing so, this sort of viral garbage that you are reading right now can occur where normally friendly, patient, and understanding consumers like me have no other option than to vent.
To make matters worse, I know for a fact that the signal is working on local cable. It’s just the OTA and dish feeds that went kahblewy. Someone at Comcast is smiling.
Lesson learned — if you are content provider and cannot service your consumers in advanced, agile, and adaptive ways, then provide them with a means to get this service until you are good and ready. They will thank you for your honesty and candor. If not, they will just get frustrated like me right now and look for other ways to go around or without you.
