Melkin71's profile

Contributor

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1 Message

Saturday, March 23rd, 2013 1:32 AM

Why doesnt Uverse offer the NHL Network when it carries NFL NBA AND MLB?

Scholar

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166 Messages

11 years ago

NFL Network? Time Warner STILL doesn't have Big Ten Network.

Tutor

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5 Messages

11 years ago

AT&T carried the NHL network and cancelled it literally a few days before the start of the 2011/2012 season. I spent months researching this and since I cancelled my UVerse service the day they cancelled the NHL Network, I made many calls trying to get them to get the NHL back. Originally it was due to the inability to renegotiate a new contract. However, the NHL Network has long since been bought by NBC so their excuses now hold no credibility. The Uverse lineup has NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, NBCSN BRAVO, and every other NBC owned network except NHL. They also have Russia Today, Al Jazeera and other blatantly anti- American Networks but they just won't sign again with the NHL. I even to my local AT&T store and while there, two regional employees of the NHL were in the process of setting up Uverse service but when they learned of the cancellation of the NHL Network, they cancelled Uverse and went and signed with the local cable network. AT&T is the biggest company yet the only company of all the cable and satellite providers who do not offer the NHL. There are certain games that are broadcast only on the NHL Network including the playoffs so there are no alternatives if you want to watch all the games.

Tutor

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5 Messages

11 years ago

This is incorrect. AT&T had the NHL Network and cancelled it a couple days before the start of the 2011/2012 season. I had just switched over from my cable company after verifying that the NHL was part of the Uverse lineup. I caught all the preseason games and the day of the final preseason game around October 2, 2011, they ran a banner across the screen announcing they were cancelling the NHL Network at midnight. They have never had it since and I went back to my original cable company since the day the NHL was dropped. They have lost thousands of customers in the U.S.A. but they refuse to bring the NHL back and I spent months calling everyone at Uverse including the president's office.

Professor

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1.3K Messages

11 years ago

NBCU only owns about 15% of the channel. 

 

Also, prior agreements between NBCU and AT&T doesn't mean that NBCU can make AT&T add a new channel that they don't have a contractual agreement to broadcast.

 

They only refuse to being the NHL network back because the NHL network's terms and conditions for them to air on U-Verse were unacceptable.

 

Rumor has it that they wanted the channel to be taken off of the Sports package and placed on the U200 package. If true, AT&T saw that the number of their subscribers that had access to the sports package and the number of people who watched that channel and this wouldn't be a good price increase for a majority of their customers who wouldn't want to watch the channel. 

 

When the NHL Network decides to come back to the negotiating table with a reasonable offer I'm sure AT&T will gladly air the channel once again.

ACE - Master

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6.9K Messages

11 years ago


@halk wrote:
This is incorrect. AT&T had the NHL Network and cancelled it a couple days before the start of the 2011/2012 season. I had just switched over from my cable company after verifying that the NHL was part of the Uverse lineup. I caught all the preseason games and the day of the final preseason game around October 2, 2011, they ran a banner across the screen announcing they were cancelling the NHL Network at midnight. They have never had it since and I went back to my original cable company since the day the NHL was dropped. They have lost thousands of customers in the U.S.A. but they refuse to bring the NHL back and I spent months calling everyone at Uverse including the president's office.

When weighing the cost for placing a channel on a lower package AT&T has to look at the number of subscribers and determine whether or not the cost works for them, if it doesn't, they won't add/change the channel.  While hockey maybe popular, losing "thousands" of customer is probably cheaper than paying the network for MILLIONS of customers, many who probably wouldn't watch it.  ESPN is the most expensive channel on the air and for each subscriber AT&T pays ESPN over $4.00 per subscriber that has access to it.  Since it's available in every package except for UBasic and UFamily, it costs AT&T close $225 million per year.  NHL's highest rating was on NBC Sports Network, game 3 of the Stanely cup and it only drew just shy of 4 million viewers. That's just a few hundred thousand less than the number of UVerse subscribers. Now figure that is across 13 major cable providers that's less than 300,000 viewers on average per network.  Last count DirectTV had 20,110,000 subscribers, Dish has around 14,000,000 subscribers, Comcast has around 50,000,000 subscribers, AT&T has around 5,000,000 subscribers.  When you look at those numbers, NHL network and the number of viewers isn't that high. ESPN averages 115,000,000 viewers per month.  That's a far greater number than an NHL game.  The majority of hockey games draw less than 1,000,000 viewers.  Since the majority of NHL games are on either the RSNs or NBCSN, the NHL Network loses out on a lot of viewers if they game they are showing isn't a major rivalary game between the higher profile teams. 

 

Teacher

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8 Messages

11 years ago

THERE ARE ALSO MANY "TALK" SHOWS AND OTHER INFORMATIONAL SHOWS AVAILABLE ON THIS NETWORK TO KEEP UP WITH THE SPORT IN GENERAL.  WISH THEY WOULD OFFER THIS CHANNEL.  CONSIDER MOVING BACK TO COMCAST!

Teacher

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8 Messages

11 years ago

WHY DON'T THEY JUST ADD IT TO A HIGHER TIER, LIKE U300?

ACE - Professor

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2.5K Messages

11 years ago


@mypreciousmoments wrote:

THERE ARE ALSO MANY "TALK" SHOWS AND OTHER INFORMATIONAL SHOWS AVAILABLE ON THIS NETWORK TO KEEP UP WITH THE SPORT IN GENERAL.  WISH THEY WOULD OFFER THIS CHANNEL.  CONSIDER MOVING BACK TO COMCAST!


There is no need for your shouting (the use of all capital letters). That is not going to change anything in regards to the NHL Network.

 

(edited to remove link to deactivated website)

 

Other than that, it is all up to AT&T. They are very much aware of their subscribers desire for getting back the NHL Network.

 


Owning a computer and not having the internet is like buying a refrigerator and not stocking it with food.

Contributor

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1 Message

10 years ago

If they're so aware of it, and so many people are complaining, how many people does it take before we get some movement from these people considering negotiations? It seems that if they really wanted to offer a service to their customers, they would try to go back to the negotiating table! If not, why not make it a premium option?

Professor

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1.3K Messages

10 years ago


@wb8cki wrote:
If they're so aware of it, and so many people are complaining, how many people does it take before we get some movement from these people considering negotiations? It seems that if they really wanted to offer a service to their customers, they would try to go back to the negotiating table! If not, why not make it a premium option?

Maybe the NHL Network doesn't want there to be a premium option.

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