Yet another reason DISH Network annoys me
So I see that DISH Network is trying to trick people into believing convince people it has every bit as good of an NFL selection as DIRECTV. Advertising like this really bothers me.
Back in my satellite days, I had DIRECTV for 11 years, mainly because they were the exclusive provider of what they call the NFL Sunday Ticket. The NFL Sunday Ticket virtually guarantees you will see your favorite NFL team's game (although NFL blackout rules can still throw a monkey wrench in this).
Being a Packers fan in a Hoosier state, this was a dream come true for me. And this is also why I feel qualified to say that DISH Network's advertising is at best, misleading.
Every touchdown, every game
It all starts with DISH Network's claim that you will see every touchdown of every game. Technically this is true thanks to their new RedZone channel. But what they don't make very apparent is that you won't see any of the rest of the games (when teams are between the 20 yard lines).
So unlike DIRECTV's Sunday Ticket where you have separate channels for each NFL game, DISH Network's RedZone channel will simply switch live to any game where a team is about to score or has just scored.
Don't get me wrong, that's kind of cool but it's not the same as getting all 60 minutes of your favorite team's game.
Over 150 NFL games?
I even saw a television ad where DISH Network claimed they show over 150 NFL games. This may sound impressive but, when you find out what these 150 games are, you'll realize that almost anybody can get these 150 games. Even me, with my over-the-air antenna.
You see, it doesn't take long to add up to 150 games in one season if you include your local network's coverage of each 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm game (on both CBS and FOX), the Sunday night game on NBC, Monday Night Football on ESPN and, down the road, Thursday night games on the NFL Network. Throw in a few games on Thanksgiving and some late season Saturday games and you easily add up to 150 games.
To be fair, I can't get the ESPN and NFL Network games on my over-the-air antenna but I can still watch a lot of free football.
And I don't need DISH Network to do it.
2 comments for this blog post so far...
September 18, 2009 at 8:51 pm
ahow628
The wife and I had DirecTV last year for the NFL Sunday Ticket. We found that since we are living in Indy now and love the Colts, it was completely worthless. Additionally, I hooked up my desktop in the livingroom to the 60” HDTV and threw two tuner cards in there and now we have all the network stations recording on the computer in HD. It is so great that we ended up paying $360 early termination fee to DirecTV so we could avoid that $90 a month fee. Pays for itself in 4 months!
September 19, 2009 at 11:33 am
Patric Welch
@ahow628 - I love the idea of using tuner cards to record but ultimately the big sell on the Sunday Ticket is for people that are out-of-market for their favorite team. Like me and the Packers. The Indianapolis local networks rarely show the Packers. Although this year I have a hunch they might show the Packers/Vikings game :)
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